Apologies if there is a thread for this somewhere else, I could not spot it if there is. What is the best way of training a Labrador to deliver a retrieve to hand before they shake to dry themselves off? Thank you for your help!
Stand very close to the edge of the water to start with, so that they have literally just emerged and haven't had a chance to shake . Lots and lots of praise and then allow to shake . Gradually lengthen the distance from the edge until it becomes second nature to deliver first and shake second, hope this helps .
I think Barbara had similar problems at one point (apologies if it wasn't) I wonder if I can find that thread.
I stood just inside the lake wearing my wellies, so Fred gave me the dummy before he had time to shake himself. Then moved out bit by bit like Kate said.
I think I remember from one of your previous posts that you have delivery problems on land. I never start water work until I have 100% delivery on land retrieves first. It is a lot easier to prevent a problem than to try to cure an ingrained habit.
Yup if it's not working on land you'll be extremely lucky to sort it out once you add water into the mix. You can also try and put a shake on cue so every time your dog shakes after being in water add your cue word. The aim is to get it so they only do it once you've given the cue. Then you can get your delivery and cue a shake afterwards.
Very strangely, I have delivered problems on land but not from water. This is because - inadvertently, through playing games and Charlie's hydrotherapy - he got another "throw" into water when he brought things back again and again and again. This was the key to delivery problems with my dog - an obsessive retriever who wants to hang on to the dummy, the only reward worth giving up the dummy for is another dummy. On land, Pippa has written an article on this called "the switch retrieve". It works only for certain types of dogs though. Putting shake on cue helped but not because it stopped him shaking apart from when I said the cue (it didn't, at all). What putting shake on cue did was allow me to better prompt the delivery-shake-reward sequence. I did that by preventing a shake (walking into the water), then cuing shake (walking out of the water), then throwing another dummy. So the next throw was dependent on the right sequence. This was all ruined by my OH playing games with him in the sea and not giving a fig when Charlie shakes though.
Deliveries from water are an ongoing issue with us. Sometimes I think we have cracked it; then it all goes wrong again. Basically she will return to hand without shaking or dropping the dummy - as long as her ears don't get wet. If she gets water in her ears, then she HAS to stop to shake. What can I say? She's such a girl... Don't think we'll ever quite master this one; and I've decided it's not worth stressing too much about.
