Retrieve work

In the past, one of the hardest parts of teaching the retrieve was getting the dog to sit in front while holding the dumbbell. I ask them to sit, they drop the dumbbell. I try to get them to move toward me to front, they drop the dumbbell. They can carry it if they go out to get it, but those last few steps and front just seem to blow their little minds at first.

Fortunately, over the years, I've learned to break exercises down a lot more! Hopefully I'm on the right track with Zane. He will retrieve, but I've only been asked for a retrieve to hand or "put it in". Separately, we've been working on hold (in a front position). Here's a vid of the steps, showing three of my dogs. Zane is at the end.




Then we worked on holding the dumbbell/articles. This morning I started the next step. I'm still sitting in the chair (remember chair fronts - similar to those), legs extended to make a chute, but instead of having him start right in front, he was several inches farther back. I asked him to take the dumbbell, then to front. So he basically just had to scoot forward. He did drop the dumbbell once, so we worked on "hold" for a few seconds, then back to asking just for that little scoot. He started being able to do it easily, so next I hope to move him a bit farther back. Just little steps at a time, instead of one big lump of an exercise.

He also went to Bella's agility lesson. Before class we worked on the tunnel (he loves running through the tunnels) and the table. We started that this weekend (playing while at the Rally trial) and he's learning to get on the table and do an immediate down. He likes that game too.

After class, I put him in the two-on-two-off position on the A-frame and clicked when he dropped his head and rewarded on the ground. When he's coming down contact equipment, I want that head down - it makes them less likes to bail off. So I mark when that head is down. I'm not asking him to move down the A-frame yet - I put him in position and that's all I expect. I'm building a strong reward zone right there so he's more likely to get there when I start backchaining the equipment.

This afternoon I pulled out the gloves and we worked on marking the glove and taking it. So I put glove out, put a treat on it, step into heel position beside Zane, give the mark signal. When he looks at the glove/treat, I click and send him to it. He eats the treat, then I ask him to take the glove and bring it back. Again, no sit in front on that part yet - just bringing it to hand.