Quote:

I have held him by collar and reached for toy...he still tries to go after it....

This is a matter of the dog needing to learn impulse control. Get the Building Drive, Focus and Grip DVD. Watch the focus part - this is work you need to do with your dog.

Because of your training goals, DON'T use 2 toys. It is far too easy to ruin the dog's grip.

Don't throw the toy. Your dog is still developing a bond with you and must learn that good things happen close to you. Keep the toy close to you.

You can teach your dog to back up three steps, lie down and stay while you pick up the toy.

If you MUST throw a ball, get a Chuck-It. You can pick up the ball without getting snapped at.

Don't back off on any groundwork. It's only been a little while. You have a long ways to go on it!

Last thing (for now), your attitude is very important. It's easy to be frustrated with a snappy dog. Don't allow yourself to be. Remind yourself how his drive is an invaluable training tool and how lucky you are to have a dog with plenty of drive.

My dog isn't a toy dog unless I'm playing with him. When I do play with him, like say Fetch ... I use two toys. He's great at running and getting it and bringing it back, but not with releasing directly.

I let him have it for a moment, and then I tell him to sit. Many times in the process of sitting, he will release the toy. After he sits, if he has not I tell him to RELEASE, and if he doesn't comply than I assist him in complying.

If he continues to resist, then I just switch to the other toy, at which point he drops the current toy to get the other toy. Once he happened upon a toy that hadn't been picked up and he did try carry both that toy and the active at the same time. He failed and choose to active toy that we were playing with.

I do keep the toys picked up that we play with together (basically they're MY TOYS that I'm sharing with him) except for whatever chew bones that are laying around, so he doesn't have free access to his toys. For the chew toys in his crate, I periodically will switch it with some other chew toy.

Also, I don't have the link but I know that Ed talks about both food guarding and toy guarding in one of his articles, and basically you need to re-establish your leadership with him.

Hope this helps.


Opps... I should have emphasized that our pup is a PET dog and won't be doing any of the other stuff that a lot of you are doing.

:-)

Edited by Louanne Manter (03/20/2007 04:12 PM)
Edit reason: clarification

Thanks Anne, as always good advice...You know very well the scenerio, I am getting frustrated...I had to back up and refocuse, he acted so great the first week. Now its test time....Thank you to EVERYONE who helped contribute to my better knowledge of the breed.

I also read Ed's version of how to correct....Quite interesting idea...He mentions it in ref to other areas of training with dogs. I have to absorb exactly how to be done, then do exercise with dog....