Training My 15 wk old BC pup to bring back the ball after fetching

[eeyore51876]

Hi All,

 

I'm wondering what your thoughts/tips are for training my 15 wk old BC pup Kaycee how to bring the ball back to me and drop it in front of me. She loves teh frisbee and fetching a ball. She knows how to "drop it" with a little coaching. She just drops it when and where she wants to. I'm trying to teach her that the game is more fun for both of us if she retreives the ball and drops it at my feet.

 

The other trick that I'd love to tach my pup is to retrieve certain toys and eventually get her to "clean up" after herself. I've seen BC's trained to pick up certain toys by name and put them in their toy box. I'd like to know how to get started on that great trick. We are currently clicker training our pup and find it very successful. She can sit, (lay)down, come (sometimes when she feels like it - she's still a pup afterall), and "shake"(give her paw). Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks very much!

[WildFlower]

Hello there!

 

For the drop it command that I learned in puppy obedience, if the pup has something in their mouth simply say "drop it" and then when they do reward with a treat. Do this any time that they have something in their mouth. Eventually you can work this into the "fetch" game and slowly reduce the rewarding with treats.

 

As for retreiving toys by name, at this stage of the game I think the best thing that you could do is just consitantly refer to toys by name. One of the best things in training a puppy is repitition. So make sure that you identify a toy by a specific word and always use it.

 

I'm sure some others will have some great advise too.

 

Good Luck!

[Ninso]

Link to a thread where training "fetch" was recently discussed: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=22312

[Shetlander]

Hi All,

 

I'm wondering what your thoughts/tips are for training my 15 wk old BC pup Kaycee how to bring the ball back to me and drop it in front of me. She loves teh frisbee and fetching a ball. She knows how to "drop it" with a little coaching. She just drops it when and where she wants to. I'm trying to teach her that the game is more fun for both of us if she retreives the ball and drops it at my feet.

 

The other trick that I'd love to tach my pup is to retrieve certain toys and eventually get her to "clean up" after herself. I've seen BC's trained to pick up certain toys by name and put them in their toy box. I'd like to know how to get started on that great trick. We are currently clicker training our pup and find it very successful. She can sit, (lay)down, come (sometimes when she feels like it - she's still a pup afterall), and "shake"(give her paw). Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks very much!

 

There were a few times where I needed to put a long line on Quinn during fetch to keep him from following his own rules such as playing keep away. That allowed me to take control of the game much more quickly by grabbing the line and gently guiding him in. You could also try running in the opposite direction so Kaycee will follow you with the ball if she is not coming all the way into you. You can also use two toys (the same or very similar), so as soon as she brings you one toy, you throw the other and she finds bringing the toy to you to be rewarding and exciting. I always try to stop playing or training while the dog is still wanting more. Before they are becoming bored or distracted. That isn't usually much of an issue with Border Collies but even with Quinn who was fetching at 7 weeks, I could see when he was becoming less engaged. When I first got him, sometimes our "game" of fetch consisted of exactly one retrieve before his attention was wandering and that's when I stopped. He soon became a fetching machine.

 

For the more advanced trick of getting toys by name or putting the toys away, I agree with Vicki with using the names so the pup will pick up on them over time. Once your pup is enthusiastically retrieving and bringing toys to you, thinking it is the best game around, then you can work on putting toys away. I consider that fairly advanced work for a puppy. Then again, Quinn is the first dog I've successfully taught that trick to and he was almost three years old at the time. It is a nice trick though yesterday he was actually very helpful to me. I was bringing lunch back to the office, including drinks in a holder and had two dogs on leash when I dropped my keys. It was pretty neat that Quinn was able to bring me the fallen keys without me needing to go back to the car and put all the food down so I could get the key myself.