Some dogs will retrieve anything you throw. Others will look at you as if to say, “You threw it; you go get it.” While the natural retrievers may be the most enthusiastic fetchers, they may also be the most difficult to train to let go of their prize once it is in their mouth. Here is an simple way to train any dog to retrieve. It’s the one I used to instruct three of my dogs the retrieve in Open obedience work.
With the dog sitting by you, offer the dumbbell, stick, or whatever along with the command, “Take it!” If the dog opens his mouth and grabs the item, give lavish praise. If he doesn’t, gently open his mouth and put the item in it. You may have to hold his mouth closed around the item be sure that it’s only for a few seconds. Then say, “Give!” and remove the item. Give more praise and perhaps a treat. Work at this until your dog will take the item on command and then give it back. You’ve accomplished the hardest part.
Next, hold the item a few inches away from the dog’s mouth so that he has to reach for it. “Take it!” By now, the dog should be able to hold the item for 5-10 seconds. “Give!” The dog should open his mouth and let you take it. If he doesn’t, gently squeeze on either side of his upper jaw so that he will open his mouth. Take the item and praise. Under no circumstances should you play tug of war or you’ll have a dog that’ll never give you back the item. Always be very gentle so the dog associates the training with pleasure.
Once your dog will reach for the item, place it on the ground and get him to take it. He should then sit and hold it until you state “Give!” You do not have to reward with a treat every time but you should do it often enough that the dog is always interested. Do praise every time. Of course the next step is to throw the item a few feet from you. Hold onto your dog’s collar until you give the command, “Take it!” and then let him go. Keep a leash on him so you can pull him back to you and have him sit in front of you. If you want to do obedience work, you must have the dog hold the item until you give the command “Give.” If your only goal is to play fetch in the back yard, you may just want to have your dog drop it in front of you. Make sure he doesn’t try to grab it again when you reach for it as that is a good way to get an accidental bite.
As your dog’s training progresses, you can throw the item farther and farther away. By now you should be working off leash, but if the dog ever refuses to come back to you, put the leash back on and go back to the basics. Once the dog has mastered the retrieve, you can add a hurdle for fun. Start low at first so that you can jump over it with your dog and take him to the object lying on the ground. Dogs love this activity and in no time, he’ll be doing the retrieve all by himself over higher and higher hurdles
The retrieve is the basis of many tricks such as fetching your slippers or the morning newspaper. Dogs love to be useful and they will find these games as fun as you do. If you decide to enter obedience work, the retrieve will also be a part of scent discrimination where your dog will fetch an item that you’ve touched after sniffing all of them on the ground.
If you are looking to hunt with your dog, you will want to take a class in bird dog training where the dog is trained to retrieve a downed bird gently so as not to puncture it. The possibilities of retrieving fun with your canine companion are endless. Go fetch!
