fetching

[jlorink]

first, i have recently purchsed the online sit stay fetch. great. he is only 9 weeks and after only a couple of days he is able to repeat the basics. -i guess this is good.

he fetches and returns fine, but he always drops the ball like 5 to 10 feet away. what he doesnt do then is pick up the ball and bring it all of the way back.

-my question is:
is he simply too young at this point and with continued training this will this sort itself out, or is there a technique to help him understand now that he should bring the ball all of the way back. i dont want to create bad habits.

thanks.

[Brucerit]

jlorink:

I have a 14 week old German Shepherd Pup, that the only way I can get him to bring the toy that I am using to teach him to fetch, back to me, is to have another squeaky toy in my hand and as he starts to return to me, I am praising him for retrieving, and squeaking the other toy at the same time.

If I don't have the second toy in my hand, I have to chase him down to get the other toy back.

Brucerit

[jlorink]

good idea. the funny thing is that the toy he if fetching is squeaky, haha. Guess ill switch it up.

well, over a couple of days, he seems to have gotten better, and worse, if that is possible. he sits well, and beginning to stay. but now, on many attempts, he only runs to the ball, touches it, but does not bring it back. or if he does, he only brings it back half way drops it and absolutely will not pick it up again.

guess ill keep working at it.

any ideas on getting him to complete the task?

[puppylove]

Well, in my opinion.... 9 weeks is still a bit young. He may not understand the entire concept as of yet. Maybe just not throw the toy quite so far? You could also try clicker training when he gets a bit older, and have some yummy treats when he returns and drops the ball on command. My pup is nearly 11 months old, but I didn't start expecting her to return a ball/toy to me from a distance until she was about 3-4 months. Right now just keep him active with play, and obedient with sit and stay, then down and stay ect. Just go slow or you will overwhelm him.

[shannon99]

Hi, German Shepard's are very, very smart animals, they have strong drive and determination and should be quite easy to train, although when they are young they are like any other dog and can only learn so much. I wouldn't expect too much out of your pup until it is at least 6 months old, that is when you can really start training them, they say a dog has to repeat something 30 times before it remembers it and a puppy has to do it twice that many times, a human only has to do it 7, that's a big difference. I am including a link for some free e-books that you may find useful, it is for Leerburg Kennels, the guys name is Ed Farley and he has been raising and training German Shepard's for over 42 years, he gives great advice and his DVD training series is excellent at targeting training for Shepard's. Here is the link, check it out and I hope it sheds some light on the ages at which your puppy will start learning things better:
Leerburg's Dog Training eBooks

[jessechp]

I have a little problem with my 1 year old Golden Retriever as well. He used to like fetching newspaper every morning and help me to fetch tiny bag when I am back from work. Recently, he just refused to fetch the newspaper and walk away. I have checked his mouth and his tounge and mouth are fine. Anyone know what is going on with him?