Why?  Because it gives us a new way of playing with and relating with our dogs AND it gives us our first way in to conscious control over their jaws while they are really young.

So what is a retrieve?  It’s actually a set of five simple behaviours chained together:

  1. Watch an object be placed out or thrown to a distance (which puppies can find hard if you are too quick they can think it’s just disappeared!)
  2. Go to object (without getting distracted by any great smells)
  3. Pick up object in your mouth and keep hold (for a realllllly long time)
  4. Return straight to owner and fast pace (remembering to keep hold)
  5. Present to owner in manner requested i.e. drop, place in hand facing or to heel

With a range of objects, in an environment with distractions and over distances of up to 30 meters.

So how do we start?

STEP 1 THE HOLD

Start with the end of the sequence!!!!   Gather a range of objects or toys which you can hold with two hands and offer to your dog.  If they go to take it or put their teeth on it in any way be wildly enthusiastic about their brilliance and give them a treat.   Something like a strip of carpet, length of hose pipe, a fabric tug toy and a dog’s prey dummy would all work. Keep changing the object or toy and use the word HOLD whenever they touch the toy with their jaws and giving them at treat.   Once they have the idea then you need to introduce a CUE for letting it go back into your hand, I use MINE but some people say ‘THANK YOU’.  Use whatever cue you want to mean ‘I’m having my turn with our toy now’, so steer away from LEAVE as a cue which often has a heavier meaning.

GENERALISE – Once they have the idea of this game then take 3 or 4 of your best objects and practice in the garden and on a walk.  Note you haven’t thrown anything yet.

FINESSING – Then over the next few days you might want to generalise this ‘HOLD’ and make sure they can do it in a SIT and in a STAND, FACING you and alongside in a ‘HEEL’ position

STEP 2 DISTANCE AND DRIVE

Creating drive for a toy is easy to do by playing with toy yourself and putting it away when not in use.  Using a ‘prey dummy’ or fabric pencil case into which you can place some of your dog’s food is even better; each time its in your hands you open it and take food out.   Try a couple of HOLDs with this high value toy.

Once your dog knows HOLD and has value or DRIVE for a toy you can add DISTANCE to the retrieve, start small and build up slowly.  At this stage you need to start practicing on a SHORT LEAD and trying ‘throwing’ the toy a few feet and asking for your dog to HOLD it and come back to you.  The lead is there simply to stop them running away with they toy the first few times.   Practice both ACTIVE retrieves of a thrown toy and passive retrieves of a toy placed out.  Once your dog gets the idea you can introduce a single cue FETCH to the whole sequence.  Fetching and putting the toy in your hand is thus the default.

As they get better introduce the long line, say 5m and practice in the garden and then on walks. 

Be wildly enthusiastic about fast and furious retrieves that come straight back to you and more modestly pleased at slow retrieves.  If your dog drops the toy enroute then no praise or treat just end the training session and come back to it another day.

You are now at the stage that you can introduce another alternative end to the retrieve – the DROP.  This is fairly easy for most dogs to achieve if you offer them a treat or an alternative toy.

STEP 3 PROOFING

Retrieves over and through obstacles, retrieves with other dogs in the environment and retrieving complex objects are all great ways of PROOFING your retrieve so that it works in a range of settings.