I would go along with that Andrew
My two pups right now ,are learning from 'mum', as she plays/teases them, with a ball' I give her, to play with them...
I have always encouraged this with pups! ....I don't have a delivery problem or hard mouth with any of them?
I have, had a few in for training that do!? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyJmgI4Ehxs
I agree with Andrew and I do , sometimes, use treats. I have also messed up a pups retrieve by using treats wrongly. I usually advise beginner trainers not to use treats for retrieving if at all possible.
Playing tuggy........ I let my pups do this with other pups or other adult dogs but I don't engage in tuggy games myself. I don't think it would definetly cause hard mouth but I prefer not to take the chance since I don't have to.
Wullie
If at first you don't succeed .....find out if there is a booby prize !
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Don't do what doesn't work - do what does.
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Just progressing the tuggy theme a little more I used to think it was a No No until I watched the bitch with the pup, she didn't pull as such but let the pup think it was winning, or she would just give enough pressure to force the pups grip and then let go, the pup usually went away sometimes the bitch would chase other times she would wait until the pup came back within reach and the process would start again.
It was always a game and it was something I that do with young pups, and I emphasise young, my yardstick on young is I can still catch them.
The one thing I do not do is drag the pup in toward me, and as far as I can recall neither did the bitch.
Getting back to OP and it has already been said. 3months old, thats 12 weeks it wouldn't even be out of the garden if it was mine, I think what i did do with Dizzy at that age was throw a puppy dummy while i was lying on the lawn and to see if she brought it back to be, which she did and bit of tuggy with the knotted beer towel.
Stop giving the cheese when training the retrieve. The pup will obviously spit the dummy out in order to eat the cheese. Carry on rewarding it with cheese on the sit and re call but definitely no cheese for the retrieve.
Regards
Bluecheq
I didn't mean tuggy with other dogs I let my lot do this ,I meant with you, I have in past seen playing it with a person result in it turning into ragging, which then develops into hard mouth in my opinion
I agree if it becomes a tug of war then it isn't ideal with a young dog, But i do wonder if the dog actually has the intelligence to associate whatever ever is anchoring its desired object.providing the handler doesn't encourage ragging and just ecourages interest in the object I can't see a problem.
Its down circumstances and above all bonding, I want the dog to think of me as being fun. it will soon change its mind when training gets into full swing.
I played raggy games with my first few Flatcoats they all had fantastic mouths. We always had rules though, no over excitement and they always stopped when I asked and gave up the toy. I suspect the problems occur when the game is too rough or too prolonged.
One of my dogs was apparently sound asleep with a rope toy in her mouth, a guest dog wandered over to pick it up and ended up dragging my dog across the carpet, still flat on her side and seemingly asleep - wish I'd had a video camera at that moment.
In life, it is important to know when to stop arguing with people and simply let them be wrong.
Like similar 'old wives tales' you never see anyone admit to having produced a hard-mouthed dog by encouraging it with tug games. Even if you had a dog which was hard on game, it would be difficult to prove that this was down to being allowed 'tug' games. Conversely, the majority of hard-mouthed dogs will have been purposefully forbidden from playing any tug-of-war type game with the handler. So you could argue that their mouth may have been good if they had been encouraged in tug games.
....I don't have a delivery problem or hard mouth with any of them?
