Ok, I want to clarify the title of the post a bit first. By it, I mean if the dog has a high drive for the item, is it important for him to keep a solid grip if there is no plan for bite work in the future?
I have a Brittany and worry about hurting the soft mouthed retrieve he is bred for by over emphasizing the grip in drive building and tugging. So i guess it is a two part question, 1) is the solid grip a necessity? 2) Will the dog be able to distinguish that a solid grip is needed when tugging, etc... but that a bird retrieve requires a soft mouth?
Tammy Moore Webboard User Reg: 01-14-2010
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Quote: Rob Capstraw
Will the dog be able to distinguish that a solid grip is needed when tugging, etc... but that a bird retrieve requires a soft mouth?
Thanks for the help!
Rob
One of my brother's has bird dogs, always has, and I know he doesn't play tug with them. Here is an article about the subjest, I am not sure if this is what your looking for. Not sure how correct the article is.
In regards to Willie's question, I was referring to the building focus DVD. Mainly the drive/focus building with the ball on a string. Flinks seems to point out specifically that you want a solid grip, but I am not sure if he is only saying that because he is doing bitework in the future and is prepping for that.
My dog has a good prey drive (and not as high on the food drive) and I think that using Flinks' strategy to increase focus would help. I was just wondering if the grip is essential to getting the focus, or if the focus will come without worrying about the grip. Or for that matter, if I can work his grip with the ball but have him being able to differentiate with a bird.
I hope I have helped clear this up...
Thanks again,
Rob
PS - I haven't seen the Tug DVD yet, would you suggest it for anyone or just people looking to go on to bitework?
Or are you wondering if that trait can be extingished?
I think, if the dog is born with that particular attribute, no he'll never have what you'd call a good strong bite. But yes you can certainly extingish enough to ruin him for birds.
Reg: 04-08-2008
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This thread is a month old but I wanted to add something anyway.
I know a girl around here that has weimaraniers that she hunts, goes to hunting trials and does obedience with. She says that if the dog has a soft grip and you train him to differenciate, then it is not a problem. Her older dog is hunting Ch of different areas, obedience ch of several countries and a real life hunting dog retrieving birds, fox and does bloodtracking (I don´t know about the ob of her younger dog but the hunting stuff is pretty much the same) and she not only plays tug but she does protection also. So it can be done with success. When there is no plan to do any hunting then it´s a no brainer.
I am not that far with my dachshund yet but when doing retrieve training she holds the item with a very soft mouth (not really bred in the breed) but tugging is a very different attitude. We are now in the stage where she fallows me with the item so we have a long way to go to a real life bird retrieve but we are training.
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Is grip or drive more important?
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