Posted By: GigEmAggies
Force Fetch Help - 10/09/14 11:29 PM
I am currently in the process of training a pup. I am not a pro by any means but over the years people have seen my dog work and have asked me to train theirs. I have followed all of my usual steps with FF.
With a leather glove on I put my hand in the pups mouth and told her to hold and wouldn't let it out until I said "leave it". She had no issues with this.
After a few days, I moved on to a paint roller. Giving her a ear pinch, commanding fetch, putting roller in the pups mouth and releasing pressure off her ear once the roller was in. This took quite some time for her to figure out but she finally did. After about a week I finally had her lunging at the bumper when I commanded fetch, and she was picking them up off the ground.
We then moved on to multiple bumpers on the ground with her at heel I would walk by and not let her pick one up until I said fetch. She did fine. But I noticed her hold was getting sloppy. But when I reminded her she would tighten it up.
So after about 3.5 weeks (maybe this is normal but I have never had one take this long) we finally got to get back to retrieving. Now I cannot get her to hold the bumper. She will drop it on the way back to me because it's hanging so loosely out of her mouth. The times she does get it back to me no matter how many times I remind her to hold she just will not tighten up. I have tried everything except start FF all over. Is that what I need to do? Any other suggestions would be extremely helpful. Thanks
With a leather glove on I put my hand in the pups mouth and told her to hold and wouldn't let it out until I said "leave it". She had no issues with this.
After a few days, I moved on to a paint roller. Giving her a ear pinch, commanding fetch, putting roller in the pups mouth and releasing pressure off her ear once the roller was in. This took quite some time for her to figure out but she finally did. After about a week I finally had her lunging at the bumper when I commanded fetch, and she was picking them up off the ground.
We then moved on to multiple bumpers on the ground with her at heel I would walk by and not let her pick one up until I said fetch. She did fine. But I noticed her hold was getting sloppy. But when I reminded her she would tighten it up.
So after about 3.5 weeks (maybe this is normal but I have never had one take this long) we finally got to get back to retrieving. Now I cannot get her to hold the bumper. She will drop it on the way back to me because it's hanging so loosely out of her mouth. The times she does get it back to me no matter how many times I remind her to hold she just will not tighten up. I have tried everything except start FF all over. Is that what I need to do? Any other suggestions would be extremely helpful. Thanks