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Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
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Hi guys.
I have a 4 1/2 month old golden with a pretty serious hunting pedigree. Right now he is in the throes of his "16 week meltdown" and I am hoping that someone can offer a suggestion about how to re-motivate the little guy.
At four months I had a steady dog who loved to work and lived to retrieve. I expected him to retrogress at about this age, but I was not prepared for how difficult it would be to correct his independent streak. For a few days he decided that he wasn't going to follow any commands anymore. With patience and persistance, he has agreed to heel, sit, stay and come like he did before but working him with the dummies has become a real chore and I feel like I'm having more little defeats than little victories.
Here's the situation:
Working on marking the dog is great. He is steady off leash for the dummy cast and really wants me to give him the go order. When I release the dog, he's off like a shot to the dummy, picks it up, then lies down and starts chewing and can not be coaxed to bring to hand. This is, obviously, undesirable. My first response was to about face and sprint away from him, which worked, but only once. The next retrieve he did the same thing and the sight of me running away was not enough stimulous to get him to bring the dummy to hand. I tried once more and called it a day. After a few sessions with similar results I tried a 25' extendo-leash to get the idea in his head that I want him to bring the dummy to me, not drop in the grass 50 yards away. It works as often as not, but the leash is too much of a distraction and I don't want him to get a negative impression of our sessions. I can't really punish him because (i) he is just a puppy afterall and (ii) I don't really think he knows what is expected of him.
My question to any more knowledgeable than I how can I get him interested in bringing the dummy to me so that I can teach him what is expected of him???
I don't know about Goldens but for GSDs with serious working lines, 16 weeks is still very much a baby without a lot of expectations. [don't pee in the house, start learning manners, and redirecting the biting]
Shepherds often have the prey drive but not the retrieve drive and "two-ball" has been a good way to build the motivational retrieve but not sure about hunting dogs.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,309 posts, read 38,774,074 times
Reputation: 7185
Quote:
Originally Posted by grannynancy
I don't know about Goldens but for GSDs with serious working lines, 16 weeks is still very much a baby without a lot of expectations. [don't pee in the house, start learning manners, and redirecting the biting]
Shepherds often have the prey drive but not the retrieve drive and "two-ball" has been a good way to build the motivational retrieve but not sure about hunting dogs.
I'm not familiar with "two-ball," can you shed some light on it? Goldens, labs, Chessies et al have retrieving in-born but it needs to be cultivated for it to become his life. I know he's just a baby but there isn't a problem with starting waterdogs early as long as they are treated like puppies rather than adults. I'm concerned that if I interrupt his training (which is mostly games with some brief drills mixed in) to let him grow up a bit this will be much more difficult to correct and if I have a retriever who does not bring to hand I have no dog. I'll try anything to get him excited about retrieving.
I also have a dog in training for hunt tests. This is the first dog I've trained for field work, and field training is so much different (and more difficult) than any other training I've been involved in. But very rewarding when you see how much your dog loves it!
Force fetching your dog will solve a lot of problems, however your pup is still young. You need to wait until teething is finished. In the meantime, look at some training materials designed specifically for field training. A really good one is "Sound Beginnings" by Jackie Mertens, which is geared towards starting your pup. Beyond that, there are great programs by Evan Graham, Mike Lardy and quite a few others.
I won't go into force fetch on this forum, but a forum you should definitely check out is Retriever Training Forums. I'll PM you with the web address. Excellent information and a lot of good folks with a lot of experience. I will also tell you that field training is very difficult to do alone and it will be extremely helpful to you to find a training group in your area. Good luck and have fun!
I know nothing about hunting but I have a book that came w/ our golden when we got her many years ago (deceased now), it's called 'Gun Dog' by Richard A Wolters and has been sitting on a shelf for years - the author has written other books pertaining to dogs - it has some illustrations - this was published in '61 but I have no use for it and would be happy if you could give it a good home - just let me know and I can send it next week, maybe it would help.
I'm not familiar with "two-ball," can you shed some light on it?
Not sure if this is the two-ball mentioned, but a main problem with GSDs is they don't usually give the ball back (think tug-o-war). A way to cure this is to have a second ball for them to get excited about so you can take the first and then throw the second for them to retrieve.
I'm really relieved you realize he is just a baby. At 4 months, his attention span has got to be limited. Try and make the training session fun...even treats for a 4 month old. The 2 ball effect works wonders....He will get the idea soon enough.
And please, don't have him leaping into water from a boat, or dock over and over again at 4 months old. Those legs are still growing (and will be for 18 months) and can not take the impact of hitting the water over and over.
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,309 posts, read 38,774,074 times
Reputation: 7185
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharon R.
I also have a dog in training for hunt tests. This is the first dog I've trained for field work, and field training is so much different (and more difficult) than any other training I've been involved in. But very rewarding when you see how much your dog loves it!
Force fetching your dog will solve a lot of problems, however your pup is still young. You need to wait until teething is finished. In the meantime, look at some training materials designed specifically for field training. A really good one is "Sound Beginnings" by Jackie Mertens, which is geared towards starting your pup. Beyond that, there are great programs by Evan Graham, Mike Lardy and quite a few others.
I won't go into force fetch on this forum, but a forum you should definitely check out is Retriever Training Forums. I'll PM you with the web address. Excellent information and a lot of good folks with a lot of experience. I will also tell you that field training is very difficult to do alone and it will be extremely helpful to you to find a training group in your area. Good luck and have fun!
Thanks for the link. It's becoming clear that this guy will require force fetching. A big mistake I made in the past with another golden was force-fetching too soon. They aren't quite the rough characters that labs and chessies are and I wound up with a dog that would not tolerate anyone touching her ears. He's too young to go on any hunts this year (at least as anything other than an observer) so I've got plenty of time. I may wait until he's about 13 or 14 months...
Location: Visitation between Wal-Mart & Home Depot
8,309 posts, read 38,774,074 times
Reputation: 7185
Quote:
Originally Posted by Honeycrisp
I know nothing about hunting but I have a book that came w/ our golden when we got her many years ago (deceased now), it's called 'Gun Dog' by Richard A Wolters and has been sitting on a shelf for years - the author has written other books pertaining to dogs - it has some illustrations - this was published in '61 but I have no use for it and would be happy if you could give it a good home - just let me know and I can send it next week, maybe it would help.
Waterdog is my favorite Wolters book, but Gun Dog is up there. Both of them have been on the back of my toilet for years. Thanks, though! That's very neighborly of you! Fewer people than you think have even heard of those books.
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