I am working with my Brittany on his retrive. He was not force fetch trained. He is doing ok.... will fetch bumpers from land or water and always returns them ....but we are working on speed of delivery and style. HOWEVER .... today out of the blue he surprized me with a " come play ...try to get my bone" impromtu chase game. I really did not know how to react.
I called him to the heel position took the bone on " give" gave it back on" hold" and then tossed it for him to keep.
It was great to see him want to play, as he is pretty serious dog.
BUT in the future ....How should I respond to this game.
additionally could someone talk about the process of " fun bumpers"...what rules apply?
thanks&
catch me if you can and the retrive, an impromptu game
Re: catch me if you can and the retrive, an impromptu game
You do not say how old your Brittany is ? I have had a few brittanies and my present one can be a brilliant retriever or....if she is not in the mood she will blink a dummy. I.M.O. brittanies are a "funny" breed where retrieving dummies is concerned but they tend to do much better on game.
If my dog blinks a dummy then I take the hint that she is not in the mood. All I do is ensure that she does pick up and retrieve that dummy and then do something else. She has not been F.F.'d so I do not force the issue. At a recent test I made the big mistake of entering her for both the Novice and the Open. In the Novice she lost only 2 points in total for her hunt plus 5 retrieves. But she'd had enough of dummies by then and was pretty lousy in the Open where she had another 5 retrieves to do......Sometimes you should quit while you are ahead ! :roll:
If a dog of any breed starts to play keep away, as your dog is doing with a dummy, then I switch from encouragement to total disinterest at once. I turn away from the dog and wait for it to realise there will be no game and no encouragement/praise either . If the dog then gives me the dummy I make a heck of a fuss of it. Since I don't train F.F. I cannot use it's "Fetch" command.
Bill T.
If my dog blinks a dummy then I take the hint that she is not in the mood. All I do is ensure that she does pick up and retrieve that dummy and then do something else. She has not been F.F.'d so I do not force the issue. At a recent test I made the big mistake of entering her for both the Novice and the Open. In the Novice she lost only 2 points in total for her hunt plus 5 retrieves. But she'd had enough of dummies by then and was pretty lousy in the Open where she had another 5 retrieves to do......Sometimes you should quit while you are ahead ! :roll:
If a dog of any breed starts to play keep away, as your dog is doing with a dummy, then I switch from encouragement to total disinterest at once. I turn away from the dog and wait for it to realise there will be no game and no encouragement/praise either . If the dog then gives me the dummy I make a heck of a fuss of it. Since I don't train F.F. I cannot use it's "Fetch" command.
Bill T.
The older I get, the better I was !
Re: catch me if you can and the retrive, an impromptu game
Mine developed that and it really only went away once I properly formalized “here” with an e-collar and then did force fetch.
Fun bumpers are a double edged sword they do help maintain the dogs engagement but they also encourage sloppiness, for now I would consider dropping them. My LM is not that bumper orientated and to keep him working hard I now throw in a fair number of fun bumpers, but one thing I do enforce even on a fun bumper is a clean delivery .
Fun bumpers are a double edged sword they do help maintain the dogs engagement but they also encourage sloppiness, for now I would consider dropping them. My LM is not that bumper orientated and to keep him working hard I now throw in a fair number of fun bumpers, but one thing I do enforce even on a fun bumper is a clean delivery .
Re: catch me if you can and the retrive, an impromptu game
I can see the loss of the game of keep-away, if he doesn't respond to a drop/give or take command when given, as potentially a form of pressure (negative punishment) that can help proof a retrieve. So, I can see the potential for bad habits, but also can see where with clear rule enforced as to what the play boundaries are, that the game could be one form of reward that can be used to help develop the retrieve.