Please help me... I have a 4 1/2 month old male chessie and I have watched many films read many books and tried in many diffrent ways but my pup will not completely bring back a retrieve. He will come about 2 ft from me and sit then release and I am going crazy attempting to understand why. If someone has an unusual method that could work please tell me.
quote:Originally posted by Tricia: Please help me... I have a 4 1/2 month old male chessie and I have watched many films read many books and tried in many diffrent ways but my pup will not completely bring back a retrieve. He will come about 2 ft from me and sit then release and I am going crazy attempting to understand why. If someone has an unusual method that could work please tell me.
Why is your pup sitting? At 4 1/2 months I would not expect a sit anytime during a retrieve unless held in that position to watch the throw. Have you been combining obedience & retrieving? If so, that might be your problem. If you have been insisting on obedience or hold, etc when he comes back, it soon ceases to be fun to return all the way to you. It sounds like he is upset about something that is happening close to you. Try to replay your training sessions from his perspective and see if you get any ideas.
First of all, I agree with Adrienne. Keep your obedience sessions and your retrieve sessions separate. Don't insist on sitting either when throwing the dummy or on delivery. If he is stopping two feet from you, that generally means he is confused about something that happened within that radius.
At 4 1/2 months, he is still a baby. All his retrieves should be FTB. You can use a long line on him, and when he gets the bumper, just reel him in like a big ol' fish, praising the whole time. That way, there are no commands or control exercises (like sit) involved. Just hold him by the rope, toss the bumper and let him race after it. At this age, he should be running for the bumper while it is still in the air. This increases drive. After he gets the bumper, reel him in and praise. Also, let him hold onto the bumper while you pat and praise him. Also, at this age he should only get 3-5 retrieves per session. You want retrieving to be fresh, not a chore.
He's also teething, so give him a little leeway for having a sore mouth. I don't recommend enforcing things like fetch and hold while he is teething. Plenty of time to do more formal retrieve work (including force-fetch) after he is done teething, around six-seven months.
right on Lisa. Our eight month old female cheapeke is just now undergoing force fetch and hopefully it will make a big difference. She has been marking good and fetching up the bumper but half way home drops it or goes somewhere else. A long line has helped but some of her retrieves have been to long for a line so we have shortened them up to have more control. She is a charmer so we are taking our time.
Once you get the control on her, you can go back to doing longer marks. The main thing is not to let her get into the habit of thinking she is her own woman! She'll get there on her own, soon enough! Are you doing the F-F yourself, or sending her out? If you send her out, she can get the whole basics done in about 3-5 months, and will be a pretty polished dog when you get her back.
quote:Originally posted by Tricia: Please help me... I have a 4 1/2 month old male chessie and I have watched many films read many books and tried in many diffrent ways but my pup will not completely bring back a retrieve. He will come about 2 ft from me and sit then release and I am going crazy attempting to understand why. If someone has an unusual method that could work please tell me.
<Jeff B>
Posted
My 7 month old male used to come to within 3' stop drop the bumper and then run to me. I started walking backwards when it looked like he was going to stop and drop the bumper. He would instantly resume his run trying to keep up with me. I would slow my pace and sure enough he would end up at my feet bumper in mouth (then drop the bumper on my feet). I decided to try this method because I was tired of doing my own water entries in Feb, and begining of March. My female used to drop the bumper as she ran by me at mach 5 speeds. She has already been taught hold and will deliver to hand she is now going through Force Fetch (and not liking it)
My pup at 4 1/2 months was hopeless and frustrating. No drive and wouldn't do any water retrieves. I let off a bit and waited for his teeth to finish and now at 7 1/2 months he thrives on retrieving. Not quite to hand, but definately to my feet.
Posts: 12 | Location: Bar Harbor, ME 04609 | Registered: Wed May 01 2002
I thank all of you for your advice I actually believe I found my error. I took the advice of beartown and lisa and noticed I was unaware that I was giving him the same command to come to me with the retrieve as I use for him to come to me and sit with obedience training( I didn't realize it would confuse him) we are working on a new phrase for him to come up to me with the retrieve it seems promising he seems to be more interested in the past few days. Thanks again
When I am working the more formal, precise type of obedience, I use "come" which means come in and sit straight and pay attention, the whole enchilada. When I am doing field work, I use "here" which means come to me, period. I NEVER use "come" in the field, as that is too formal. Besides, you want your dog in the habit of looking out when they are in the field, not looking at you. So we save the sit-front stuff for obedience work in the living room and "here" for the field.
My question is my pup wants to exit water about 10' to my right almost every time 99%. Then comes to me. I can't get him to stay straight line back to me. I even move to right or back up to no help. Any help with that? He's holding ok. Working with walking fetch now doing pretty good there to. Any help with water exit would be great.Thanks
Lisa Watch for teething also. This will cause a young pup to consistently drop or mouth bird or dummy. IMO
Tenor Follow Smart works. It is difficult to fix a area when the pup more then likely doesn't have all the knowledge needed to fix. Start with your basic handling then move on up to Swim by.
When my pup starts to cheat and head to the bank, I give a cast to the way I want her/him to correct. If they don't follow a "no" then the same cast. If I still get a refusaly I tell her or him "no" then a tone, gradually I move to a nick, then cast over ( at first ). I slow progress to were I do not give him or the 2nd chance and nick when she/he starts to cheat.
