# Puppy Training Brag



## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

I can't get over how EASY it is to train my mpoo puppy!


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## petitpie (Nov 16, 2011)

Good boy, Jet!


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## Marcoislandmom (Mar 15, 2012)

How old is jet? I see he is out of puppy cut. Beautiful.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

He is 7 months. Is coat could hold a pom shape decent so I went to the CC. Easier to maintain for now!


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## Ladywolfe (Jan 11, 2012)

OMG---what a pup. I am envious.


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## Poodlemama99 (Feb 12, 2010)

Wow that is awesome. Maggie would retrieve it but would then try to eat it or play with it or both.

None of my others would bring it to me. Of course I have never tried to train them to do that. I bet they could because of course poodles are the smartest of all dogs. IMHO.


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## sarpoodle (Dec 26, 2011)

Awesome! He's a natural retriever. He looks great in that cut. Quite the little man.

Greg


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Ladywolfe said:


> OMG---what a pup. I am envious.


Thank you! 

Now you know why I cannot keep myself from raving about the breeder! They're expecting their next litter to be even better. If that is possible.


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## pgr8dnlvr (Aug 7, 2011)

Who's the breeder again do they have a site? 

Also what method did you use to train the retrieve? Lucy will go out and pick up the item but it's tough to get her to bring it back... Suggestions?

Rebecca


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

I got him from Red Star Kennel: Red Star Kennel - The Miniature Poodle

Really good people I've known for a long time. What a happy surprise to me that they started this mpoo breeding program since the last time I was training out there. 

Lucy's retrieve problem is all about trust, relationship, and posession. You can fix it by playing TUG. A LOT. Let her win EVERY TIME. What you'll see is that she'll win the toy and bring it to you immediately to play again. You become super fun and she'll start to feel safe bringing toys to you.

Don't play fetch games for a while. If/when you do, don't take a toy out of her mouth until she's smashing it into your hand (or dropping at your feet) and practically begging you to take the toy.

So no, my dog had zero retrieve training, zero dead retrieve training. But we play tug a lot and he's very trusting as far as giving things to me. I've never taken something away from him. I trained "out" (out of your mouth) with a zero-conflict style. The dog CHOOSES to let go and gets rewarded by more play. It is powerful stuff. He was chewing on something and I told him "out" and he SPITS a little piece of cardboard or something out. This obedience command prevents the distrust that happens from chasing down a puppy and pulling something out of the back of its neck.

Retrieve is a behavior that shows the true colors of your dog's relationship with you. Have fun tugging!


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## caroline429 (Mar 5, 2012)

tortoise said:


> Don't play fetch games for a while. If/when you do, don't take a toy out of her mouth until she's smashing it into your hand (or dropping at your feet) and practically begging you to take the toy......
> Retrieve is a behavior that shows the true colors of your dog's relationship with you. Have fun tugging!


Interesting post! I never thought of the psychology behind the play but it seems I accidentally did it correctly. LOL 

Cali lives to play tug and retrieve. I always let her win tug because it just doesn't seem fair not to let the little fluffball win! She has retrieved since day one and has always literally smashed the ball or tug toy or stuffed animal (she'll retrieve anything she can carry!) into my hand. Sometimes she'll drop it on her own and sometimes I ask her to drop it but she's always eager to go again. I've got to admit a good long game of retrieve comes in handy on rainy, miserable days when I don't want to take her for a walk but know she needs exercise.

Her nonstop tugging/retrieving play drove me crazy when I first got her; you probably remember the thread about "drive". Now she's maturing (she's the same age as your boy) she's turning into one fun little dog. At class the other day, she did a really good "heel", then a "sit, stay, come and sit", totally focused on me the whole time. The instructor said it was "perfect". 

I was so proud because when she started the class, she acted like a brainless airhead, bouncing up and down and not paying any attention at all. The other students used to look at us with something like pity but at the last two classes a couple of them have been asking me how I'd been training her to effect such a change. I wish I could say I had some magic formula but the truth is I've done nothing different. The last few weeks, it's like someone flipped a switch and she suddenly has decided working is fun. 

I love the way Jet's little tail is going a mile a minute the whole time in your video. He obviously thinks work is lots of fun! He is absolutely gorgeous and he looks so grown up for 7 months. Cali's getting a groom on Monday but I don't think her coat will hold an adult cut yet. I think it'll be a short puppy cut for the summer.


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## dcyk (Nov 30, 2011)

Caroline, tell them, it's poodle 

I played alot of tugs with mack, and chase the lure. And he will pounce on the lure with gusto, i will pull it away in the nick of time so he will be more intrigued. Then i will toss it far away into the corner of the house and off he go like a speeding bullet. And back to me, only when he's tired out, he will bring the toy elsewhere instead of back to me hahaha. 

Poodle i tell you, poodle.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Came back to brag on my dog some more. 

He retrieves medication, water bottle, and cell phone for me now. We are working on object name/recognition and targeting. Also started deposit tasks!

He will put his toys away, with some direction from me. Can't wait until he can do this job solo!

He's doing so well with directed retreive. He picks up stuff for me often - even did just fine with my creditc card off the hard floor. I have not started on coin retrieval yet.

For fun, I got an agility jump. We are working on AKC retrieve over a jump. I have not trained the front position, but everything else is there.

I really should train him more often, he has so much potential.


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## PlayfulPup (Aug 8, 2012)

Smart pup! If we were looking for a mini, I would defiantly add that breeder to my list if I could get a pup smart like yours!

I was always told that if you let a dog win at tug you are letting him be dominant over you (or something like that.) any insight you have is welcome.

We taught our (not so smart) beagle to fetch by cutting a slit in a tennis ball and putting a treat in it. Tossed it and when she eventually brought it near us, we would snag it and give her the treat. Eventually she caught on that bringing the ball meant a treat. she played for a few years and lost interest, but it was long enough our min pin caught on by example and now he enjoys fetch while she lazily watches.


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## caroline429 (Mar 5, 2012)

Spunky said:


> I was always told that if you let a dog win at tug you are letting him be dominant over you (or something like that.) any insight you have is welcome.


Not sure if this question was addressed to me or not but since I was the one who said I let my pup win at tug, thought I'd chime in.  

The thought used to be that you should never, under any circumstances, let a dog win at tug, because it would cause it to become dominant. The current feeling is that letting a dog win at tug is fine as long as there are some common sense rules applied to the game. For me, the number one rule is "no teeth on the human". If a tooth accidentally touches me, the game stops. I've also always made sure the dog would drop the tug on command. You need to be able to end the game in case the dog gets too wound up.

I also think you have to be aware of the temperament of the dog you want to play with. It wouldn't be wise to play tug with a dog who's already got dominance issues in other areas but if you've got a good-natured dog who follows the rules, they're not going to become dominant because you let them win. I let Cali win just about every time and although she's very confident, she is not dominant though, at the moment, she is pushing a basketball around the floor, trying desperately to get it under her control. LOL


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