I am currently struggling on how to get puzzle to sit with a toy in her mouth after she has returned from a fetch. She will sit and hold a toy no problem, she will run out and fetch a toy no problem, but when she comes back from a fetch and sits she drops the toy, i have tried to hold out and see if she will sit with the toy in her mouth but she won't. I have tried giving her a toy then getting her to walk at heel then asking her to sit and she will stil drop the toy. She gives the toy to hand on command, which is no problem, but i would prefer her to return from a fetch and sit with the toy in her mouth then drop it in my hand when she is sitting. Hoping that it will slow down her return from a fetch, so it is more controlled and she uses her own brakes, not me as a crash mat. I vary her rewards for fetching, sometimes she gets treats other times she gets a game with a different toy, like tug of war but not with the toy she has fetched, othertimes she just gets the toy thrown again.
Re: Fetch return I think I would try standing in front of a barrier of some kind to slow her down, and call steady as she comes in and slows. I've never asked Riley to sit on delivery but we have worked hard on delivering to hand. I try to take the dummy in quite a vertical way which lifts his head as he watches the dummy rise and sends his bottom down. Now he kind of sits during delivery sometimes and I expect he will probably sit to deliver. You may find if you want a tidy sit to deliver a clicker trained retrieve might help but it's not uncommon for dogs to sit and spit. Most advice I've seen is not to worry about the sit but focus on a straight return with the delivery to hand and let the sit come afterwards. I'm not sure if that helps or not
