Viewing Single Post From: Retrieval

Viewing Single Post From: Retrieval
RJL	Jul 23 2008, 07:32 PM
Chatterbox Posts: 1,387 Group: Full Members Member #179 Joined: January 25, 2006	I taught Logan by first finding the one thing that he really, really wanted to get hold of most in all the world. As it happened, it was a pan scrub! I just threw it around a bit saying inane things like 'Yeah! Look what I've got! It's mine!mine!mine! Wow - look at my amamzing pan scrub!" Obvioulsy, nobody else was watching :) Then.........I 'accidently' dropped it and Logan, convinced the pan scrub was the most valuable piece of green sponge on the planet, pouned and grabbed it. As this took place in a long, narrow room with his crate at one end, I was able to intercept as he tried to take it back to his lair; remove it from his jaws and pop in a bit of liver in return. In no time at all, he was happy to pick up anything I pointed to in an excited way and then exchange it for a treat. With Dill, who will grab anything, I taught it was 'hold' and then 'leave'. When he got something in his mouth, I said 'hold - good hold!' and then I positioned myself in front of him and cupped my hands, so he was giving me the article and again, exchanging it for a treat. Gradually, I increased the distance and he learned that he only got the reward if he held it close to my hands. However, his motivation to do this went up and down! I've just started again from scratch (almost) using a book called Competitive Obedience for Winners by Brian McGovern. I'm not doing step 1, as I don't believe in forcing a dog to hold an article (just a personal opinion) However, I'm doing all the rest as it focusses on initially praising the dog for focussing on the article.


Retrieval · Obedience