Thread: Low drive in mornings

Originally Posted by Summit K9

[FONT=Tahoma]I agree you don’t want chewing when bite training, but a tug should be attached to a line or the dog on a line so that once he has gripped the tug, you are then moving with him so that he has been rewarded by holding the tug and trotting around with it in his mouth, not allowing him free (or the tug unattached) to chew it; I also don’t think you should leave a dog with a toy, however we are talking as you say about drive training and a simple exercise like coming back with a ball you throw. [/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]Snatching or jerking anything out of the dog’s mouth will in fact only teach him to either shy away from you, and/or hold his head lower and lower when you reach for the ball or toy, so you are in fact making a rod for your own back with a six month old pup, especially when you start to train for a retrieve. The dog should present an article to you and relinquish it to you when you use whatever command you use, but training the ‘hold’ is a different matter and a separate exercise and should be done when formal training of a retrieve is started.[/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma]Peter[/FONT]

I don't think I explained myself properly, when I jerk the toy away I'm not doing it with my hands, I'm doing it with a rope. He'll take the toy (I don't use a tug all the time, sometimes I use a koala soft toy) and we'll go for a quick run with it, during the run, if I see him messing with the toy (going to chew it) or he is going to drop it I'll either liven the toy up or I'll wait for what I percieve to be the right moment and remove it from his mouth by tugging the rope. Both the toy and the dog is on a rope, if I am using a tug I don't have a line from the tug to me, but I'll recall him and have him out the toy.

I don't really need a formal retrieve as he'll be a security patrol dog, not a sport dog. I don't expect him to formally retrieve what I meant was he doesn't do any type of retrieve, I can't even motivate him to pick the ball up at all so by retrieve I just mean pick the ball up and head back in my general direction

[FONT=Tahoma]Yes keeping the prey alive if he begins to chew by tugging on the item (so that it moves) at the end of the line (in this case a tug) is fine, and does indeed encourage him to grip it instead of chewing it, therefore I don’t see anything wrong with that. I seem to have misunderstood your statement.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Tahoma]Keep trying the two ball method and work the dog up before you throw the ball, once he returns to you with the ball once, throw the other ball, and so on......[/FONT]
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[FONT=Tahoma]You only have to get him to do that a couple of times and your problem should be solved. As long as he knows that to play the game, he has to bring the ball back.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Tahoma]Peter[/FONT]