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On
Retrieving...
By Adam
G. Katz
Dear Adam,
About 6 weeks
ago, I acquired a border collie through the local SPCA.
She is
about 18-24 months old. I have no idea of her history. All I can say is
that "Rosie" is a very smart dog. Rosie is a quick learner and eager to
please me. She knows the word "NO"., knows how to sit, is housebroken,
comes when commanded to, stays within the borders on my farm, and comes
wherever she is when I ring a Tibetan bell.
My Question: Since
Rosie is from a working breed, I would like to teach her how to fetch so
that she can get as much exercise as possible. How do I go about that,
whether it is tennis ball or a Frisbee? I am sure once I have a method, it
will take her no time to learn. Could you possibly give me some
hints?
PS - I loved your book and use many of your ideas to
acclimate Rosie to her new surroundings and ground rules. My friends think
I am "nuts" when I spit in my dog's food bowl and talk about being the
alpha dog. However, they have very ill-mannered pets and I have one very
nice dog!
[ To read about the book she's referring to, go to:
http://www.thats-a-good-dog.com/dogproblem
]
I look forward to you reply,
Katharine.
Dear
Katharine:
Thanks for the e-mail.
I would suggest re-reading
the section in the book on "How to speed up training results by using the
ball and food drive!" on page 53.
This will give you the necessary
information regarding how to build up the dog's natural drive to chase the
ball (or any other object). This is basically what is known as a "play
retrieve".
If the dog has absolutely NO prey drive, then you won't
be able to do this with her.
The other type of retrieve is called a
"trained retrieve," where you actually teach the dog to formally pick up
an object and not release it until give a specific command. Most trainers
will use the dog's natural drive to teach the dog to do this exercise FAST
and with a lot of fun and outgoing attitude. And this is the proper way to
do it, if you're teaching a trained retrieve. (This would be appropriate
for a service guide dog, for example).
The only problem with the
trained retrieve for the purposes of giving the dog some exercise is that,
although the trained retrieve CAN be taught to any dog-- regardless of the
amount of drive-- you simply won't get the dog to run fast if he has no
natural ball drive.
Within the next couple of months I will be
teaching my dog, Forbes, how to do a trained retrieve so that he can carry
items in his mouth for an indefinite period of time.
You've
probably already read about how Forbes carries my empty McDonald's bag
over to the trash can after breakfast, when we return from our daily
McHeroin with Egg, Hash Brown and coffee. This is a play retrieve Forbes
is doing. When he gets tired, or is simply disinterested, he spits it out.
Once I teach him the trained retrieve, he will be able to carry a bag, or
a hammer, or a basket (or any object) in his mouth for the duration of an
entire 1 mile walk. You can also build on this behavior by teaching the
dog to pick things up... like the phone. Or a can of beer!
To read more of my dog
training ramblings, read about my book:
Secrets of a
Professional Dog Trainer!
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visit the following links:
Main site: Dog Training
Secrets of a
Professional Dog Trainer Book--
http://www.thats-a-good-dog.com/dogproblem
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