Quick question: at what age should a puppy learn to retrieve reliably?

Hank is really bad to tear off after a thrown ball, grab it, then run three dozen laps around the yard shaking his head before dropping it ten feet away and slinking off. His food drive is reduced during fetch, and he can't even enjoy being petted at any point during the game, even if the ball is in my hand or hidden from him. I honestly don't even remember how I taught Rose and Shortie to fetch and give, they just seemed to come about it almost genetically.

My backyard where we usually practice is very wooded, so putting him on a long lead wouldn't work there. I can find some open areas, would you use a long tie out to work on this issue, or is a puppy his age on track to just have this much interest in a thrown object?

Hello Chip,
I've enjoyed reading your posts about Hank, and your descriptions of him seem very observant and perceptive. Regarding your question about training a retrieve, I also have a dog that LOVES a ball (or rock or snowball or any other thrown object that can be carried...and was initially reluctant to return it to me) and used a technique a 'gun dog' trainer friend of mine suggested. It involves breaking the retrieve down into pieces (the fetch, the retrieve and the presentation and 'aus') and training each separately. Once you've done that you can link them back up. Since chasing a thrown object is very rewarding in itself, I worked mainly on the 'retrieve' part. I put my dog on a long line, asked him to 'stay' and then backed up a few feet, holding the ball or bumper. I would then toss the bumper to him, and as soon as it was in his mouth, would give a tug on the longline, guiding my dog toward me. As soon as he got to me we'd have a little party. It works best if you do several of these short 'retrieve only' in a row, keeping the transition quick. Over time you can increase the distance you move away from your dog (note--you need to be a good thrower! I am not...and I'm sure that my dog cursed me on a few occasions...). You will know if you are ready for a bigger distance if your dog starts to move to you automatically when it has caught the object, without you needing the tug on the line as a reminder. I did not worry about the 'aus' or presentation at all during this part of the training, but later, I would request these (they were trained separately) until eventually all behavior were chained together in the proper order. Initially this seemed like a lot of effort for an action that comes naturally to some dogs, but I enjoyed the training process and retrieving has become a regular part of our time spent together, and is motivating enough to my dog that I can use it as a reward for other behaviors I am working on training.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Isabelle

Thanks, Isabelle! That makes a lot of sense. He "tries" really hard, but usually does commands I'm not asking of him while I try to get him to wait. Breaking it down into pieces should really speed things up. I'll update you after next training session.

Did you see this thread?

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=14&Number=236389&Searchpage=1&Main=22983&Words=&topic=0&Search=true#Post236389

I'd love to hear if it works for you as well as it did for me. On the basis of your comment about your dog being quick to offer other behaviors while waiting....my friend recommended making the transition between each retrieve quite fast. That is, take only a few seconds to back up and throw the bumper to the dog, guide her in, reward and start again--the fast pace is motivating to you and the dog! ( In my eagerness to be fast I tripped on the long line a few times..much to the amusement of the dog and other folks in the park) I usually did not do more that 4-5 of these 'half' retrieves in a row, but I repeated it about 3 times per day. Also, I threw no other objects for my dog (no frisbee or tug or ball etc) during the time period I was training this to prevent confusion and reinforce what I was trying to teach.

Cheers,
Isabelle