Thread: Dropping on the retrieve

At 5 months all the retrieves should be fun for the pup, and only say 3 twice a day so pup remains keen.

Aside from these retrieves what I do is this;
Use a small paint roller (new) or hard cardboard roll from Glad Wrap or similar cut down so no more than say 4 inches wide each side when in pups mouth, as a training dummy for hold.

Each day open pups mouth and pop the light dummy into the pups mouth and keep one hand under chin to hold pups muzzle up and the other behind pups head to have a bit of control. Say "hold" whilst doing this and after a couple of SECONDS say give and take the dummy out. Pup may want to spit it out but soon as hold for split second you must praise the pup so it realizes what you want. That being hold the dummy without trying to spit it out.
Be calm and calm the pup. I use hold for this as when you are doing your retrieves you no doubt say fetch. As pup won't be too happy about the trained hold for a few days it is better to use a different word so the association with fetch = fun.
I also give a small food reward to the pup after a couple of "holds" of the little dummy. Speeds things along a bit I find.
It takes a while but if you do this every day just 3 times and make a fuss of the up when it holds without spitting out, then push the dummy against the teeth with "hold" to get pup to open mouth by itself, and from there to reach out and take it. I wiggle it around above pups head so pup jumps up to take it, and when this happens I say "hold".

So basically you are working on two things - a trained hold and a fun retrieve.

When the pups is doing well with the hold you can then blend the two together. You can then move on to having the pup hold the bigger dummy.


Also as has been said, get down to pups level for delivery of the retrieve or even turn your body side on and give the pup praise and a rub before you take the dummy.

In a few more months you can have the pup walking holding the dummy, and sit the pup and put dummy down and continue walking and have the pup pick it up on way to you. And sit to deliver. But all these things are done in stages, when pup can handle on stage well move on to another stage a bit more difficult. Quite often the pup likes to go around you, don't worry about this until the pup is more advanced and you can expect straight to you and sit.

By 7 or 8 months you should be getting quite good retrieves to hand of the dummy. You will probably find the pup will retrieve game right to you.