# Retrieve



## Jbean (Feb 18, 2019)

I have messed up my guy's retrieve. If I have him take something for my hand or pick it up from the floor, he immediately drops it and looks for the treat. I tried the method from Hannah Brannigan's "Awesome Obedience" book and he progressed to opening his mouth and putting it around the dumbbell, but he won't bite down on it. He keeps doing the same things and if he isn't going to offer me anything new, I can't treat it. Any ideas? He likes tug and chasing after things (toys, balls, discs, flirt pole), but he's not a chewer and he doesn't clamp down very hard on anything. TIA.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Noelle didn't understand the dumbbell, either. I decided to restart it as a pure shaping exercise.
Look at the dumbbell c/t
Nose touch c/t
Lick c/t
Lick longer c/t
Nibble c/t
Mouth c/t
Mouth longer c/t
Lift c/t
Hold c/t

I decided it was Noelle's timetable that mattered. I gave up all expectations that she would retrieve it and just worked on each tiny step. 

I also put the dumbbell on it's side, kept my finger on the bell and the only way to earn the treat was to tug it away. 

Then I played keep away. You cannot have this dumbbell, it is mine. So, I took off running away with it and wouldn't let her touch it. This got Noelle's play interest heightened. When she really wanted it, I tossed it. She charged after the dumbbell, brought it back so we could play the keep away game again.

I added the formal boring part later.
Then I abandoned chasing after a CDX with Noelle when she decided the whole thing was against her religious principles. She'll still fetch a dumbbell over a jump, though. Good luck.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Jbean said:


> . If I have him take something for my hand or pick it up from the floor, he immediately drops it and looks for the treat.


Have you tried hiding treats? Focus dog on the task instead of food. Treats come from random places on my body, a shirt pocket, back pants pocket, my mouth etc. Or we move to a counter or shelf where treats are stored. No treat pouch. . 

I used the same method as Click to train Babykins, but I’m doing something slightly different for puppy Theo who is chewing on the bar (points lost).

Babykins didn’t like to hold the dumbbell, I rubbed soft food on the bar and teased her with it. When she finally would hold a few seconds, I would run away short distance and call her. She would chase after me with the dumbbell in her mouth. I had to be very excited to chase, lots of cheering. In parallel I worked on her “take” and ”release”, then tossing near me for her to bring it for release. Randomly tossed food instead of a dumbbell to encourage her putting something in her mouth. 

With puppy Theo I trained a chin rest then introduced a dowel rod. He’s chewing the dowel rod so I’ve ordered a metal article to train dumbbell retrieve. We’re ”on hold” haha in training while I wait for it to come in the mail. When he was taking in my hand on chin rest, I then tossed it a short distance and he picked it up to return Yes, but was chewing…. So theres always a problem to work through.


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## Pavie (May 4, 2021)

I had the same issue too. I "over-taught" the drop it command when Pavie was a puppy, and he would automatically drop things I ask him to hold when trying to train retrieve. 

I later came across a pretty good video on how to teach a dog how to hold something (which is a major step in retrieve): 



 I tried it on Pavie and it seemed to work quite well. I tried making it a game of tug for him, and the tugging really encouraged him to hold on the item for a longer duration, and I was finally able to get him to understand the "hold" concept. I later added variations after he got the "hold". I would make him "stay" while holding the object, and then give the "come" command. This training involved a lot of play, quite different from most commands that I have trained.

Another idea that I have seen (I forget which trainer it was, it was an Instagram video). Was to additionally teach "chin on palm" for duration and combining it with a hold. You teach the dog to relax their chin on your palm and you gradually increase the duration before giving him a treat. Then you can put an object in his mouth and ask him to put his chin on your palm. And finally, you can fade the palm away with a long duration hold. I haven't tried this method myself, since the kikopup hold worked really well for us. But it's just another possibility to consider, perhaps depending on whether your dog is more play-motivated or food-motivated.


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