Me again, with my millionth question! Just wondering what is the best way to build desire for the dummy, and also tugging? Desire for the dummy obviously I want for our gundoggery games, but I read some stuff on the benefits of having a dog keen for a tuggy game too and I would like to be able to use that as a non-food reward sometimes. Currently with the dummy I am restricting retrieves with it to once every few days, but sometimes asking her to retrieve it for her dinner which means she gets super excited when she sees it because it means dinner and she goes and gets it at a million miles an hour. But don't know if that's a good tactic? Would steadiness to the dummy, and me going to pick it up instead of her, build desire, or squash it? Currently she does seem quite keen to retrieve but i think it would only last for two or three goes in a row before she would be bored. And with tugging games - is it just a case of quitting the game when she is still really into it and restricting access to it so it is 'special'? Thank you
I used a puppy version of a switch retrieve for building desire in my two, especially my boy, who wasn't massively interested. Basically, get two dummies. Jiggle one of them to pique your dog's interest. Throw it for her to chase once she's excited. Encourage her back and, when she gets close, start jiggling the second dummy, so she spits the first. Throw the second in the opposite direction and pick up the first. Continue... It's a high energy game, not requiring any steadiness, which can kill any desire in a puppy that's not that bothered in the first place. It made a massive difference to Shadow, who went from being pretty laissez-faire about the whole thing to being a passionate retriever. Retrieving games are better for a puppy than formal retrieving. The boring stuff can come later Yep. I had to train my two to tug; they just weren't that interested. Now I can use it as a reward for certain things, such as during agility, but it's not strong enough to be rewarding for other things, and can't compete against lots of environmental stuff. I'll continue to strengthen it in the summer.
It's hard to know what will work best for building desire as it can be different from dog to dog. Some options are: Stop retrieves while the dog's still keen Ration retrieves so they get very few Stay away from formality at this point and allow the chase (ping pong recall is a version of this) Use a 'special' retrieve item, increase its value by playing with it yourself and not letting the dog have it for several days and then restrict number of retrieves A bit of competition, my lab is far more keen amongst company Get animated and excited yourself - nothing your dog likes better than watching you make a fool of yourself
Thank you, that is great! For the switch retrieve, can it be delivered to hand and then throw the next one? Or does that make it too boring? I have a nice retrieve to hand with Indie and I don't want to lose that ideally - but perhaps it is a case of losing some refinement to build desire and then putting the other stuff back in later. And with training tug, do you mean you trained it like any other behaviour, i.e. Tug a bit for a click and treat, build up duration? I've been doing 'give me a break' from control unleashed with tug and it seems to be helping a little bit, but she would still rather me throw it for her or run around shaking it!
Ooh I shall play with Indie's dummy tonight and have a most amazing time, indie can just watch if my husband didn't think I was barmy enough hehe! Thank you for the tips. Do you think it's ok to use a big reward after a retrieve (like her dinner) to make it more desirable or should she just enjoy retrieving for retrieving's sake?
The puppy switch is normally done before the delivery to hand is established, but if you have that already, then you could just see how it impacts the energy of the game. I imagine it will be more fun with dropping than with delivering, but suck it and see. She should be able to easily distinguish between the game and a formal retrieve, albeit it may need a bit of refreshing. Similarly, you can lose a bit of steadiness, but that's offset by the increased desire - and you can work on bringing the steadiness back in later. From what I've read, everyone has steadiness issues at some point, and it's just something you have to refresh from time to time, so I don't see it as being a big problem. Yup, with Willow I even had to shape the hold of the different toys, and then gradually increased the duration and pressure. I used a ball as a reward as it's far higher energy than using food treats and got her more into game mode. Willow loves possessing toys, so running around with it is part of her reward. Sometimes I "win" it, sometimes I let her. When I win it, I put it immediately behind my back or against my chest for a couple of seconds, to indicate the game is over, before initiating again. When she wins it, she runs around, shaking it like a loon wile I cheer and clap. It's all part of the game
Thank you, I'll try the switch retrieve and see how I get on and I like the idea of sometimes winning the tuggy game and sometimes letting her win. It was a mistake of mine to sometimes throw the tug toy when she let go, as now she lets go a lot just to get it thrown. Tuggy toy just for tugging from now on
Using her dinner is fine. I have a friend who's very successful in field trials, she uses her dogs dinner as a reward for loads of things. If it's good enough for her it's good enough for me!
