Puppy Question

[lhharris]

My pup is 12 weeks old tomorrow (Friday). She is doing great in most areas except one. I take her to the park a couple of times each day and let her play and then we retrieve. I throw her little tennis ball and she will tear after it and will be bringing it back great, then she smells something and drops it and loses all thought of what she is doing. She always is smelling something and eating something in the grass, it seems that is all she does. But when she sees her ball she knows its time to retrieve and gets really excited. Why is she losing track of whats going on, on her return. She has plenty of drive just ADD i guess. I only throw it about 2-3 times then quit. Thanks Again, LH

[Damn_It_Boy]

My pup is 12 weeks old tomorrow (Friday). She is doing great in most areas except one. I take her to the park a couple of times each day and let her play and then we retrieve. I throw her little tennis ball and she will tear after it and will be bringing it back great, then she smells something and drops it and loses all thought of what she is doing. She always is smelling something and eating something in the grass, it seems that is all she does. But when she sees her ball she knows its time to retrieve and gets really excited. Why is she losing track of whats going on, on her return. She has plenty of drive just ADD i guess. I only throw it about 2-3 times then quit. Thanks Again, LH

She's a pupply.......that simple. Read the puppy post sticky above at the top of the board.

Relax, and enjoy the puppy.

[Damn_It_Boy]

Read some of the puppy training article.......here....... http://www.carmodybuilders.com/retrieve ... 0info.html

You need to really relax with your expectations of super pup! 12 weeks man.............NO DEMANDS or expectations until after 6 months......make it fun!!!

[lhharris]

Ok thanks, so just let her eat and sniff everything....

[B3]

There are a lot of things you can do to shape retrieving behavior in a young dog before 6 months.

First of all, don't do it in a park where there are any distraction. You don't want other people or dogs screwing things up. One thing that helps early on is getting the pup enthusiastic about coming to you. The way to a pups heart is his stomach. From the day he comes home you can call the pup and when he gets to you, praise and give a tiny piece of cheese or ham or hot dog. Take pup with another person into a field and have pup called first by one person and then the other and have each person back away and encouraging. When he gets there, praise and food. With this technique you can have an 8 week old puppy recalling wide open from person to person 50 yds apart.

Having this strong recall in place makes it easier to get them to want to return with the retrieving object. I think theres lots of value to letting a pup be a pup, but I also like to do a lot of fun teaching and shape good behavior before 6 months. You can teach heeling, kenneling, sitting, and casting using fun games and treats all before they are 3 months old. At that point they don't even know they're being trained.

I like to get the recall really ingrained before about 4 months because at that point the pup will get more independent like a teenager and will be less able to teach recall- thats why the Smartwork program does CC to HERE at 4 to 5 months.

Good luck,

Bill

[Damn_It_Boy]

Ok thanks, so just let her eat and sniff everything....

No, educate yourself.

[huntergirlhotty]

well if she is getting distracted and smelling the grass, that tells me that your not doing anything to keep the dogs attention on you........either one, your not going hog wild like it is the best thing she ever done when she reaches you. And that leads to a laxadazical retrieve..... A "good girl" in normal voice and then throw again is not enough for little pup. YOu got to find your highest girly voice ......giggle, rub her, flip her upside down and give her vigourous belly rub on her return. And just do the retrieve 2 or 3 times, then let her smell and eat grass and have some dog time. Since she isn't returning to you now.......you got to start hollering in a good girly high voice, no manly low tone voice.........try to sound happy and call her name, wave yer arms .......get crazy .......run from her.....Jump around. Get her attention on you when she is coming back ........its not hard to do. Once she gets to you.......go hog wild. Yes, you will feel silly and so the people at the park will think your wierd, but you won't ever have to burn a dog to come, cause your dog will always come because their is a reward , your happy about it......not just happy but giddy .....estatic. Of course once she is solid ....you can tone down the giddy once they get their championship title a few years later......ha ha !!! And the park ....... !! KEEP THAT UP ......GOOD FOR YOU.... I wish more people would take their dog to a park ......wouldn't the retrieving world be better. WHY NOT TRAIN A DOG TO WATCH YOU WITH DISTRACTIONS AROUND>>>>>> ISN"T THAT WHAT YOU NEED IN ALL SITUATIONS in the dogs future ??? hunting, trials, general obedience ? To start treaching puppy blinds and also to teach puppy ....... Look, the dog should keep up with your wearabouts....its not your job to keep up with the dog......I hide toys and stuff behind trees and such, drop them as we are walking and then send the dog on Back ......encouraging words like "find it" ect .....pretty soon the dog knows that back means their is something waiting for them. I also hide myself behind trees and bushes and watch the pups response........when he looks up and cant find you......it will take a time or two.......but he will realize you aren't around and his nose will hit the ground as panic sets in........pretty soon, this game will teach the dog to always keep in check as to where YOU are.......they want to stay close to the pack leader You will soon notice your little hound smelling and chewing grass but looking up to check in with your location and keeping one eye on you. Just remember nothing replaces the quality time that your making for this dog everyday.... WAY TO GO. Just act a little silly and get on the pups level. Keep everything positive and upbeat and it will work out your problems. GOOD LUCK

[dukdawgn]

LH,

B3 is correct, take your pup somewhere other than the park if you want to building on her focus. You can take her back to the park when its time to simply walk her around and socialize her a bit more.

You should work on her focus where there is not so much other stuff for her to be focused on, other than you. Then, once she has been groomed to be focused on you, you can condition her behavior by retrieving in the park.

Best place to play fetch with a 12 wk. old puppy is your back yard. If you do not have one, go to the parking lot behind the Turner Center on campus, and play fetch in the yard there. The ideal location would be somewhere that is well cut, and not much else to get her attention other than you.

[B3]

There are a couple of excellent videos out there for puppy work.

The Wildrose Way has good puppy tips.

Sound Beginnings by Jackie Mertens is excellent.

One thing I like about the Brit/Wildrose approach is the shaping of desirable behavior early on. They let a pup be a pup, but try everything to avoid bad behaviors like running away with the bumper or dropping bumpers from developing. Remember they don't have FF to clean that sort of thing up later.

I like all the things HGH says, but I only introduce distraction when I know they can reliably ignore them. If you're having trouble with retrieves in the presence of distraction, work on the proper behavior without the added variable of other people, dogs, or whatever to screw things up.

Also, I like to do all the goofy running away, talking enthusiasticly, etc she describes, but all of that means a lot more to the pup if you let him have a little piece of food when he gets to you.

Just my limited experience FWIW

Bill

[lhharris]

I really appreciate everyone responding to my questions, they were very helpful. I took her out this morning and you would have thought she had been retrieving form months. She did great. Thanks again for your help. God Bless. LH

[huntergirlhotty]

Keep us posted on what worked and what you changed to get good results ......... there are other people on here that most probably have the same problems........Feedback to the advice givers is always a help .......besides you might be doing something clever and not realize it.......and mentioning it will give others ideas !!

[lhharris]

I bought some puppy canvas dummies and she really took an interest to them quick. I kneeled down beside her and threw the dummy about 20 yds, she immediately started lunging at the dummy. I kept my hand across her chest then released her saying back. On the retrieve i waved my arm and talked in a girl voice i didnt know i had. She retrieved the dummy 4 times and on the fourth i rewarded her with a tiny piece of cheese. It worked great thanks to all of you who helped me. LH

[B3]

Sorry I didn't make things more clear in my suggestion of using treats with a pup. I would use the treats in shaping a good recall while NOT retrieving with a young pup. Just work on recall without a bumper.The treat is for a couple of reasons......

First to establish a quick recall with no force.

Second and more important, to condition your pup to accept praise(I'll give my thoughts on this subject when I've got more time to type it out)

I would expect very soon you are going to notice your pup spitting out the bumper in anticipation of a treat if you do it while retrieving.

BTW I think the puppy canvas bumpers are a good idea also.

Bill

[huntergirlhotty]

well, she retrieved 3 times from the praise........and after the fourth you gave her cheese. Did you stop and finish the session.?? I suspect if you through the bumper again you might have already stumbled on B 3 concern. .....think that is fine giving treats after all is over. Just make sure she can't smell the cheese or anticipate coming treats prior to the retrieving, because like B3 said ....their stomachs will over rule any bumper in the field.......just try to run her past a slab of bacon ...... !! Talking about control ! That's way later in champion title training, its in B 3 new book. Any which way........WE ARE ALL PULLIN FOR YOU !! Keep up the good work !! Getting started is half the battle......then not quiting is the other half. Looks like your on your way

[scoe25]

My pup is 12 weeks old tomorrow (Friday). She is doing great in most areas except one. I take her to the park a couple of times each day and let her play and then we retrieve. I throw her little tennis ball and she will tear after it and will be bringing it back great, then she smells something and drops it and loses all thought of what she is doing. She always is smelling something and eating something in the grass, it seems that is all she does. But when she sees her ball she knows its time to retrieve and gets really excited. Why is she losing track of whats going on, on her return. She has plenty of drive just ADD i guess. I only throw it about 2-3 times then quit. Thanks Again, LH

IT'S GOOSE SH*T!!!!!!!HA! PLUS ALL THAT'S AROUND THAT PARK IS DOG PISSIN ON EVERYTHING. HARDER TO KEEP THERE ATTENTION. TAKE HER TO A PLACE WHERE NOT ALOT OF DOGS GO.