WaterfowlForum.Net

How should I teach my pup to hold the bumper, ball, toy, or whatever and drop on command?

She retrieves and drops okay but now she is just running up and without me telling her to drops whatever is in her mouth or when I tell her to sit she drops in the same motion.

Oh boy:o

Sent from a junk POS HTC with a kickstand

Just keep yelling at the dog until it dose what you want.

Put the bumper in its mouth, fishhook the under side of the jaw saying hold, make it short, give release command and praise. They will learn, if not, try punching it.

Sent from a junk POS HTC with a kickstand

jarbo03 wrote:Put the bumper in its mouth, fishhook the under side of the jaw saying hold, make it short, give release command and praise. They will learn, if not, try punching it.

Sent from a junk POS HTC with a kickstand

How old's your pup?

If its a golden shoot it! Untrainable!!!!

Bootlipkiller wrote:If its a golden shoot it! Untrainable!!!!

you gonna bring your goldendoodle out for the WCH to play in our bay mud?

I can't tell which, if any, of this advice is serious haha

jarbo03 wrote:Oh boy:o

Sent from a junk POS HTC with a kickstand

This reply scares me the most. Does this mean I've run into a major issue here?

Redbeard wrote:How old's your pup?

14 weeks

huntfishnv wrote:

Redbeard wrote:How old's your pup?

14 weeks

Let it be a pup for a while.

From what I remember, this is a very young goldendoodle. Let it be a pup for a while. When it drops it, walk away and tell the pup to fetch it up. The lesson will be learned in time, for the most part focus on obedience for now.

Sent from a junk POS HTC with a kickstand

Redbeard wrote:

Bootlipkiller wrote:If its a golden shoot it! Untrainable!!!!

you gonna bring your goldendoodle out for the WCH to play in our bay mud?

Damn it... he's not a doodle! He gets car sick on long trips so I doubt it plus I'm sure ill have to drive the other two fags I hunt with up there to visit you and the rest of the crew.

alright, that's what I was thinking, I just want to have her as ready as she can be before this season. that's another question though, how old to expect her to retrieve birds while hunting?

High powered shock collar till it pisses. Will learn quick.

huntfishnv wrote:alright, that's what I was thinking, I just want to have her as ready as she can be before this season. that's another question though, how old to expect her to retrieve birds while hunting?

Should be capable of retrieving when season starts. Be smart though, don't ask more from the dog than what it has learned and is ready for. Make this first year fun, watch the drive for birds build, then get on with advanced training. Your dog will let you know what its ready for.

Sent from a junk POS HTC with a kickstand

Not sure FF is in your plans but I suspect if it were, that would be the time you'd start teaching it to hold

Redbeard wrote:Not sure FF is in your plans but I suspect if it were, that would be the time you'd start teaching it to hold

Excuse my noob questions but by FF you mean Force Fetch right?

Yes

huntfishnv wrote:How should I teach my pup to hold the bumper, ball, toy, or whatever and drop on command?

She retrieves and drops okay but now she is just running up and without me telling her to drops whatever is in her mouth or when I tell her to sit she drops in the same motion.

Did you try gently popping it back in her mouth the moment she dropped it?

I don't generally teach formal hold, much less FF, as there are a bunch of simple ways, like the above, to keep a young pup from thinking it's supposed to drop ahead of time and developing that bad habit. Walking away while Pup is still coming with the object, then turning and accepting it properly before Pup has a chance to drop it, kicking or tossing the dropped object a short distance so Pup snatches it up again, or sticking to water retrieves where you stand at waters edge and accept the bumper before Pup drops it being a few of the ways to prevent habitual dropping. Something along those lines has worked with nine of my ten pups to date. Only the current Brittany resisted such trickery strongly enough to prompt a homespun semi-formal version of "hold" easily taught a bit at a time while watching the tube and cemented on our heeling walks.

You'll find something similar to our puppy "hold" course in Mike Stewart's newsletter article archives at this link: http://www.uklabs.com/newsletter.php just scroll down the list until you get to the "delivery to hand" articles.

Rick wrote:

huntfishnv wrote:How should I teach my pup to hold the bumper, ball, toy, or whatever and drop on command?

She retrieves and drops okay but now she is just running up and without me telling her to drops whatever is in her mouth or when I tell her to sit she drops in the same motion.

Did you try gently popping it back in her mouth the moment she dropped it?

I don't generally teach formal hold, much less FF, as there are a bunch of simple ways, like the above, to keep a young pup from thinking it's supposed to drop ahead of time and developing that bad habit. Walking away while Pup is still coming with the object, then turning and accepting it properly before Pup has a chance to drop it, kicking or tossing the dropped object a short distance so Pup snatches it up again, or sticking to water retrieves where you stand at waters edge and accept the bumper before Pup drops it being a few of the ways to prevent habitual dropping. Something along those lines has worked with nine of my ten pups to date. Only the current Brittany resisted such trickery strongly enough to prompt a homespun semi-formal version of "hold" easily taught a bit at a time while watching the tube and cemented on our heeling walks.

You'll find something similar to our puppy "hold" course in Mike Stewart's newsletter article archives at this link: http://www.uklabs.com/newsletter.php just scroll down the list until you get to the "delivery to hand" articles.

the semi formal version of hold...I like that. That's pretty much been my method. I keep hem hawing around bout whether or not to FF this pup. That's probably a decision I should have made by now.

I'm not going to do it. If it appears necessary later on, I'll pay someone to do it, since it seems like there is far more opportunity for me to fuck it up than to actually improve anything.

jarbo03 wrote:Put the bumper in its mouth, fishhook the under side of the jaw saying hold, make it short, give release command and praise. They will learn, if not, try punching it.

Sent from a junk POS HTC with a kickstand

x2...I never played tug of war with a bumper with my mutts. If they didn't want to give up the bumper it was shoved towards the back of the mouth and they would release it.

huntfishnv wrote:How should I teach my pup to hold the bumper, ball, toy, or whatever and drop on command?

She retrieves and drops okay but now she is just running up and without me telling her to drops whatever is in her mouth or when I tell her to sit she drops in the same motion.

Beat that sumbitch. Show her your the boss.

Later on you can pinch her ear.

Starting with good habits is much easier in the long run than fixing bad habits. At 14 weeks retrieving should be fairly limited just enough to get her excited then put it away until the next session. (I have a 5 year old BLF couch dog here now for training we are doing this with so it's not just puppies) Every retrieve is rewarded with praise, so when she comes back with the bumper love her up and don't be afraid to look like an idiot doing it. When she does come back to you with the bumper don't snatch it from her mouth! This is very important with young puppies! Always let her hold it while you love her up. This shows the dog it's a good thing for her to have. If she spits it out stop praising and put it back in her mouth (without forcing it or making her uncomfortable) then praising can continue. A puppy at 14 weeks old can not determine the difference between home and work and I think this is one situation where everything just runs together for her. A 14 week old puppy at home will generally chew everything which is met by someone snatching the object and telling her NO! Then you go train and don't understand why she spits it out when she gets close to you. This may not be the case for you but in many cases it is. Keep everything short simple and positive. Dogs learn best through success so set her up for success in training no matter how easy and simple you have to make it and let her know when she does well. No need to make corrections at this point as she doesn't know what is expected enough to make a correction she will even understand. A stylish retriever is made though positive training and confidence built through success.
As far as will you be able to hunt her this year I personally would say no. Just train her to do her job and when she is ready take her to the marsh, this may be in November or it may be next summer. Best bet is have her obedience rock solid and have her marking farther than she'll be picking up birds on a hunt before taking her out. This will save you and most importantly her a lot of confusion and frustration. It is not a sprint to have a half assed retriever this fall its a marathon to have a good one the rest of her career. There is nothing to gain by rushing her out to the blind but there is quite a bit to loose. Good luck with your puppy!
Remember this advice is free so you can expect to get what you pay for..

Matt Duncan wrote: A 14 week old puppy at home will generally chew everything which is met by someone snatching the object and telling her NO! Then you go train and don't understand why she spits it out when she gets close to you. This may not be the case for you but in many cases it is.

This is an excellent point, and one I never thought of. I'm going to have to watch myself in the near future.

I've got one here for training now that would get to me on the return and tuck her tail like she was in trouble.. She loves to retrieve its just obvious with her she has been disciplined and roughed up while having things in her mouth. Now she is tail wagging and will confidently hold on her own. Her owner said she loves shoes so it was pretty easy to do the math. Retrievers need to know that when something is in their mouth all is good. This girl is getting there thankfully she'll make a solid gundog.

Im not snatching it from her, she just drops it by herself and lays down. I've tried putting it back in her mouth but she just lets go again!

Try using her favorite toy stuffed animal or something like that and just work on building good habits then switch back to the bumper or better yet pigeons. Dokkens doves are good as well. Find something she wants to hold and use it doesn't matter what it is as long as you can establish good retrieving habits that is what's important. Give her a clipped wing pigeon or chukar, I promise she won't spit those out more than a couple times if she has any sort of prey drive..