#1
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fetching issue
Does anyone have any ideas about how I can get my 5 month old Border Collie to play fetch in the yard? She has NO PROBLEM fetching in the house! It seems that in the yard, I am to fetch the ball/toy after she has run after it and grabbed it and played with it for a minute. I have tried the treat thing, but it only works if she knows I have treats!!! Too smart, eh? I am also having trouble getting her to "come" consistently without treats. Any ideas are welcome although I don't use the clicker method. This is the first time I've used treats with a dog. Am I doing something wrong?
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#2
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Use the treats all the time, every time, until she is retrieving 100%. It helps if a particular kind of treat that she absolutely loves is used only for this exercise. Keep play sessions short but frequent throughout the day. You can start with 5-10 minutes 3-4 times per day. Don't go after the ball. If you have to, then the play ends there and you pick it up and put it away until the next time. This is only if you're absolutely sure she knows what you expect of her. After a week or so, you can reward her with a treat 3 out of 4 times she retrieves...another week, 1 of 2 times...the trick is to not make it easy for her to determine when she'll get the treats. And always remember use a marker word every time such as "yes" or "good" when she does what you expect of her. Eventually, the marker word will replace the treat. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't treat her every now and then, just to keep her interest peaked if she's not too crazy about playing retrieve games.
Our Penny loves to retrieve but can get bored easily if we don't spice it up for her. She also loves to work more than play so treats and rewards are great payments to encourage her to keep it up. Sometimes we use treats or special toys as rewards, other times a pat and verbal praise.
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"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -Will Durant |
#3
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This isn't an "issue" She is only 5 months old. Keep up the "fetch training" and she will be golden in a short time! Patients
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#4
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when we were teaching Brina lab/shepherd to fetch we started out learning "take, hold, give"...............after the give we'd toss a bit further tell her take, hold....give....it also comes in handy in the living room *L* I point at the remote, tell her "take".............."give"......ok ok I'm lazy, but I agree with Brecker, she's only 5 months old, still at the play stage
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#5
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First, it doesn't really matter how old your dog is - learning fetch is usually a fairly easy task that dogs can catch onto quickly, regardless of age or their desire to play. In fact, it's best to teach puppies fetch while they're still young and so incredibly playful.
A few things you'll want to make sure you're doing - don't use the 'fetch toys' for anything BUT teaching/playing fetch. If you allow your pup to have these toys for any play, they'll lose their novelty and this could be a big reason your pup loses interest when she's outside. There's so much to smell/see/hear while outside, that if she's not 100% focused and excited about that toy, she will play with it for a few seconds before losing interest. The second thing you'll want to remember is that sometimes we as owners need to physically show them what we require of them in a task. You will definitely want to continue throwing short distances, but you also may want to start having her on leash. For this excercise, you'll need assistance. Someone will have to walk or run her over to the toy after you've given her the fetch command - at which point they will promptly run her back to you - where you can reward her with play, praise, or treat. I personally would start with that excercise, and be sure to keep things upbeat for her while she's learning this on-leash outside. The second thing you can do when you start to take the leash off, is be sure to have two toys of the same type/color. When you throw the first one, only produce the second toy if she seems to show some distraction with bringing it back. (If she gets down and starts to chew on the toy instead of bringing it to you, if she brings it a short distance, drops it and chews it, etc.) When she see's the second toy, chances are she'll come to you for it. Throw that one, and grab the second toy and repeat. The point is to never let her realize that you are picking up the toy that she has become bored with and abandoned. If she starts to really ignore the fetch game, it's time to either switch up the toys or put her back on leash for more practice. Hopefully that helps!
__________________
~B~ "If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater. . . suggest that he wear a tail." Bailey (Labradoodle) Tippy (Collie/ShepX) Vali (American Bulldog) Artiro (Cane Corso) |
#6
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if she grabs the toy but doesn't return it, pull on her lead to gently bring her back to you and take the toy from her saying "good girl", you can buy special fetch toys that have a ten foot string attached to them or just tie a string on the toy you use, brina at this point will fetch anything, I just grab at random in her toy box or even a wadded up piece of paper
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#7
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OR just keep it simple, and keep doing what you are doing and she we get it because you have a highly intelligent breed of dog. One other suggestion is - keep this very playful and fun for the pup, as soon as she starts showing boredom or her attention wanders - stop on a positive note and end with lots of praise.
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#8
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great advice brecker
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#9
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Quote:
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#10
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For sure you want her recall solid and treats will help with that. For the fetch though, if she loves the game in the house and fetches consistantly there she obviously "gets it" and understands the game. Out in the yard I'd try to figure out why she's not performing as well. Is she distracted and by what? Are you throwing the toy further (in that case maybe try throwing it the same distance as you would in the house to start and then gradually increase the distance). Are there kids, animals or anything else making noise nearby or moving around (something/someone that may be viewed as a "herdable" object and therefor much more interesting to a border collie than fetch) Unless you plan to compete in disc or flyball I don't see not playing fetch well as an issue. It may be just not her thing outside. My Storm (one of my border collies) is like that. In the house he plays with all the toys but outside he won't touch them. Out there he's all about what the other dogs are doing, what the horses are doing, what the chickens/turkeys/ducks/peacock are doing etc. He's a working dog (does nuisance goose control duty, and he's a sled dog), and he just doesn't view the backyard as the place to play with toys. His sister Rain has a different opinion though, she loves her toys anywhere.
I've competed in disc with a couple of my other dogs, and Lightning, who is a border collie/lab sometimes he gets too excited with the frisbee and doesn't want to give it up, or he drops it too far away. I've used treats with him to get him to "give" or "bring it". If he drops it too far away and barks at me to get it I'll just tell him to "bring it here" and I refuse to go get it. If he keeps barking and yelping at me I'll turn my back to him and then he'll get it and bring it closer. Most times when I tell him to "bring it here" he will give in and bring it closer to me but if he doesn't and I have to go get it then play time is over. He'll then follow me, bouncing around and hoping to snatch it out of my hand but I don't give in.
__________________
Beware of Mushers...They will suck you into their addiction! If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion! http://www.racingrescues.com http://www.goodbyegoose.com |
#11
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Give this site on training to retrieve with a clicker a look-see. It's from the U.K. Gundog Club and is favoured by many there over force fetching. The forum the site mentions is out of service, unfortunately. I am using this method with my pup and I will say, I find the instructions to C/T for 15 minutes or 100 treats a bit much and I've shortened our sessions to 5 minutes.
http://www.thegundogclub.co.uk/Refer...erretrieve.htm |
#12
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All is well on the fetching front!
Thank you all for your advice! It seems that those of you who said not to worry, she's still young were correct. She now fetches her squeaky cow AND the frizbee in the yard and even the odd stick. I have just started teaching her direction (left, right centre) using the fetching. She can also go up and down a ramp, go under a chair, jump over a small jump and is learning to weave. I do not intend to compete, but just have fun and give her things to do. I am looking for a short children's play tunnel as well. We are having a lot of fun! Thanks again, everyone. I will use your advice with other training challenges as we go.
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