My Motivational Retrieve tape was released on March 8th, 2002. This is the second video in a series of training videos that I am doing with Bernhard Flinks. In the past 30 years, Bernhard is one of the finest sport dog trainers I have seen. Watch for other videos in the future that I am doing with Bernhard.

There are many ways to train the retrieve exercise. But all of these methods can be broken down into two main categories – dogs are either forced trained or they are motivationally trained. Most experienced trainers have tried force and don’t like what it does to their dogs. This video will show you a better way.

For many years dog trainers have been told (by people like myself) that the only way to get a consistent retrieve in a competition dog was to use a forced retrieve. Bernhard Flinks has shown us that we were wrong. This video will outline Bernhard’s training methods. I hope that you find his methods as exciting as I did.

In Schutzhund, the retrieve exercises amount to 40% of the total points available in the obedience routine. The retrieve on the flat is 10 point, the retrieve over the jump is 15 points and the retrieve over the high wall is 15 points. When one looks at it like this, it is not hard to understand why a consistently good retrieve is important for every competitor.

When dogs have been force retrieved, it is not unusual to see the dog’s temperament change in a competition before, during and after the retrieve exercises. These changes cost competitors points.

We see dogs slow down on recalls, slow down on send-aways and have more problems during the actual retrieve exercise as a result of the stress involved in force training.

So while an argument can be made that a dog may lose points as a result of the motivational retrieve, there is a better argument that a forced retrieve dog can easily lose more points.

Only you can make the decision of what’s best for you and your dog.

I will take a minute here and explain the basic concept of the motivational retrieve. Bernhard has a saying. It’s called, “Let’s make a deal with the dog.” The deal goes something like this:

If you retrieve my dumbbell (DB) I will allow you to play with a prey item.

This sounds pretty simple – go get the DB and I will give you a ball. It sounds kind of like the old game of two ball. The truth is that it is not as simple as that. A lot of thought has gone into this process and the training steps for the motivational retrieve.

The kind of dogs suited to the motivational retrieve are those dogs that do well on Bernhard’s drive building work. These are dogs that have good prey drive. A dog must have prey drive if it is to MAKE THE DEAL with the handler.

I have to say that not all dogs can be trained using the motivational methods shown in this training video. To make this work you have to have a dog with prey drive. When it comes down to it – if you cannot motivate your dog into drive, you are not going to motivate him into retrieving a DB for you.

I provide information in the tape that will help you determine if these methods can work with your dog. I hope you can use these training techniques because even though I have produced a video on training the forced retrieve, I am not a fan of that method of training. Unfortunately, for some dogs there is no other way than force.

Just like the forced retrieve, there is more than one way to train the motivational retrieve. Which method you use will depend on your dog’s temperament.

In this video I will cover two methods that Bernhard Flinks uses on his dogs. Both methods involve training in drive. Both methods require the dog to MAKE THE DEAL. The difference is in the first method the dog MAKES THE DEAL for a ball on a string and in the second method the dog MAKES THE DEAL to fight with a tug. There are very important, subtle but distinct reasons for using one method over the other.

Every dog that starts retrieval training must know certain things before that training can begin. The video explains what skills a dog must have before it starts the DB work.

It is beyond the scope of a 1 hr 40 min training tape to go back through all the actual steps that lead up to this training, although I will review a few of the more important ones. If your dog needs some of this work I suggest that you get the appropriate training videos to cover some of this earlier training that’s not covered here.

• I have already mentioned that your dog must have appropriate prey drive to do this training. Just as important - you must be able to put your dog in drive when you want. This is all covered in detail in my video TRAINING DRIVE, FOCUS, and GRIP with Bernhard Flinks.
• The dog must know a recall.
• The dog must know the sit-in-front and feel comfortable sitting in front of his handler.
• The dog must know and understand the OUT command as it refers to his prey item.
• He must know the down stay under distraction.
• It must obviously know the jumps before you add the retrieve to a jump routine. I have a tape teaching the jumps.

Hi Ed,

Mark in Phila, PA here. First a note to let you know that last month my Dobie bitch & I earned our first Schutzhund title with a score of 273 (93 Tracking / 87 Ob / 93 Pro). Some of the points deducted in obedience came from chewing on the dumbbell in front. I had been contemplating going to a forced retrieve.

I had bought your Training The Motivational Retrieve video with Bernard Flinks over a year ago, but for some reason never really applied it. This week, after about 7-8 training sessions following Bernard's method to the "T," she is holding the dumbbell nice and calm in front. I can't wait to show my club's training director the progress we've made!

Mark B.

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