force fetch?

[gundog3664]

Ive been training my dog to retrieve but havnt forced fetched her, alot of people are tellin me i needa force fetch her to let her no thats its going to be my way. Does anyone have any advice on how to force fetch?

[Birddog3412]

Get you a good force fetch DVD. I like George Hickox he uses a toe hitch, others use ear pinch. Just pic one and stick with it.

[texscala]

Make sure you dog is old enough to handle it. I prefer to do it when a dog is mature, and I like the ear pinch method but I am sure both work.

Here were my results after about a month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOk2nTrd1oA

[EvanG]

Ive been training my dog to retrieve but havnt forced fetched her, alot of people are tellin me i needa force fetch her to let her no thats its going to be my way. Does anyone have any advice on how to force fetch?

The SmartFetch DVD is a popular course of study for force fetch. Force fetching is something you can do yourself, but it deserves some study. Here are a couple clips from SmartFetch. You can see it, and many other video clips and training articles at our website. These clips are only snapshots of the vast content of the DVD, which is 2 discs, 2 1/2 hours of detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PAIFgb3 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsLab3MACBo

EvanG

[gundog3664]

yea, shes a year an 5mon. old, sometimes when she gest out of the pond she wants to explore. Imma bout to get ana ecollar.

[daniel77]

yea, shes a year an 5mon. old, sometimes when she gest out of the pond she wants to explore. Imma bout to get ana ecollar.

I may be misunderstanding what you're saying your dog is doing, but not coming to you, and needing to be force fetched are two different issues. Not that force fetching isn't a good thing, just not sure it'll address your problem. You had also better be careful with that e-collar on this problem. If she dang sure knows what come means and is just giving you the finger, then a correction is warranted, just don't overdo it. They can cause big changes, for better or worse, especially with a timid dog, or one that doesn't understand why it's getting zapped.

[gundog3664]

oo, well what my problems have been is that when we go to the pong to train she will drop the bumper on the bank and i was jsut puttin some forums for advice and alot of people say i should force fetch her because it will be good in the long run an all. So what do you mean the e collar cause i was actually think about gettin one?

[daniel77]

Force fetching, assuming it is done correctly, will leave no doubt in your dog's mind that what you want is for him to pick up and hold the object and deliver it to you, be that a dummy, bird, whatever. What I took you to mean by the word "explore", was coming out of the water, and ignoring you to go about her own business. To me, this falls more into the basic obedience category, and the "come" command not being followed through. That may not be what you meant, just what I thought you meant.
As to the e-collar, they can be wonderful training tools, but IMO they require a very good understanding of what is going on, proper pre-conditioning of the dog to the collar, and very good timing in their application. There are books and videos that address nothing but the use of the e-collar. It isn't rocket science or anything, but if the dog is not properly pre-conditioned to the collar, doesn't know at all what is going on, or is too immature for the pressure (at 1 1/2 years, your dog should be old enough), lots of confusion and worse can follow. If the collar is set too hot, the dog may well quit altogether. Not hot enough, and it may as well not be on. Again, this depends on the individual dog. Some can't take much at all while others need quite a zap.
I well remember watching the father in law of a horse trainer who I worked for in college completely ruin a high dollar border collie pup in about five minutes because he used an e-collar without understanding what he was doing. He burned a very green female who wasn't yet conditioned to the collar and didn't have a clue what he was asking her to do. She headed strait back to the barn and didn't want another thing to do with cattle. $1500 dog shipped from half-way around the country made useless, and I'm sure that many of the folks on here have unfortunately seen the same sort of thing done and bird dogs not want anything to do with birds anymore.
Do a bit more research and watch some videos. Evan and others have quite a few youtube clips, and videos for sale to give you a good understanding about the force fetch stuff. I'm not saying that the e-collar is a bad thing at all. Just adding a word or caution. You need to go into that with your eyes open, and keep asking questions like you're doing here. Don't just go get one thinking it'll train your dog for you, it's just an extension of your hands so you can correct them from a ways off.

[gundog3664]

Yea, she does that too like ive said, she'll drop the bumper and want to wonder off. she will come back on command but she wolnt want to stay when ever i want to go to a different spot of the pond. What are some good ways to reinforce the "come" command, or how to keep her attention on what i want.

Yea, ive watched many videos from ducks.org and gundogsonline about conditioning e collars with a pinch collar or choke chain by teaching "heel".

Thanks by the way for all the replies its been a big help.

[EvanG]

oo, well what my problems have been is that when we go to the pong to train she will drop the bumper on the bank and i was jsut puttin some forums for advice and alot of people say i should force fetch her because it will be good in the long run an all. So what do you mean the e collar cause i was actually think about gettin one?

If you follow the SmartFetch method you will have formalized your dog's obedience prior to the actual FF work. So coming on command will be a moot point. It's imparative that your dog be fully obedient, even in the presence of pressure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO7zJpCsKQc

EvanG