Re: OT - my dog won't fetch!

JJ wrote:

But, back to the "fetch"...He may never do this if it's not something he
finds fun...but I really think he just doesn't "understand" that it's OK to
pick up the toy and bring it back. He really just seems clueless about some
types of "play" that is second nature to other dogs. Granted, he's a
Maltipoo, and while Poodles were/are used for hunting I believe, Maltipoos
were not! <snort> And, he doesn't have that "retriever" gene or even a
"terrier" gene. But he does like to play, just doesn't seem to know this
particular "game."

Any ideas on how you go about teaching a dog to fetch? With Emma, she would
fetch immediately. I don't remember *teaching* her, she just picked it up.
But we had her from the age of 10 weeks, not almost four years old.

I'd like to see if I can teach Goofy to fetch and I'm also planning on doing
some agility with him. He's wickedly fast and agile, can turn on a dime at
"high" speeds and I'm sure he can jump. My barn owner (Comet's barn) has
offered me some doggy jump standards for free so we'll start with those when
the weather gets a little nicer. Just for some exercise and fun for us
both!

Different breeds of dogs have been developed as much for behaviors as they have
for colour and size. Retrievers, obvioulsy, have been bred to retirieve and do
it naturally. FWIW, the last Lab I had was great at it. I picked him up when he
was just 8 weeks old and when we got home I rolled a ball across the floor for
him to play with. He immediately ran after the ball, picked it up, brought it to
me, dropped it at my feet and sat. He needed no training at all.

I imagine that if you spend enough time playing with your new dog and introduce
him to new toys and let him know that they are okay to play with he will start
to pick them up. He may have been trained not to mouth anything other than his
special toy. BTW, the natural behaviour for a terrier is to pick up small
animals and shake them.

If you can coax him to play with a ball or stick, have him come and then take
the ball away from him and give the command to drop.

If he remains relucatant, try some operant conditioning. Start giving him
treats and use a clicker or some other noise maker to associate the sound with
the treat. Then use the clicker to reinforce his behaviour as he gets closer to
doing what you want, first for looking at the ball, then for approaching it, for
being near it, for touching it, for picking it up etc. You ave to apply to
rewards for progressive steps toward the end goal. Animals can be trained to
do just about anything they are physically capable, especially things they
naturally do. Training is just a mattter of increasing the frequency of a given
behavior.


.

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