[Kristen Cabe]

I thought this was some pretty good info, and offers an alternative to the forced retrieve. It has pictures, so I can't copy and paste it here, but here is the link:

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/retrieve4p.html

 

[Saskia Stark]

I haven't read the whole article, just parts of it, because I'm already familiar with teaching the dog to retrieve with the help of a marker (clicker) and... I love it!
I have teached my dog to retrieve with the help of a clicker, and now he's retrieving exactly the way I hoped he would. He goes extremely fast to the dumbbel, pickes it up as fast as he can, and brings it back with the same speed. And... he keeps it in his mouth without chewing!!! It is just beautiful to look at.

But I have never followed all those steps like the women in the article above, because that takes way too long for me.
I putted him into drive, and hold the dumbbel in front of his mouth, with the result that he bit immediately in the dumbbel: click... ball.

 

[Kristen Cabe]

With our high drive working dogs, it might not take all those tiny incremental steps, but the article was written primarily for pet owners. It does a pretty good job of breaking the technique down into steps that the average person can easily understand, imo.

 

[Connie Sutherland]

I thought this was some pretty good info, and offers an alternative to the forced retrieve. It has pictures, so I can't copy and paste it here, but here is the link:

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/retrieve4p.html

I liked some of the things in this article a lot. It's focused on clicker work, but it doesn't matter at all, IMHO, whether or not you're using a clicker as a marker to follow this set of motivational instructions.

I noted that something Bob Scott has mentioned a couple of times (and which I had overlooked until he did) is stressed here, and that's to mark the first attention the dog pays to the dumbbell, including being fully present when s/he first sees it.

Marker timing is stressed, too, and in my experience, a lot of new (and not so new) handlers become lot better when they understand the importance of timing.

The language in the step titles is awfully cutesy and there sure are a lot of words....... but there's some good stuff here.

JMO.

 

[Saskia Stark]

With our high drive working dogs, it might not take all those tiny incremental steps, but the article was written primarily for pet owners. It does a pretty good job of breaking the technique down into steps that the average person can easily understand, imo.

That's right, it certainly does!

 

[Bob Scott]

I thought this was some pretty good info, and offers an alternative to the forced retrieve. It has pictures, so I can't copy and paste it here, but here is the link:

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/retrieve4p.html

I liked some of the things in this article a lot. It's focused on clicker work, but it doesn't matter at all, IMHO, whether or not you're using a clicker as a marker to follow this set of motivational instructions.

I noted that something Bob Scott has mentioned a couple of times (and which I had overlooked until he did) is stressed here, and that's to mark the first attention the dog pays to the dumbbell, including being fully present when s/he first sees it.

Marker timing is stressed, too, and in my experience, a lot of new (and not so new) handlers become lot better when they understand the importance of timing.

The language in the step titles is awfully cutesy and there sure are a lot of words....... but there's some good stuff here.

JMO.

To many people want the dog to start off with taking it in their mouth. Most dogs wont without movement. That's prey, and you don't want to teach the dumbell with prey.
That's why ANY first indication (look) of the dumbell is rewarded. With prey only, on a given day, the dog may look at the dumbell laying on the ground and wont get it cause it ain't movin.
That's where either motivational training or compulsion comes in.
You all know my preference! :wink:

 

[Kristen Cabe]

I'm actually doing some clicker work with Jessie (hey, I can't screw her up with clicker stuff, right?!), and that's how I found that article. She's picking up on it really well. I was hoping it would help with her house breaking, because I'm really getting tired of standing out in the yard for 20-30 minutes 3-4 times per evening and her not doing anything. I have other things I could be doing besides standing out in the cold (and lastnight it was cold, torrential rain and gale force winds). Not fun. The idea is that she'll figure out that the quicker she potties when I take her out, the quicker she gets the cheese that's in my pocket. I hope it works.