Dropping retrieve at feet

[Bestman]

My six month old Vizsla bitch is an enthusiastic retriever but has recently taken to dropping the dummy before I get a hand under it.

 

I appreciate I should have been less keen to relieve her of the dummy when she started retrieving, but as she now drops the dummy, I don't have the opportunity to fuss her before asking for it.

 

She happily carries her toys around the house and enjoys being petted whilst holding them. She doesn’t seem to appreciate having a dummy put in her mouth and being told to 'hold' whilst being petted.

 

I have not been asking her to sit on the recall or the retrieve; when she is carrying one of her toys and I ask her to sit she will often drop the dummy.

 

Any help much appreciated.

[plexer]

Try stepping backwards as she comes in with it to get her focused on bringing it to you.

 

Ben

[davhope]

At six months she is still very young, My lab had the same problem, she is now 2 and I have just managed to correct it,

Just keep giving her loads of praise when she gets it right and dont respond when she drops it,

And dont worry, you have got loads of time to sort this out.

Have fun

Regards David.

[new to the flock]

Bestman:

 

Will she play fetch with a ball? and if so does she drop that when she reaches you?

 

What type of dummy are you using, hard plastic, canvas, dolken?

 

When you are doing your retrieving, are all retrieves thrown as formals....meaning you make her sit before going for the retrieve, or do you do play sessions as well ....meaning you just throw the dummy and let her go from where ever she is standing, running...whatever?

[Bestman]

Hello NTTF,

 

1. I never throw a ball for her.

 

2. I use a variety of dummies - canvas, rabbit fur, socks, pigeon in a stocking.

 

3. They are all formal and a combination of memory and blinds.

 

My rationale is I don't want to bore her so I try and keep retrieving to a minimum and as interesting as possible. She is always keen it just falls apart at the very last moment!

 

Do you think I should start introducing sit at the end of the normal recall? Initially I didn't want anything from interrupting her throwing her body into me, but maybe if I introduce some steadiness in the recall she will sit down with the dummy on the retrieve? (Probably wishful thinking)

 

She is better with some dummies; socks and rabbit fur she holds onto a split second longer which makes the retrieve just acceptable, while canvas and the dummy launcher attatchment (Thrown by hand) are the least favorite.

 

Many thanks

[new to the flock]

Bestman,

 

What is her attitude when she comes in with the retrieve? By this I mean is she sulky, excited, boared, doing it because she has to or because she wants to?

 

has anything happened from the time that she allowed you to take the bumper from her mouth to when she started dropping. Physical injury, yelled at, etc?

 

NTTF

[Bestman]

NTTF

 

She is very keen on the way out (full speed) and pretty keen on the way in (3/4 speed).

 

What's a bumper?

 

No 'event' that I can think of that put her off.

[new to the flock]

Bestman:

 

bumper equals dummy, sorry it is a Canadian term.

 

Okay last question;

1) when you started her how long did you let her hold the dummy before taking it from her?

5seconds, 20 seconds, 40 seconds, 0ne minute.

 

I have an idea for you to work with, however I just want this last bit of information to put it all together.

[Bestman]

I'm afraid I didn’t really let her hold it I just gently took it from her.

 

A mistake I now realise - I think the root of the problem is she now anticipates that I'm going to take it.

[new to the flock]

Okay here goes;

 

It is my feeling that you have two problems on the go here and they are compounding each other. The first problem you have recognized, and that is the fact that you rushed taking the retrieve from her while you were starting her. I personally, and a lot of other trainers that I know, will allow a young pup to hold onto its retrieves for up to a full minute as this is their reward.

 

The second part of the problem is you are doing all formal retriever work. Pointers have a very bad habit of taking things to heart. Where most of your flushing and retriever breeds are very forgiving, pointers blame you for everything wrong in their lives. Basically what I am trying to say is; all work and no play makes fido a very resentful puppy. She is not enjoying herself with the retrieves therefore you are not going to get what you want out of her.

 

When she goes out for the retrieve she goes out very quickly and I bet her tail is held straight up high. On her return I would bet that she comes in at a slower rate and her tail is either held horizontal or slightly down. She is anticipating losing the retrieve. If left unchecked this dog will start droping the retrieves farther and farther from you, or start refusing to retrieve at all. You will be left with having to force break her for retrieving.

 

I would recommend for correcting these problems that you;

 

1) put the bumpers away for now and back up a couple of steps.

 

2) start with just play retrieve sessions using a tennis ball.

....this will remove the offending object, in this case the bumper, from the equations....

 

3)take her for walks and throw the ball for her to chase and retrieve.

.....make this very fun, no sitting and waiting, just fire the ball out there and let her go....

 

4)when she comes in just keep walking and encourage her to carry the ball by telling her good girl come on lets go, etc.

....if she drops the ball, just give it a nudge or light kick with your foot and she will chase and pick it up again......

 

5)when she is carrying beside you, you can start to stop and pet her, DO NOT take the ball from her at this point. Start walking again and take the ball while walking.

........be sure to allow her to carry for 30 seconds to a minute, before even trying to reach for the ball.

 

YOU NEED TO TEACH HER TO CARRY AND HOLD ONTO THE BALL

 

6)this may take 2 or 3 months to accomplish, so be sure to take lots of patience with you as 30 seconds of raised voice or anger at a pointer will cost you 2 weeks training.

 

7) when she is holding the ball well in these play sessions you can start to slowly reintroduce the formal aspects of the retriever work into the equation with one or two formal retrieves to 5 or 6 fun retrieves.

 

REMEMBER KEEP IT FUN AND KEEP IT SIMPLE

 

NTTF

[Bestman]

Thanks for all the advice, I will rteport back........