Tay. Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I started training Jess the obedience dumbell early this year. So far not going to well She will take it from my hands and hold it until I tell her 'give'. But she won't take it off the ground. Any ideas to get her to take it off the ground? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staranais Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Just hold it closer and closer to the ground, then put it on the ground but leave your hand on it, then on the ground but take your hand off just as she reaches for it, then no hand... Baby steps! If at any point she doesn't get it, just go back a step and move more slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ness Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 (edited) Can show you with Kenzie or Ness on Saturday if your at the trial. Edited August 13, 2009 by ness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I started training Jess the obedience dumbell early this year. So far not going to well She will take it from my hands and hold it until I tell her 'give'. But she won't take it off the ground. Any ideas to get her to take it off the ground? ;) You've achieved one of the hardest parts of teaching this exercise in my (limited) experience, so I'd say you're going well My first Lab would easily pick it up and bring it back, but couldn't understand this whole hold thing until I ask to take it. She finally got it when I broke the steps down. My 2nd Lab, well she wouldn't even pick it up in her mouth, only thing she'd take in her mouth was food (she wasn't even a toy kinda gal when I first got her). So I had to train the part you're trying to train now (which was weird for me, a dog that wouldn't pick a toy up off the ground?! ) I shaped the pick up of the dumbell using a clicker. If she showed interest in it, click/treat. If she touched it, C/T. If she licked it, C/T. If she put her mouth around it, C/T. Baby steps like that, working the criteria up until they are picking it up. I've gotten that far, now I'm working on her holding it for longer before she gets C/T - so far, not going too well ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesP Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 What I did was sit on the ground, getting slightly hysterical (prior border refused to retrieve) and begged Poppy to pick the damn dumbell up. There may have been tears too. My lovely little girl cocked her head at me and went and picked the stupid thing up! ;) ;) :worship: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 Pele will pick it up off the ground, but is incapable of sitting and holding it, but she can crap with a tennis ball in her mouth Must put more effort into the dumb-bell now that she's got her CD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 but she can crap with a tennis ball in her mouth Mine too ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay. Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Can show you with Kenzie or Ness on Saturday if your at the trial. Not going Next trial I'll be at *maybe* is the Gawler one on the 27th of september. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggy Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I've just started training the dumbell with Banjo to. He's the same will take it from my hand but not off the ground. I'm just happy that he actually gets excited about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I would shape it like Rubystar did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~*Shell*~ Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I just put my hand closer and closer to the ground until Zero understood that no matter where it was, he had to get it - the first time he picked it up from the ground I went nuts and started shoving the treats in his gob. That seemed to get the point across and he went from that to being able to do a full retrieve in about 2 days. Once they've got that down, the rest comes naturally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caffy Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I started training Jess the obedience dumbell early this year. So far not going to well She will take it from my hands and hold it until I tell her 'give'. But she won't take it off the ground. Any ideas to get her to take it off the ground? http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/retrieve.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piri Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I started training Jess the obedience dumbell early this year. So far not going to well She will take it from my hands and hold it until I tell her 'give'. But she won't take it off the ground. Any ideas to get her to take it off the ground? :D You've achieved one of the hardest parts of teaching this exercise in my (limited) experience, so I'd say you're going well My first Lab would easily pick it up and bring it back, but couldn't understand this whole hold thing until I ask to take it. She finally got it when I broke the steps down. My 2nd Lab, well she wouldn't even pick it up in her mouth, only thing she'd take in her mouth was food (she wasn't even a toy kinda gal when I first got her). So I had to train the part you're trying to train now (which was weird for me, a dog that wouldn't pick a toy up off the ground?! ) I shaped the pick up of the dumbell using a clicker. If she showed interest in it, click/treat. If she touched it, C/T. If she licked it, C/T. If she put her mouth around it, C/T. Baby steps like that, working the criteria up until they are picking it up. I've gotten that far, now I'm working on her holding it for longer before she gets C/T - so far, not going too well Agree Ruby star Thats the way I did it as well, after having trouble,someone tried to "show" me how to do it by forcing her to hold it and it really did a lot of harm,Piri became really scared of it.Back chaining is the way to go with retrieving IMO.I was advised to reward her for just holding it in near me for a month and havnt looked back.Throwing it was the last step,I can now get 100mtr retrieves on the flat.In the bush its a different story she likes the ducks and rabbits better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyStar Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Yeah I had someone force the hold with Millie once, I said I would prefer not to train it that way and kept at it my own way. Millie was already weary of it so forcing the hold wasn't going to work for her. Shaping it has been a lot of work, a lot of time, but it's working and Millie isn't afraid of it. Ruby on the other hand, she knew how to pick it up, but couldn't get her to hold it. Before I knew how to shape the behaviour, I did try forcing the hold for her and after a lot of failure (as I tried doing it with treats at the same time and she'd spit the dumbell out immediately for the treat!), one night it finally just "clicked" for her and she was soon holding it. It wasn't the ideal way to train it, and even though we got there in the end, I would only ever train it by shaping it for all future dogs like I have done with Millie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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