Retreving Help

[thecogsbollocks 44]

My 6 month old bull lurcher is great with a dummy on the lamp just when he comes back with it he comes to me then he just runs around me with it and when I do get hold of it he either won't let go or can be a nasty **** any suggestions ?

[brenner 773]

If you have a narrow walk way up the side of your house or even the hallway in a house (basically a run with a dead end and the only way out is past you.) throw the dummy towards dead end and then produce a treat if he won't come back to you. I'm guessing he's possessive of the dummy so maybe praise alone will not be enough to get him to want to hand it up to you, hence the combination of giving a treat(trade off) and loads of praise. After a good few short seccions of doing this. Move out into an open space and using your own judgment decide when you think he's ready to do this in the field / park. eventually Just use praise alone with no treat. I would also address the problem of the dog getting nasty with you by using his dinner rather than scolding him over the dummy so as not to create negative association with retrieval. Put down his dinner, preferably meat so as to trigger his nasty reaction and all I will say is.. whatever level of nasty energy he meets you with, I would match it and then some. Hope you get something from that. There are lads on here far more qualified than me to give advice but that's just methods that have worked for me. A.t.b brenner

[brenner 773]

If you have a narrow walk way up the side of your house or even the hallway in a house (basically a run with a dead end and the only way out is past you.) throw the dummy towards dead end and then produce a treat if he won't come back to you. I'm guessing he's possessive of the dummy so maybe praise alone will not be enough to get him to want to hand it up to you, hence the combination of giving a treat(trade off) and loads of praise. After a good few short seccions of doing this. Move out into an open space and using your own judgment decide when you think he's ready to do this in the field / park. eventually Just use praise alone with no treat. I would also address the problem of the dog getting nasty with you by using his dinner rather than scolding him over the dummy so as not to create negative association with retrieval. Put down his dinner, preferably meat so as to trigger his nasty reaction and all I will say is.. whatever level of nasty energy he meets you with, I would match it and then some. Hope you get something from that. There are lads on here far more qualified than me to give advice but that's just methods that have worked for me. A.t.b brenner

forgot to say.. to take dinner off dog when he's eating so as to trigger reaction and repeat until he knows who the boss is

[thecogsbollocks 44]

Thanks for the help. He's fine with things like food bones toys but anything fur he won't let go. I haven't fed him today so hopefully a treat for the dummy will be more aprealling

[Casso 1,261]

The retrieve centres around the dog been comfortable with you and comfortable in your space,

Certain objects induce instinctive behavior in the dog, food, play items, dummy etc, the mutt has a choice when it come to possessions and its owner it can act instinctively or it can act socially,

 

Social is having no issues with possessions in your zone , no fear no history of negetive interaction in that area those 3 feet around you

 

Hand feeding from young prevents food objects becoming an issue and introduces a safe and eager enterance into your area without fear having the pup make plenty of contact with its front feed up on the owner

 

2 dummies negates the need to take one having the dog coming into yor space with first to get the second , it's not about getting the perfect retrieve , it's about the dog been comfortable in your space

 

Don't discipline just try to manage , it pays dividends in the long run

[terryd 8,385]

 

If you have a narrow walk way up the side of your house or even the hallway in a house (basically a run with a dead end and the only way out is past you.) throw the dummy towards dead end and then produce a treat if he won't come back to you. I'm guessing he's possessive of the dummy so maybe praise alone will not be enough to get him to want to hand it up to you, hence the combination of giving a treat(trade off) and loads of praise. After a good few short seccions of doing this. Move out into an open space and using your own judgment decide when you think he's ready to do this in the field / park. eventually Just use praise alone with no treat. I would also address the problem of the dog getting nasty with you by using his dinner rather than scolding him over the dummy so as not to create negative association with retrieval. Put down his dinner, preferably meat so as to trigger his nasty reaction and all I will say is.. whatever level of nasty energy he meets you with, I would match it and then some. Hope you get something from that. There are lads on here far more qualified than me to give advice but that's just methods that have worked for me. A.t.b brenner

forgot to say.. to take dinner off dog when he's eating so as to trigger reaction and repeat until he knows who the boss is

 

 

 

My dog was of a similar disposition and possessive over food and items. I admit initially I met him head on and put him straight but in hind site it wasn't the best approach. What did work was avoiding a confrontation and as casso says get the dog comfy around you. I often hold a rabbit,chicken leg or what ever while he munches on it and that has helped a lot. His first day time rabbit he caught and trotted off with it. I had to wait for the ferret and by the time I got to him he was quite worked up and excited and started growling as I approached him. I could have given him a hiding but I bet next time he would have kept going with that rabbit. But now surely but slowly things are turning around and he is more comfortable about the whole process and trusts me more. Nothing ever comes quick at least for me but you just got to be patient

[Allan P 1,149]

Be careful using treats it can make the dog drop short, and if he isn't hard mouth and doesn't kill the rabbit it is a pain in the arse.

[thecogsbollocks 44]

Cheers lads. Lots of sense spoken made me think differently on my approach. By the state the dummy is in hes gunna be a killer haha.

[Qbgrey 4,086]

Use the alley way with s dead rabbit as said,I would use s treat just yet in case he drop rabbit but I'd crouch right down low,encourage him back,don't snatch it off him let him have it around s bit,praisr him then gently take hold.saying dead!dead.

[matt1979 766]

Never had this with an older dog but have had a pup which was food aggressive for a while and with bones/ dummy's etc As has been said just seemed a natural thing to this one pup and I just hand feed and sat next to her bowl as a pup until she got the message that I didn't want her food an that the food actually came from me. As she got more settled I would hold bones as she chewed away, didn't take long for her to grow out of the issue and see me as the source of good things ie food rather than a threat atb I did also take bones away as she got more settled and replaced with another, bit similar to casso 2 dummy solution I suppose. Didn't take long to sort this pup out atb

[thecogsbollocks 44]

Thanks lads

[Blueboybilly 164]

Have a look at the article the Skycat put on here

 

http://www.thehuntinglife.com/the-value-of-tug-games-with-puppies/

 

This helped me a lot but I had to improvise a lot and think outside of the box. My Ped whippet now puts my father in laws working gun dogs to shame with his retrieving!! Much to his dislike!!

 

The comments that Casso made are also worth listening to - he clearly knows his stuff and helped me when I was having problems with my pup. The ally way method that Brenner mentioned was also one that I used to tidy things up for myself too.

 

Main thing is to stick at it. Some days will be better than others but you'll be making tiny steps with every session. If you keep at it you'll look at your pup's retrieve in a few months and realise just how far you have come!!

 

BBB