Honoring retrieves?

[BLACKJACK]

How do you get your dog to honor another dog's retrieve? My female is very aggressive on retrieving, if she sees a bird go down, shes going to get it - unless the other dog grabs it, does a couple of head fakes, and hustles back - otherwise my dog will take it away from him. How do you teach honoring?

[springerspeed]

You need to teach her that not all downed birds are hers. To start this process I have mine sit when I throw retrieves and they can only retrieve if they are told to. Out of 5 throws they may only retrieve 2. The other three I will make them sit there and watch me go and pick it up. Have a check cord on her while doing this because she will break for the retrieve. This is also not an overnight thing. In the springer world this is the start of the steadying process. The other aspect of this is to make sure that she obeys the come command or whatever you use to call her back to you. Make sure that she obeys this command everytime. Then if she takes off after a retrieve that is not hers you can call her back to you while the other dog makes the retrieve. Lastly, it would not hurt to have her sit next to you while you throw a dummy/bird and have another dog make the retrieve. This will instill in her that not all retrieves are hers.

Just a few suggestions. Hope it helps.

[randallt]

Find a training group to join. It is much easier to teach a lot of this stuff with 3 or 4 trainers. You can also see what a steady dog looks like and if it is something you would like for your dog to do.

Post on here that you are looking for training partners and where. I know of one group around Montgomery and another in Alexandria.

[Red_Dog]

I too think it all goes back to basic obedience training. With a "sit" command my dog will sit and not move until he gets the release command. The best everyday training I've found for this is at dinner time when the bowl is filled,, make him wait a minute or so to eat...it carries over to other activities in the day continually reminding him who the boss is.

[BLACKJACK]

You need to teach her that not all downed birds are hers. To start this process I have mine sit when I throw retrieves and they can only retrieve if they are told to. Out of 5 throws they may only retrieve 2. The other three I will make them sit there and watch me go and pick it up. Have a check cord on her while doing this because she will break for the retrieve. This is also not an overnight thing. In the springer world this is the start of the steadying process. The other aspect of this is to make sure that she obeys the come command or whatever you use to call her back to you. Make sure that she obeys this command everytime. Then if she takes off after a retrieve that is not hers you can call her back to you while the other dog makes the retrieve. Lastly, it would not hurt to have her sit next to you while you throw a dummy/bird and have another dog make the retrieve. This will instill in her that not all retrieves are hers.

Just a few suggestions. Hope it helps.

Sounds like some good tips that I need to try!! I can see where not letting her retrieve every dummy would help. And I do have two dogs so I can try that.

[BLACKJACK]

Find a training group to join. It is much easier to teach a lot of this stuff with 3 or 4 trainers. You can also see what a steady dog looks like and if it is something you would like for your dog to do.

Post on here that you are looking for training partners and where. I know of one group around Montgomery and another in Alexandria.

A training group would be good but now I'm going hunting, maybe this winter....

[ReelTimes]

Couple other suggestions which might be helpful. Try to reinforce that being sent to anything requires a command. For example, when you open your dog kennel or crate, have them sit until you give the command kennel. Same with when you let them outside to do their business (if in house) or when letting out of kennel (if kennel dog). WIth retrievers, as you know some choose to force train and others dont. Not sure if you did or didnt force train and wont get into the pros/cons of this but one aspect is that the retrieve or fetch becomes a command. This is also helpful and translates over into honoring. Also, if your dog is fully steadied, then they know that they shouldnt go until sent but the temptation to break when another dog is sent can be a little overwhelming for a hot retriever until they have been corrected. You can easily work on honoring with other dogs by throwing marks and sending different dogs. If your dog breaks, correct him with a check chord or if he/she is collar conditioned, then you can use the collar. Make sure, no matter what, that if they break that they do not receive the reward (dummy or bird) that was thrown. Hope this helps.