Teaching The Hold Command

[new to the flock]

TEACHING THE HOLD COMMAND

 

 

 

I like to work with the dog up on a training table, as this saves your back, and places the dog in a learning enviroment. Use a dummy or ball...which ever your dog is very comfortable with....to teach this exercise.

 

Start by slidding your thumb under the dogs collar to control her head.

 

 

If the dog is not willing to open her mouth, push your thumb between the upper and lower phlew to cause her to open.

 

 

 

Place the Ball in her mouth and command with "HOLD"

 

 

Place your thumb beneith the lower jaw, and 2 fingers over the upper jaw.

 

 

Excert just enough pressure that she can not spit the ball out.

 

Count to 5 slowly, and then gently push the ball towards the back of the mouth so that she opens cleanly and command with a release. In my case "OUT".

 

 

Gently and calmly remove the ball from her mouth.

 

[new to the flock]

Once the ball is out praise with " Good Girl" and give a treat.

 

 

Repeat 6 times per session.

 

If she drops the ball at any point during the exercise tell her "PHEWY" and start again. The dog does not recieve a treat for a dropped ball or one released before commanded.

 

As you repeat this exercise you will find that she will start to reach for the ball/dummy as it is brought towards her.

 

 

 

 

Place the dummy in her mouth and command "HOLD". Again count to the required time.....you want to slowly work up to 1 minute......gently push towards the back of the mouth and command to release, "OUT", praise, "GOOD GIRL", and give a treat.

 

Once she reliably holds the dummy and reliably releases on command you may combine the exercise with retrieving.

 

Toss the ball/dummy out a short distance....12 feet.... and send the dog. As she finishes the retrieve command "Hold". Calmly reach down and give her a calm pat, place your hand on the ball/dummy and command "OUT". At this point praise her with "GOOD GIRL" and give her a treat. Never be in a rush to take the retrieve from her as this will cause dropping.

 

If at any time she drops the retrieve, calmly tell her phewy, calmly walk out to her and place the ball into her mouth with a "HOLD" command. Calmly take a couple of steps backwards and call her to you. Finish as above.

 

 

When she will reliably retrieve from 12 feet holding and delivering each time, you can slowly begin to lengthen her out.

 

 

If she reliably delivers as you are lengthening out , you can start to drop out the treats. Start by dropping every third treat and then slowly decreasing until they are eliminated.

 

I personally carry treats with me and give them occationally to reward good performance and behaviour, so the dog knows there is always the possibility of recieving one.

 

Keep your training fun.

 

NTTF

[greybeard]

Force a ball into its mouth?

Give it a treat.

 

Dear oh dear

I have now heard it all.

[Lloyd90]

Force a ball into its mouth?

Give it a treat.

 

Dear oh dear

I have now heard it all.

 

 

I have no doubt NTTF knows what he's doing The force is causing no pain or distress to the dog, just gently holding it in place

[Spaniel]

If the dog is not going to hold the ball or dummy how else would you teach the dog to hold....

 

Ive done the same as NTTF, until the dog will hold the dummy until given the release command, in my case i say Dead.

There is no pain inflicted on the dog what so ever, otherwise i would not do it.

So once i have this command sorted, the return to me on whistle and the sit command on whistle all carried out, i then introduce a retrieve..and all three commands come together

[Windy]

cant get my springer to leave her tennis balls alone. has always got one in her mouth, so the 'hold' issue aint a problem!!

[danccooke]

I know this is going to be a piece of string question, but......

 

How many sessions do you think it would take for an average 8 month pup to start getting the hang of this.

 

how do you deal with it if you dog is still a bit snappy/mouthing as that is starting to get very irritating and embarassing.

 

he is a Rhodesian Ridgeback so not a standard gun dog, but I really want him to be well trained and the more mental stimulation I can give him as well as physical exercise then hopefully the calmer the dog i'll end up with

[deadeye]

putting a dog up on a table or platfrom is very helpful for teaching hold and whoa and other such commands. like the man says it saves your back and isolates the dog for his lesson. i typically use the tailgate of my pickup truck. the learning and commands easily transition to the ground.

[Andy19]

How long until the pup starts reaching for the ball? I have been at for a few days and no joy yet!

[darren m]

if the dog wants the ball and will sit still to command , just place it in its mouth and leave your hand under its chin and keep repeating the hold command , took a couple of days and my dog had grasped it

[TJ91]

whats the need for a dog to hold something?

 

if i say fetch i expect my dog to bring bird/dummy etc back to me and drop it, why would i want it to sit somewhere holding something??

[bobby dazzler]

whats the need for a dog to hold something?

 

if i say fetch i expect my dog to bring bird/dummy etc back to me and drop it, why would i want it to sit somewhere holding something??

you might be chaseing a lot of runners then good luck

[TJ91]

you might be chaseing a lot of runners then good luck

 

Why would i be chaseing runners...the dog goes after the runner and brings it to me, i take it from the dog and finish it off

 

are you saying you would leave a live animal in your dogs mouth

[garyb]

Good training should present a good delivery to hand of shot game...

 

Dropping birds at feet is a problem IMO.

[TJ91]

Good training should present a good delivery to hand of shot game...

 

Dropping birds at feet is a problem IMO.

 

 

Each to ther own, i dont mind a dog putting a pigeon down at my feet.

but i will always take it from it by hand if the animal is still wik

[Blackbart]

Why would i be chaseing runners...the dog goes after the runner and brings it to me, i take it from the dog and finish it off

 

are you saying you would leave a live animal in your dogs mouth

 

You would be chasing runners because in your earlier post you said your dog brings it back and "DROPS IT".

 

If it aint dead it isnt going to just sit there when it is dropped.

 

I train mine different in that when it retrieves i will not pick it up if the dog drops it(dummy this is)and will repeatedly get the dog to pick it until it is delivered to my hand,then lots of praise.It doesnt take them long to get the message.

[TJ91]

Worded it poorly

 

i would take it from the dog if it wasnt dead, i wouldnt get her to stand ther holding a live animal..thats unfair to the animal and will surely give shooters a bad name, leaving it in a dogs mouth suffering

 

but i see no problem the dog dropping a dead animal at my feet

[pegleg31]

it's all down to training and what you want from your dog.if your happy with the dog dropping quarry/dummies at your feet that's fine.however if you want to trial or have your dog working correctly then your dog should present what it's holding correctly.which means sitting directly infront of you holding the quarry/dummy until you take it

[TJ91]

it's all down to training and what you want from your dog.if your happy with the dog dropping quarry/dummies at your feet that's fine.however if you want to trial or have your dog working correctly then your dog should present what it's holding correctly.which means sitting directly infront of you holding the quarry/dummy until you take it

 

 

Whats that mean..everyoner has ther own way of doing things so there is no such thing as correctly..just personal opinion that

i want the animal brought back to me, i dont expect it to be brought back all plucked cooked and marinated!

 

this is just my opinion, i know everyone else has different but the dog i use on occasion does what i need of it

i dont have a use for 'hold' command...just wondered why it was used

Edited November 2, 2010 by TJ91

[Blackbart]

Worded it poorly

 

i would take it from the dog if it wasnt dead, i wouldnt get her to stand ther holding a live animal..thats unfair to the animal and will surely give shooters a bad name, leaving it in a dogs mouth suffering

 

but i see no problem the dog dropping a dead animal at my feet

 

The point of it is to deliver the bird to hand dead or alive and not to get a dog to sit there with a bird in it's mouth.

 

It encourages the dog to keep hold of the bird until you take it and discourages it to drop birds at your feet,beside you,behind you or wherever.In other words the dogs job isnt complete until you take it.

 

That's the way i see it anyway.

[pegleg31]

it's all down to training and what you want from your dog.if your happy with the dog dropping quarry/dummies at your feet that's fine.however if you want to trial or have your dog working correctly then your dog should present what it's holding correctly.which means sitting directly infront of you holding the quarry/dummy until you take it

 

 

Whats that mean..everyoner has ther own way of doing things so there is no such thing as correctly..just personal opinion that

i want the animal brought back to me, i dont expect it to be brought back all plucked cooked and marinated!

 

this is just my opinion, i know everyone else has different but the dog i use on occasion does what i need of it

i dont have a use for 'hold' command...just wondered why it was used

 

 

if you re-read my post you'll see i've stated that it's all down to what YOU want from you dog.however there is a correct way of presenting a retrieve in the eyes of the kennel club

 

hope this clears things up

 

russ

 

 

p.s. anyone know why NTTF stopped posting?

 

i used to look forward to his responses

[bobby dazzler]

whats the need for a dog to hold something?

 

if i say fetch i expect my dog to bring bird/dummy etc back to me and drop it, why would i want it to sit somewhere holding something??

the way you worded it sounded like you get the dog to drop if it was a ruuner to like you said your dog does what you want it to do fair enough

[darren m]

p.s. anyone know why NTTF stopped posting?

 

i used to look forward to his responses

 

i dont know mate , its a shame as he was a useful and welcome addition to this site

[stevie1967]

T391,you say your dog drops the ball or dummy at your feet and you pick it up,thats all well and good if you only have one dog and it has retrieved a tennis ball or a pigeon the can't run,but when you're working a team of dogs behind a line of busy guns shooting Pheasant or Partridge,and you have 5 or 6 dogs queing upto present you with pricked birds you need them to understand the hold command and wait for you to accept the retrieve to hand cos if they all drop them at your feet and head off for another retrieve you need be like Linford Christie to catch them.And also dogs are like kids,you have to show them what to do over and over again if you want them to learn,and when you think they have learned it all,repeat it!

Edited July 23, 2011 by stevie1967

[beretta88]

this is a proven method it does work but can also go very wrong if not done correct i have seen dogs never pick up again. and should be done as a last resort the way i find works well is to use something they dont wanna let go i.e there favorite toy tennis ball etc then chuck a retrieve in with dummies, cold game, if the dog is dropping the dummy on his way back you could be over doing it and he dont care about this one he wants the next. two or three retrieves a day is plenty.