So brogan and I have found a local club to join, and have found a few trainers that use positive reinforcement rather than force-fetching after a little research and getting in contact with some people. The next club meeting is in the middle of April for a training day. For now, we're continuing our fun games of fetch, and starting to get a little bit more complicated with it by trying to teach him to 'hold' his dummy, or ball, or wahtever it is I have him going after. The problem is, that he doesn't seem to want to hold anything, but rather drop it by his feet and try to tear it apart I will tease him with the dummy until I see he's got interest in it, and then tell him "hold" when I know he will take it-then praise him. A second after he takes it though he spits it out by his feet, holds one end with one paw, and starts to try and rip open the other end. I'm sure the people at the club will be able to help me out with this, but there are very few people with e-mail accounts to get a hold of, and most of them are pretty difficult to get in contact with via telephone *sigh* so I was wondering if anyone here might be able to offer up some advice as to how to start teaching him to hold it a little longer? Perhaps he is too young? He'll be 5 months the 10th of April. Maybe I am doing this wrong? There's so much for us to learn. He is also starting to do this when I throw he dummy out for him-runs to it, stops to sniff it, doesn't pick it up but rather stands and begins to gnaw at it just as he does when I ask him to hold it. Any advice, as always, is much appreciated. Hope you guys are all doing well and that you're not too sick of me asking so many questions!
if this were my dog, and bearing in mind that he is very young, I`d not use a dummy ATM. Maybe a ragger or similar? So all the `mistakes` he`s making aren`t associated with the dummy. When you get the recall & hold right (and I first teach this by having a tug-of-war when the dog returns, so it rushes to get back) then introduce the dummy.
Thanks claireanddaisy. And I just realized that I posted this in the completely wrong section of the forum! I meant to put it in the gundogs section. Aye. I'm really very sorry! I need to learn to pay better attention to what I'm doing. We have been using some other things-he's got a few nyla bones that he'll run after, a plush fox, but a tennis ball with a rope at the end is what we usually use. I only bring out the dummy once in a while, but it's not just with the dummy that he will stop to chew-it's with any of the above items.
If you stick with things you can get grab easily - a knotted rope etc., give it a good shake and have an exciting game with him. Hopefully he`ll find that far more fun than just having a munch. Then calm it down a bit. Don`t give him time to sit and chew it. And he shouldn`t have the retrieve toy unless you are playing with him. Remember he`s a baby and wants to have fun, which is great because he`s learning through play
I would say 5 months is a bit young for formal retrieve training. Really you want to start with the foundations first, at about 6 months old eg - heel on and off lead, recall, sit and sit-stay. TBH I would only try a few basic retrieves at 6 months, if at all, with a favourite toy, sock or rag toy and see how he does. If he doesn't fetch it leave it for another time and try again. If he does pick it up, but seems hesitant with it, try making a lot of daft noises and moving away, to make him come to you with it. Chances are being 5 months old he'll just leave the retrieve and run to you, but praise for the recall anyway! Remember he may be teething at this age and could be taking it out on the dummy - not a habit you want with dummies really. I started Isla with puppy dummy retrieves at 6 months and looking back it was way too early, especially for an English Springer! There's plenty of time for retrieves in the future, my advice would be work on the foundations first. ;-)
Ripsnorterthe2nd, thanks bunches for the advice. I actually finally got ahold of the trainer who runs the retriever club in our area and had a good hour long conversation with him today-he told me the same thing. Not to worry about it right now, and to wait until he is between 6-8 months old to start getting into more complicated tasks. So right now, we'll just keep it simple-stick with our puppy classes and fetch games, and always leaving our training sessions on a good note. I'm pretty excited as he invited me to a hunt test in our area on Sunday. Will be pretty fun to see all the dogs!
