Game of Bones – “Control the Games, Control the Dog” Part II

Corinne

Fetch

Some dogs are natural retrievers and others “no so much”. I have met many “retriever breeds” that have no inclination to retrieve whatsoever. I think it’s sad when I see people trying to force something that should come naturally. Having grown up with hunters and participating in Schutzhund (a highly stylised form of dogsport) I have seen and done horrible things to dogs in the name of training. This goes back to the principle of “we learn what we are taught” and I will never use “do it or I’ll hurt you” in the cultivation of game playing or learning again. When service people, such as drug detection, bomb detection, service dogs etc, take on a trainee, they look for three things ATTITUDE, APTITUDE and ABILITY. This goes back to my principal of “looking for the best” and “bringing it to its fullest expression”.

You can cultivate Fetch if your puppy shows an interest by picking things up and carrying things around. 

  1. Always praise and never scold your puppy if he picks something up he shouldn’t have (why was it within his reach, who’s the grown up in the relationship?). Move backwards making happy noises (not his name or cues) “pup pup pup” or kiss kiss kiss in high pitch tone. If he drops it while coming to you that’s OK but if he makes it to you make a huge fuss of how clever he is and offer him something of higher value (usually food) to “GIVE” the object. If it’s something he shouldn’t have had, give him something else in place of the inappropriate item.
  1. Throwing things. We need to combine the desire to “catch and bring” which is the foundation of Fetch. Start sitting on the ground and tossing the toy within your own reach. If your puppy gets it great, if not, you get it and do a “rabbit run” (dragging it on the ground to excite the catch phase) to get him engaged. 
  1. Toss the toy a very short distance 1-2 meters from you and if he gets it and brings it back lots of praise and excitement. If he doesn’t be patient and do another “rabbit run” and try again. NOTE: if you throw it too far, too fast he may lose interest. Also it may not be his “thing” and I prefer not to waste my time trying to get anyone to do things in which they really have no interest. Of course that doesn’t mean you should just give up and say “He can’t or won’t, do it”. Anything worth doing takes time, patience and persistence to develop. ATTITUDE, APTITUDE and ABILITY are the keys here, as well as creating patterns of behaviour through repetition and discipline.

 

Up next,

Game of Bones – Part III

Hide and Seek

Comments are closed.