Not serious enough to put in the Training section but think we might have finally found our retreive holy grail! http://www.flickr.com/photos/97066992@N03/13197878505/ Barbara suggested a squeaky ball to draw Dexters attention and I found this one when I was having a clear our over the weekend....he went mad for it this morning,he got 3 play throws ( the last one was the funniest but I can't trim the video to show you ,he was running round like a crazy thing spinning in the sand )and then I've put it away.... 1. While he was still loving it and 2. While it still squeaked!( I had my doubts when he ran back the second time!) I've fallen back on retreive training a bit because it was just starting to feel like 'work' and not fun ......this might renew both our interest !
Re: That will do nicely! Just the ticket Angela, I know what you mean about 'work and 'fun' we fell into the 'work' trap which is a little boring, so now anything that squeaks is an instant winner in the FUN category, tennis balls are great too. Dexter looks so good and enjoying the open space with his new squeaky friend . You should have bought him a 'Snake' when you were in the UK ;D xx
Re: That will do nicely! [quote author=charlie link=topic=4909.msg61319#msg61319 date=1394996111] You should have bought him a 'Snake' when you were in the UK ;D xx [/quote] I know,I missed a trick there didn't I?ill pick one up when I come back next...I'll be buying up,a job lot of those squeaky balls they were only a couple of Pound in the supermarket if I remember correctly x
Re: That will do nicely! Very interesting With Benson we have to "nurture" the retrieve, and I am sure this has been our fault as we were forever taking slippers/boots/cats off him in the early days. We then bought this daft red ball.....see...http://www.thelabradorforum.com/index.php?topic=4863.msg60575#msg60575 ) We love it! ;D and I think Benson has picked up on this, it is now this is his favourite toy..and although I have read that dummies should only be used for retrieve training. then taken away not to be played with. He is always playing with his red ball and gets in a frenzy when we throw it! It has made our short retrieving sessions so much more fun! I believe this element was missing before as we approached this in a more formal manner, reading articles and books and completely forgetting that this should be enjoyable and natural for our dog
Re: That will do nicely! Beanwood,we have been the same here....Dexter is a pet and we took everything off him when he was little ( always swapped for a treat but taken off him with no fuss or praise never the less)we never thought we would need to incorporate retrieving into our life until I realised pets especially working line pets are quite happy to go self employed on walks if you can't occupy them!I think our early inexperienced handling of Dexter definately 'broke' his retreive and once his penchant for chasing cats became a problem i knew I had to step up and engage him.I used Pippas clicker retreive training but I've felt a bit clumsy and inept with it ( my fault totally,Dex would dutifully do his best)so we've had a bit if a break from it all....I'd just love to have that excited stepping foot to foot and locked on eye contact I see with other labs and spaniels when a tennis ball is produced ;D dexter is very blasé about the whole thing!when I was really struggling with clicker training Dexter to hold a small canvas dummy Heidrun dropped me a line and said it didn't matter what item it was as long as it was something he loved/enjoyed interacting with....this might have been just in my case as we would never be moving forward onto any formal work but for our situation it made sense.of course,get a tennis ball out when Dexter is playing with another dog and he is the fastest red hot retriever ever because he loves nothing more than to torment the other dog on the the run back in to me as there's not many dogs we meet than can catch him ;D LOVE that! X
Re: That will do nicely! Simba is very blasé about "fetch" (my version of retrieving) as well. I'm hoping to find something he will really love and will keep him engaged for our future off lead walks....
Re: That will do nicely! It can be a damn nuisance! My young Lab is always leaping about me "give me the ball, give me the ball" which I have in my dummy bag and if I do get him away from me and want to put a blind out, he has eyes in the back of his head and can see the merest movement my hand makes toward the bag. However, he has a speedy and instant recall all due to being rewarded with the ball. I can offer him a titbit and he totally ignores it, he just sees the ball as the ultimate reward.
Re: That will do nicely! Lovely video Angela. He is gorgeous, I was smiling at him all the way through. He was so enjoying himself. Jen xx
