Hi everyone Daisy has become brilliant at fetch, with no real training it just seemed to come naturally to her. However, the problem is that once she has dropped the object she wont let you pick it up to throw again. As you go to reach for it she snatches it or puts her paws over it meaning I've got to try and distract her to pick it back up. She knows leave it and when in the house she will leave anything, even treats, for you to pick them up but it's just on a walk with a ball/stick. How can I train her to leave the item whilst its being picked up? Thanks
Toss a treat down beside her when she drops and when she goes for the treat grab the item. Eventually she will catch on that leaveing gets a reward. Once this is mastered you can work on having her drop the item in your hand.
@Jordan Maides Good to hear from you again. Give the dog a treat for bringing the item. When the dog drops it to eat the treat toss another treat over the dog so that she has to turn around away from you. In doing so, you will get the opportunity to pick up the item without the dog seeing you doing so.
Get yourself to a gundog training class. She should be delivering to hand- problem solved An easier way is to play with 2 matching toys. Throw one. When she brings it back and drops it, throw the other. They have to be the same though (easy with tennis balls) or they'll decide which is their favourite!
Thanks for the suggestions, the thing is she will go for the treat but as soon as she sees you going to pick the object up, she doesn’t care about the treat and just wants what you have. She’s also caught on and now if I’m throwing a treat away from the object she doesn’t even bother going for it I think I’ll have to keep practising at home as she’s not as bothered about the item then
Sneaky. So we need to be smarter. Try putingt the second treat on her nose before you throw it away. Use hugher value treats for the one tossed away.
It's important a dog never SEES you pick up the item they have dropped, if they have keep-away tendencies. If they SEE you, you are only enflaming their keep-away. You need to throw the treats in a direction that results in her back turned to the dropped item - so you can pick it up without her seeing. The best solution to all this, would be the clicker retrieve. I run an online course which covers it and there are a few versions of it around online in other places too.
