Correcting the Retrieve

[Kerr]

What type of dog do you have? If it's a Lab, personally I would not reward with food as they are so food oriented they are likely to spit the retrieve in anticipation of grub. I had this problem with my first Lab because I only decided to start gundog training with him when he when he was nearly 16 months.

With my new puppy, who is now 6 months, this has not been a problem because of the simple rules I followed with the puppy, which were:-
1. Don't do tug of war games.
2. Never play chase games when the dog has something in it's mouth.
3. Never pull anything from the dogs mouth, regardless of whether item is your prized silk tie which you left on the floor or not.
4. Labs by nature love to 'pick up' and have something in their mouth, therefore let them do it, let them bring the item to you and you must resist the urge to collect the retrieve straight away, let them hold it and give plenty or praise.
5. Choose the right moment to carefully request the retrieve, or whatever has been picked up, and again give plenty or praise the instant it is placed in your hand.

This advice, which incidently was picked up from Susan Scales' great book, has proved great value in training my second dog.

Spitting the retrieve was tackled with my first dog by a combination of saying 'No' as the dummy was spat and running backwards with my arms open and sounding the recall with my whistle. This had some success but the real winner was by getting down on the ground as the dog approached with the dummy. No dog in the world can resist master being at their level to play. Timing of praise/punishment the key.

Good luck with the advice give by everyone, be patient and more importantly be consistent. Let us know how you get on.

[Polmaise]

For folks that are unsure of training the "hold" because I feel unless you're confident in this techinque you could do more harm than good also have a read here....viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5680 and here.. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7637#p92185

Rascal

Good point by Rascal! ...its alright posting these 'suggestions' but if you dont have the confidence or ability?, it can have an adverse conclusion