What's the next step?

I've been working on Mia picking up non-tennis ball objects and retrieving them. Here's where we're at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkk-o960Rng&list=UUEMit_X89sKygjypdATGzYQ&feature=share&index=2

[YOUTUBE]Zkk-o960Rng[/YOUTUBE]

I'd like to work on holding items till released but she spits them out right away which is why I introduced the box to try to get her to not just bite and spit out. That's working but I still can't get her to take it from my hand then just hold it.

Also we work on all 4 in the box a lot so she does that still sometimes, lol.

Also want to brag. Not very long ago she wouldn't play tug in the presence of balls and food.

[YOUTUBE]HYV_tpJZ1ZI[/YOUTUBE]

Improvement!

Summer didn't want left out. Here she is being cute. Also starting a perch.

[youtube]AN2es999OzE[/youtube]

I think introducing the box is an interesting way to troubleshoot your issue.

I would suggest (re)teaching her via shaping & backchaining. It'll probably go fast if she already has the basic knowledge of a retrieve. The first thing you teach is the return to hand, so once taught you basically can create an indefinite hold by delaying when you present your hands.

Or, like I said in your beg thread, teach a type of wait/stay/hold it type of cue to communicate that she's on the right track but she needs to maintain the behaviour to get a reward. I know Mia isn't a big fan of stay, but I'm sure you'll be able to improve a lot of these behaviours by bridging the gap a bit.

How do you start back-chaining?

My initial approach was to try to give it to her (hold it with two hands) then take it away with a 'release word' right away but I am just not fast enough. She will bite it then immediately turn her head and spit it out. So what I did was put the box under where she was spitting it out then gradually moved it away and moved the object around to where she was having to think about where she was putting the object.

Stay is the bane of our existence. She is getting better at holding behaviors but that was through jackpotting while she was holding the behavior and I have no idea how to do that if she's holding something in her mouth.

http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/retrieve.html (It looks long and difficult, but it's really, really not.) I think backchaining it is kind of the be-all end-all for teaching a retrieve to, well, any dog. I love it.

Maybe try using some oppositional reflex to get her holding onto the object more tightly.

Thanks for that! just read/skimmed most of it and will have to try it out. That was similar to my initial approach for this but a lot more detailed and definitely more drawn out. She will pick up most objects off the ground but will drop them maybe a second or two afterwards. It's definitely a sloooow process for us.

UPDATE: Here is where we are now as far as putting things in the box. Sorry for the video. I aimed the camera poorly lol.

[YOUTUBE]sfaEWlRStAo[/YOUTUBE]

Once this is totally solid I'm going to work on bringing it to my hand. I changed the word this weekend because pack it was too close to back which is her back feet targeting word.