I've been teaching my 6 month old black lab to retrieve. It's been pretty easy really, he seems to be pre-programmed to retrieve but my problem is he keeps dropping the dummy just before he reaches my hand. I've tried for weeks to get him to drop it in my hand but no luck. I send him back to pick it up, which he does, and then drops it again where he's standing. Does anyone know what I could do to get him to actually put it my hand? Also, can anyone suggest any good gundog training books? Finding a gundog training class in South Wales has been very difficult so I've got no one who can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Paul
Re: Dropping the retrieve short You could teach the pup to hold the retrieve item, I don't know if you have been using treats for a retrieve or not so can't comment on that but I wouldn't use treats ever on a retrieve. The 'retrieve' is not pre programmed it's trained and so many things can go horribly wrong with what you do in training, I know I have the tee-shirt. What you have is much like any other dog, it goes out and comes back with an object then does not know what to do with the item and drops it and then you throw it again. What you have done is teach the dog to drop it albeit inadvertently. This is where training comes in to get a delivery and since the dog already drops the item then you will have to teach it to hold the item until you give a que command to release it. I took these to show you what can be achieved.
Re: Dropping the retrieve short Hi Paul, bit of a novice here but we've had some dropping on delivery too. We are getting better though, I'll tell you the things I've tried.... I've moved away from Riley as he's come towards me to encourage him right in whilst holding on to the dummy. He seemed to equate stopping with dropping so I also passed him a dummy as he he walked round at heel to get him used to holding for a reasonable amount of time. I gradually slowed down until I could stop with him still holding on to the dummy. The other thing I was told was not to be in a rush to take the dummy off him as if you take it too quickly he'll arrive and spit it out, keep your hands out of the way and don't rush. Still a work in progress here but we are getting better. Alternatively you could train with a clicker as the pick up and hold are phases of Pippa's guide to clicker retrieve here: http://totallygundogs.com/clicker-trained-retrieve/ I'm sure others will add to this but good luck, looking forward to hearing how you get on
Re: Dropping the retrieve short Oh as usual I'm cocking up as I try to achieve something! ;D Because Dexter was so ambivalent to retrieving and always dropped his retreive on the way back,I've been down on the ground,hands out encouraging him in,then a treat if he gets all the way back to me....just loads and loads of encouragement to get him excited about it. Now he is a bit keener I shall stop trying to do it my way and follow the plan. .....he's still only a pet in the world of gundoggery ( Debsies term ) but it's good to try and do it the right way......
Re: Dropping the retrieve short [quote author=Sage link=topic=2768.msg28378#msg28378 date=1380721698] I've been teaching my 6 month old black lab to retrieve. It's been pretty easy really, he seems to be pre-programmed to retrieve but my problem is he keeps dropping the dummy just before he reaches my hand. I've tried for weeks to get him to drop it in my hand but no luck. I send him back to pick it up, which he does, and then drops it again where he's standing. Does anyone know what I could do to get him to actually put it my hand? Also, can anyone suggest any good gundog training books? Finding a gundog training class in South Wales has been very difficult so I've got no one who can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Paul [/quote] Hi Paul, I recently saw this video clip on Pippa's Facebook page Totally Dog Training. The trainer in the video is based in South Wales, maybe somewhere near you. http://youtu.be/TXnD6NZvT3s
Re: Dropping the retrieve short Thank you all for your replies. I've had some success with clicker training basic commands so I will try clicker training for the retrieve. We'll do some in the house first, then in the garden and see how it goes. I expect it will take a while but I'm sure we'll crack it! Thanks again! Paul
