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Just curious if anyone here has ever had to train their dog's retrieve or if yours have all come naturally? As of right now I have one dog with zero interest, and another that retrieves inside but only chases the object and then leaves it where it landed outside... My biggest question is that if you did train your retrieve were they eventually enthusiastic about fetch or is it always just a command to them if it didn't come naturally? Any tips and advice are more than welcome!

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I had a lab with no interest who I trained to retrieve at over ten years old. It took her months- but then you are probably a much better trainer, basically everyone is. She got very enthusiastic about it, we've had to mostly stop because she hurts her shoulder when she does it. We can only do it if she's calm already.

 

Now, she was enthusiastic about doing it for food- but all I wanted was another trick to feed her for.

 

Edit: when I say she had no interest, I mean she hadn't so much as mouthed a non-food object for years. She had no interest in playing with objects. Never carried anything around. It took ages just to get her to consistently poke an object with a closed muzzle.

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I trained my smallest dog's retrieve. I trained it paired with food at first, but at this stage enough value has transferred onto the act of retrieving and she's discovered it's a blast. She plays happily for the sake of play. HOWEVER, she won't necessarily play in environments she finds stressful and she can be distracted FROM it by busy/chaotic situations rather than it being something she focuses on. So, definitely not always just a trick/command, but not like a naturally ball/disc crazy dog, either.

 

My other dogs either don't at all (Rat Terrier), do occasionally (Boston, GSDX), or were fetching nuts from 9-10 weeks old (BC).

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My older dog has ALWAYS been enthusiastic about retrieves my younger dog (the border collie) is incredibly disinterested. he will chase my older dog when we're playing "fetch" but the most he ever does is pick up the ball, squish it, sometimes run further away with it, and then just leave it. The only thing we can get him to bring back is a rope. He is such a tug-o-war dog. LOVES it. freaking loves tug-o-war teaching drop was/still is the hardest thing. We're thinking about trying to do flyball with him but he just doesn't like balls.

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I had to train a retrieve. When I first got Kieran, he would bring his toy over to play, but once it was thrown he'd run up to it, leave it, and come back. He'll now play a couple rounds of fetch. Not too many though before he loses interest. Tugging has come more naturally to him. I'm still trying to train it as a reward.

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There is a difference between a trained retrieve and a play fetch.

 

I have never had to teach a Border Collie to play fetch. Sometimes I have to play around with a few different toys to find that they get excited about, or use multiple toys to get over the "possess" step, but generally every one has enjoyed chaing toys.

 

A trained formal retrieve (pick up anything I indicate, and deliver direct to hand) is different animal, and yes I train that specifically via shaping. Its fab having a dog who can pick up anything I drop!

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I have trained a couple to retrieve. The collie I worked with the most. She learned to retrieve a dumbbell, a glove and a tennis ball, would have to be trained for each. Many years ago I trained a Poodle (standard) as a helper dog for her owner. She would retrieve anything I asked and enjoyed it. She would pick up an ink pen, coins, dustpan pretty much anything I asked (she did not like the pliers when I asked her to get them). I find that with work, most do enjoy the trained retrieve.

I teach 4H classes and many of the kids go on to teach the retrieve and the dogs do enjoy it

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...were they eventually enthusiastic about fetch or is it always just a command?

 

To be fair, these are usually synonymous in border collies. :P So either way you don't really have anything to worry about.

 

Aed has always loved to fetch, but like others I also trained him to retrieve any object to my hand, which he also loves to do.

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To be fair, these are usually synonymous in border collies. :P So either way you don't really have anything to worry about.

 

Aed has always loved to fetch, but like others I also trained him to retrieve any object to my hand, which he also loves to do.

 

So true!!! That part of the question was more for those who trained a non BC lol Wick The Aussie mix begrudgingly does commands if he litterally has nothing more exciting going on. Artoo on the other hand is excited about anything he understands and has to do with me, so I am sure he will not mind retrieving once it clicks. Inside the house he is a fetching machine (even placing it in my hand... But not outside!!

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Sekah, Shirley Chong's clicker retrieve is the one I use for my 4H'ers. I had a parent the other day scoff at using it, she prefers the ear pinch. I almost said something about the ear pinch might be one reason her dog didn't want to pick up the metal article :) Instead I said, "Ear pinch could get a kid bitten". We have had some young 4H'ers talk about how to get the dog to retrieve and have a few dogs (those kids who go on to higher levels) Most of our dogs retrieve with enthusiasm.

 

Of course if you check out a Cabella's or Bass Pro shop you can find tons of videos on how to torture your dog to retrieve-one guaranteed method had the pointer standing on a narrow board which was attached to 2 posts so it was a couple feet off the ground. The dog had a grooming noose on it's neck, stretching the dog so it's toes barely reached the board. There was a shock collar on the dog and a string attached to one front toe. The idea was to shock the dog til it screamed or went to bite (with the retrieve dummy held near it's mouth). If the dog didn't open it's mouth from the pain induced by the shock collar(pressed, giving shock for the full time the collar allowed) then you pulled the string until the dog when to bite. when the dog opened it's mouth the dummy was there for it to bite. The guy on the video guaranteed the method would produce a reliable retrieve. My thoughts, not on many dogs it wouldn't!!

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Um, yeah. I trained a retrieve in the one I did by putting food in a pill bottle. When she mouthed it, I grabbed it, opened it, and fed her from it. Then repeated, and gradually built (pick up the bottle, carry it a few steps, etc). Then I threw the bottle empty and rewarded from my pocket when she brought it back. Then I threw something else and rewarded. Took maaaaaybe a week to get a decent retrieve with enthusiasm and probably 6 months to get rid of the food entirely/have it be rewarding on its own.


But this is not a BC. It's some kind of little fluffy mutt who didn't have a lot of play drive to start with.


That method up there sounds both excessively complicated and horrific.

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I have noticed that using toys that deliver food help with the retrieve.I like the idea of the pill bottle, but would worry about them cracking with a hard mouthed dog

 

Yeah, the dog I was training that way weighs 11lbs or so - not much chance of her chomping hard enough to crack it. I think if I was using the method for a bigger dog I'd use one of the food tubes that clean run sells or something similar. Bigger and sturdier, anyway, for the same reasons.

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Sekah, Shirley Chong's clicker retrieve is the one I use for my 4H'ers. I had a parent the other day scoff at using it, she prefers the ear pinch. I almost said something about the ear pinch might be one reason her dog didn't want to pick up the metal article :) Instead I said, "Ear pinch could get a kid bitten". We have had some young 4H'ers talk about how to get the dog to retrieve and have a few dogs (those kids who go on to higher levels) Most of our dogs retrieve with enthusiasm.

 

Of course if you check out a Cabella's or Bass Pro shop you can find tons of videos on how to torture your dog to retrieve-one guaranteed method had the pointer standing on a narrow board which was attached to 2 posts so it was a couple feet off the ground. The dog had a grooming noose on it's neck, stretching the dog so it's toes barely reached the board. There was a shock collar on the dog and a string attached to one front toe. The idea was to shock the dog til it screamed or went to bite (with the retrieve dummy held near it's mouth). If the dog didn't open it's mouth from the pain induced by the shock collar(pressed, giving shock for the full time the collar allowed) then you pulled the string until the dog when to bite. when the dog opened it's mouth the dummy was there for it to bite. The guy on the video guaranteed the method would produce a reliable retrieve. My thoughts, not on many dogs it wouldn't!!

 

I just don't get it. I'll admit that Cohen doesn't often do something when she doesn't want to. But, well, it's very very rare that she doesn't want to do something, in part due to the way I approach training.

 

If I accidentally leave the dumbbell out, Cohen will carry it around the house with her or bring it to my feet. It's adorable.

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Capt. Jack! You get the Awesome Prize today - I did the treats in a supplement bottle with Gibbs to refine his retrieve. I had gotten him to drop a ball within a few feet of me, but retrieving to my hand, or even my feet was not happening.

 

I took a plastic bottle with a snap off lid that stays hinged. It's 4" tall with a 3.75" diameter. Put in a few bits of Nature's Balance Roll, and he got the idea of grabbing with his mouth and tossing it in my direction very quickly, less than 5 minutes.

 

I will be refining it to delivering it to my hand, but had to tell you this is the easiest, most practical method I've come across. It helps that he already will bring a ball or the Bumi pretty close, but I was despairing of getting to 'dropped into my hand'.

 

So sweet!

 

Ruth and Gibbs

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Capt. Jack! You get the Awesome Prize today - I did the treats in a supplement bottle with Gibbs to refine his retrieve. I had gotten him to drop a ball within a few feet of me, but retrieving to my hand, or even my feet was not happening.

 

I took a plastic bottle with a snap off lid that stays hinged. It's 4" tall with a 3.75" diameter. Put in a few bits of Nature's Balance Roll, and he got the idea of grabbing with his mouth and tossing it in my direction very quickly, less than 5 minutes.

 

I will be refining it to delivering it to my hand, but had to tell you this is the easiest, most practical method I've come across. It helps that he already will bring a ball or the Bumi pretty close, but I was despairing of getting to 'dropped into my hand'.

 

So sweet!

 

Ruth and Gibbs

 

That is fantastic, and I will take my Awesome Prize and strut around just a little. Okay, no, probably not but I am so, so glad that it helped someone!

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Yes, I like the Shirley Chong retrieve mostly because its so well laid out and includes contingencies. I have used it to train various dogs including Dals and Sibes to retrieve happily and reliably.

 

I do NOT advocate searching randomly for retrieve videos on the internet. Regardless of your choice of training methods (mainly positive, or some corrections) a few of them are quite alarmingly horrible. I made that mistake and now I can't unsee what I saw.

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After reading all this, I decided to do something about the fact that Livi drops the tennis ball a few feet away from me or wants me to play tug with it (slimy tennis balls are great for tugging with, aren't they??). We spent some time working roughly through the method Sekah linked. We're not done yet, but we've made some progress.

 

Video, for anyone interested: https://flic.kr/p/DZBEJa

 

I rewarded her even though it didn't make it into my hand the second time... it's a work in progress, after all. Eventually I'd like to be standing and have it delivered to my hand every time, but, baby steps!

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Tess will retrieve anything and deliver it to my hand since day one (not exactly anything - we did have to work for a bit on larger metal objects like her food bowl). She was born that way. It's amazing. I only had to put it unto voice control. First dog I've ever had that came wired like that. It's pretty usefull around the house.

The formal retrieve was taught in a session. She strugled twice with the concept of sitting while holding the object, then understood it was doable. The rest of the sequence she knew by bits and pieces and just put it together.

I still remember how much work I put on teaching my last dog a formal retrieve. And it was never very good.

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After reading all this, I decided to do something about the fact that Livi drops the tennis ball a few feet away from me or wants me to play tug with it (slimy tennis balls are great for tugging with, aren't they??). We spent some time working roughly through the method Sekah linked. We're not done yet, but we've made some progress.

 

Video, for anyone interested: https://flic.kr/p/DZBEJa

 

I rewarded her even though it didn't make it into my hand the second time... it's a work in progress, after all. Eventually I'd like to be standing and have it delivered to my hand every time, but, baby steps!

 

I can't get over how cute she is. I don't think we've ever gotten to watch a puppy grow up through videos on the board before (at least not in the few years I've been here, which isn't saying much, but it's not as if people had easy access to video cameras in years past).

As far as rewarding for "almosts" when still working on it, once it's at the stage where they're doing the correct thing most of the time, if they don't quite get it one time I usually praise but don't click or treat, so it's still a reward for the effort while communicating that it wasn't exactly what I wanted. Before that stage, if they're getting it sometimes but not most of the time, "almosts" all get treated and "exacts" get jackpots (lots of treats and praise).

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