Weaning and the Importance of the Retrieve

Weaning

While preparing for dog trials later this year (first fun matches, and then hopefully the real thing late summer and early fall) - I'm working on weaning the doglet off food-training completely. This means I'm shortening the training sessions and making sure I'm consistent and LOUD with my praise.

This means that I'm dealing more with 'distractions' and silliness. If I don't have food on hand, dog is more likely to break off lead to bring me toys. This is standard young golden 'work-avoidance' behavior. They are trying to please you without having to work for it.

On the other hand, I've noticed that the doglet's fronts are becoming straighter. He isn't fronting to my pockets or hands. He's fronting to my face and waiting for the cue to 'have a party'.

"Have a party" means that I release him from training and let him jump around for a little bit until I gather his attention and move to the next quicky exercise. Goldens LOVE to jump around and be praised.

This doesn't mean we are off food completely. I still have regular training sessions 1-2 times a week where I have food in my hand or pocket. During these sessions I'm focusing on speed and style (encouraging him to rack it out). These things aren't necessary in the show ring, but they do look nice and give spectators a better show.

And sometimes I do have a bit of food in my back pocket that the doglet gets on the last front. I'm trying to keep these random, because as I said I really want to get him so he is SOLID at the fronts. When he knows I have food in my pocket, he does a slightly crooked front and points his nose at my pocket. <- I have nightmares of this happening in the show ring. I wonder if the judge would make me turn my pocket inside out to ensure I'm not cheating.

Important of the Retrieve

If you have a retriever type dog - I can't stress how helpful this exercise can be. Not only are you training the dog to do something that he was bred to do, but you are also training the dog to do something that will be ultimately useful in the long run.

I do know that not all retrievers have the retrieve-drive.

A while back I took a retrieve class with one of my past goldens (Danny) in which we were going up against a lot of german shorthair pointers, hunt line goldens, and labs. These were dogs who were going to be used out in the field, and breeds known to be more serious and work-obsessed.

Golden retrievers have two seperate lines - show lines and hunt lines. With the show lines, the retrieve instincts have been somewhat bred out of them. The hunt lines are the smaller red goldens who generally are a bit more serious and retrieve driven. They are also stronger minded though, so you have to be firm with the training early on or you could have a golden playing 'retrieve-and-evade' games with you.

Our first golden (Charmer) came from a hunting line. We could point out live and running rabbits to him and tell him to 'take it', and he would pursue the rabbit and bring it right back to our feet. The rabbit would be alive and unmarked when he delivered it, even though it would invariably die of a heart attack. Rabbits have weak hearts and can't take too much of a shock.

Sometimes you do get a gem in the show lines, and these are the dogs you see going to the upper classes in obedience shows, where the dogs must retrieve dumbells and other items.

My Danny was such a dog, even though his poor elbow joints did not allow us to go any further than the first level in shows (he couldn't jump without pain). When I took that retrieve class with him, I wasn't sure what I expected. It was really a filler class until obedience classes resumed.

In a class of all retrievers and serious hunters who knew what they were doing... my dog was the only one doing regular, multiple, and blind retrieves on the first try. This was due to his natural retrieve instincts... and also the fact that for as long as I'd been training him, when I threw an item for him, I expected him to bring it right back to my feet.

This means that retrieves are always done on long line when the dog is still a puppy. You throw the toy, send the dog to retrieve, and then reel him in to praise and "have a party".

You only take him off leash when you know he will come back to you, and when he does return you make him feel like he is the most wonderful dog in the world and just did something AMAZING.

And you don't always have to THROW something to get your dog to retrieve. You can place a toy or object within dog's sight, point it out to your dog, and then send him to retrieve it.

This is important - when the dog goes over and touches the object that is when you say YES (or use your clicker) and give your "Bring it back" command.

And when he brings back the toy, throw a party and give him a treat. Make sure he knows that he is WONDERFUL.

As the dog gets better, you should be able to send him outside to retrieve all the toys or any object that he took outside when he went out for potty.

Today I was wearing shorts and was barefoot and really did not want to step outside to get the towel which my dog dragged outside with him.

Thanks to the retrieve trick, all I had to do was point out the towel and tell my dog to go back outside and bring it in. He did so in short order and earned a milkbone. :]

Remember to have fun with your dogs! And put them to work.