Monday
Nov282011
Monday, November 28 I love fetch
Fetch is one of my favourite things to do with dogs. Here's a recent video of me playing fetch with the pack.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NZn4NcpD34]
Many people think that their dog can’t fetch, but I’ve had tremendous success teaching many different dogs of all ages this game. I think my success comes from my approach... I break ‘fetch’ down into skills that I teach one at a time and then eventually string together. I scope out the dog’s interest and teach the most fun skill first.
Some dogs like to chase, so I teach ‘get it’ and I praise once they’ve ‘got it’ in their mouth. Other dogs like to play tug of war, so I teach them to ‘bring it’ and I reward with a quick game of tug.
I usually teach ‘drop it’ last so that the reward can be ‘fetch it’, this way the game is an endless loop of fun. Occasionally I encounter dogs who refuse to ‘drop it’ once they’ve got it, for them I use multiple balls so that they always know they get a ball back when they’ve dropped it.
It’s important to continuously shape your dog’s behavior as the game continues. This keeps them mentally engaged in the game, and it builds discipline as they have to work to please you. It also tires them out to an entirely different degree then if the game was on auto-pilot.
Let’s say I throw the ball 30 times. The first 10 throws I might just chuck the ball as quickly as the dog can bring it back. This gets the dog very enthusiastic about bringing back. The next 10 throws I might make the dog place the ball in my hand, or I won’t throw it. This slows the game down, but builds skill. The last 10 throws I might ask the dog to do challenging obedience work, like sit, down or stay. You’d be surprised how much obedience work you can accomplish in a simple game of fetch.
Try out my formula and let me know what you think.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NZn4NcpD34]
Many people think that their dog can’t fetch, but I’ve had tremendous success teaching many different dogs of all ages this game. I think my success comes from my approach... I break ‘fetch’ down into skills that I teach one at a time and then eventually string together. I scope out the dog’s interest and teach the most fun skill first.
Some dogs like to chase, so I teach ‘get it’ and I praise once they’ve ‘got it’ in their mouth. Other dogs like to play tug of war, so I teach them to ‘bring it’ and I reward with a quick game of tug.
I usually teach ‘drop it’ last so that the reward can be ‘fetch it’, this way the game is an endless loop of fun. Occasionally I encounter dogs who refuse to ‘drop it’ once they’ve got it, for them I use multiple balls so that they always know they get a ball back when they’ve dropped it.
It’s important to continuously shape your dog’s behavior as the game continues. This keeps them mentally engaged in the game, and it builds discipline as they have to work to please you. It also tires them out to an entirely different degree then if the game was on auto-pilot.
Let’s say I throw the ball 30 times. The first 10 throws I might just chuck the ball as quickly as the dog can bring it back. This gets the dog very enthusiastic about bringing back. The next 10 throws I might make the dog place the ball in my hand, or I won’t throw it. This slows the game down, but builds skill. The last 10 throws I might ask the dog to do challenging obedience work, like sit, down or stay. You’d be surprised how much obedience work you can accomplish in a simple game of fetch.
Try out my formula and let me know what you think.
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