Force Fetching

[Dead Shrimp]

I have a 1 year old lab who I've been training myself. Up until now I haven't had any serious problems working with him that I couldn't work out. For about a month now he's been starting to drop the dummy mid-retrieve or run up to it, sniff it a little, then look at me as if he has no clue what to do with it. I know he understands what the routine is because, like i said, he's been doing it great until recently. I'm thinkin force fetch training is in order. I don't think I have the time/patience it takes to accomplish this so I'm wondering if any of yall know of someone who can. I've called a few other local trainers and none will do only force fetching. Let me know what yall think and if you've ever had similar problems. Thanks.

[adamsfence]

there is a guy in lecompte that does a great job i will see if i can find his number

["W"]

http://www.saltycajun.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611

[Marshrat]

Check with these clubs, maybe someone will be able to help you.

http://www.cajunhrc.com/main.htm

http://www.lakecharlesretrieverclub.com/


Warren

[Gasper Master]

I have just trained my first dog. She turned a year old on Friday and is doing well. I am by no means giving advice, but I'll tell you how my dad does it and how I did it. My ol man has trained a lot of dogs and what he does is put the dog up on a table where you can work with it. He then drives a post into the ground, puts a choke collar on the dog, ties one end to the post and ties a rope to the other end. You pull on your rope until the dog is choking and put the dummy in front of its mouth and yell fetch. When the dog is choked enough, you yell fetch again, shove the dummy in its mouth and let the pressure off of the choke collar. It then learns that every time it grabs the dummy, the pressure is released. My old man says it only takes a few time of doing this for a week.
I tried it my own way. She started out retrieving but not holding. I would put the dummy in her mouth and command hold. If she dropped it, i would grab her ear until she started hollering, shove the dummy in her mouth again, holler hold, and let her loose. If she dropped it, I would repeat until she would hold it. In the beginning I would only make her hold it for 5 seconds or so and command drop. Every day I would do this and extend her hold time. I have to tuner her up every once in a while, but she holds great now.
She did have a few episodes where she didn't really want to fetch. I force fetched her by taking my keys out and applying a light pressure to the inside of her ear with the tip of a key. It don't take much pressure to make them holler.

[Finfeatherfur]

I'll throw in $0.02 here! - They have a lot of guys on this site that all have been associated with some world class dogs. I know a few on here (Ducktrickster, Duckaholic) and have seen some dogs that would have sold for several thousands of dollars when things were booming. Plenty of advice to go around when asking for help!

I currently have a young female at a trainers place for the exact same thing you are trying to get done. Force fetching solves several problems, but I can understand why a trainer says he does not just force fetch. It is part of the "big picture" and is used with other techniques that are worked at the same time.

My advice will be this: if you decide to go with a trainer, go visit him on several occasions. Don't just call and show up, show up w/o calling. Sit back and don't ask too many questions at first. Just observe! See how long he works a dog. Is he working the dog for 10 minutes and going to the next? Is he ending the session on a positive note? Is the dog owner getting his money worth of training when you watch this guy work a dog?

Off the top of my head, I can only give you one name of a trainer that I would want to use, that is currently still training dogs. That would be Ed Thibodeaux in Morse. I have several others that I know that are no longer doing it, and I wish my dog was with Ed right now.

Good luck and let us know how the progress comes along!

[Raymond]

Ed will be back in October and is the best in this part of the state for gundogs and hunt test dogs. I actually learned much of what I know about training dogs from him and transition several dogs each year over to the garden city of Morse La.

Please do your self a huge favor and do not attempt to force fetch any dog if you have not done it before. It is less about pain and pressure than
"TIMING". You have to learn the art and it can only be learned by FF a bunch, done them as young as 5 months and as old as 3 over the last 12 years. No different than your current job that you knew nothing or little about when you started but they don't let you fly the space shuttle on your first trip.

As a pro trainer I know that I do not have all of the answers but have enough experience to figure out what it will take to get the job done.

Regards
Raymond

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Gasper Master

I have just trained my first dog. She turned a year old on Friday and is doing well. I am by no means giving advice, but I'll tell you how my dad does it and how I did it. My ol man has trained a lot of dogs and what he does is put the dog up on a table where you can work with it. He then drives a post into the ground, oputs a choke collar n the dog, ties one end to the post and ties a rope to the other end. You pull on your rope until the dog is choking and put the dummy in front of its mouth and yell fetch. When the dog is choked enough, you yell fetch again, shove the dummy in its mouth and let the pressure off of the choke collar. It then learns that every time it grabs the dummy, the pressure is released. My old man says it only takes a few time of doing this for a week.
I tried it my own way. She started out retrieving but not holding. I would put the dummy in her mouth and command hold. If she dropped it, i would grab her ear until she started hollering, shove the dummy in her mouth again, holler hold, and let her loose. If she dropped it, I would repeat until she would hold it. In the beginning I would only make her hold it for 5 seconds or so and command drop. Every day I would do this and extend her hold time. I have to tuner her up every once in a while, but she holds great now.
She did have a few episodes where she didn't really want to fetch. I force fetched her by taking my keys out and applying a light pressure to the inside of her ear with the tip of a key. It don't take much pressure to make them holler.

This is why you need a professional to do this type of training!!!

[Gasper Master]

Like I said, I was not giving advice but just telling him how we do it. I successfully did it to my dog and I had never done it before. If you understand how force fetching trains a dog and use a little common since you can make it work for you. However if you are not comfortable with it, i would definately not try it, but rather call a trainer. Good Luck, duck season is almost here!!!!