Did you have to train fetch?

Laurelin

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#41
Its official ... Mia is like ... the cutest dog ... ever. :)

the only dog cuter than Josefina :lol-sign:
Awww thanks! I'm a little bit biased but I think she's adorable. She can be so bubbly and happy sometimes. I don't think she thinks of herself as cute though!

She's a good dog.
 

SpringerLover

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#42
Buzz, yes. He never did play fetch for fun, but had a very solid retrieve of any object he was directed to.

I had to do some work with Bailey's. I shaped her formal retrieve. And I continued to allow/encourage her to retrieve an item outside of a training session and just prance around with it, haha.

Gabby came knowing how to retrieve and how to deliver to hand. She didn't/doesn't know how to out, haha.
 

Toller_08

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#43
Keira: Fetch is still a work in progress at 6 years old haha. I had her reliably fetching for a couple of months a few years back, but unless I actually take her out to specifically to work on fetch (and toy interest period), it disintegrates quickly. She has zero natural desire to retrieve... or even to play, for that matter.

Ripley: Yes, but it was super easy. He's not always 100%, but for the most part he's very reliable. He's always had a good amount of toy drive and encouraging him to bring toys back with tug as a reward (and sometimes food) molded him into a good retriever.

Dance: Nope. I did have to teach her to bring things directly to me in the beginning, as she used to just bring things near me, but she still had a general idea naturally of how to retrieve. Now she's a retrieving maniac and will find anything she can in hopes of fetching it lol.

Journey: Yes, but like Ripley, it was pretty easy to teach her just using tug as her reward and sometimes food. Then eventually around like 8 months old it was like a switch just flipped and she reliably started retrieving 99.9% of the time because she wanted to just for the game itself and no longer cared about a reward for doing so. She still loves to tug too, but now she also loves to fetch. She thinks both games are fun. Whereas in the beginning the only reason she fetched was so that she could play tug after.

Who has a dog that will retrieve more untraditional objects like pens, paper, metal?
Dance will! She loves retrieving anything. I've thought about teaching Journey as well, but haven't so far.
 

Southpaw

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#44
Well if I really wanted to play fetch with my dog, I would have to teach her. But no, I haven't taught her - most of the time, playing "fetch" with her means I throw the toy, she runs to get it, and then just prances around with it.

Although most of the time that's okay because it means she just wears herself out, and all I have to do is throw the toy one time.

Which is why most of my pics look like this. It's just all she does.


IF she brings it back to me, usually it's just her trying to initiate a game of keep away. I don't usually actually get the toy back.
 
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#45
Well if I really wanted to play fetch with my dog, I would have to teach her. But no, I haven't taught her - most of the time, playing "fetch" with her means I throw the toy, she runs to get it, and then just prances around with it.

Although most of the time that's okay because it means she just wears herself out, and all I have to do is throw the toy one time.

IF she brings it back to me, usually it's just her trying to initiate a game of keep away. I don't usually actually get the toy back.
A lot of this. Though, Hudson has a great "drop it", so if he brings it close enough, I just ask for it and he'll drop it and run out for another throw.
 

Laurelin

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#46
I do keep Mia to picking up fairly small things for now. I have noticed if the item is a newer 'texture' it takes her a few tries to really get comfortable with picking it up in her mouth. We had a bunch of chip bag clips last weekend my trainer was having me use and it took her a few tries of really mouthing it to decide on how to pick it up the easiest.
 

k9krazee

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#47
Crossbone is a natural fetching fiend. He delivers to hand and nicely let's go of it (most of the time).

I had to teach my Lab/Beagle, Jack to fetch and he really only does it for reward (or now because he sees Crossbone do it). But he will pick up anything you drop/throw if you say "Uh oh!"
 

SaraB

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#48
Zuma had to learn how to retrieve, I shaped her retrieve.

Zinga was just a natural, only needed minor reinforcement (IE party) when she would return something to me.

Zip Tie was a natural as well.

Blinker is in the process of learning to retrieve. He's pretty good as long as I am engaging him, but I am using a treat reward to help reinforce it as sometimes he goes into keep away mode and I do not want that to continue.
 

GoingNowhere

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#49
bahahahaha it took me MONTHS just to teach her to hold an object on command. :p She will now hold lightweight, small objects that don't cause weird sensations to her teeth, and aren't so bulky as she needs to really open her mouth to hold them... she will hold said objects for a max of three seconds if and only if you hold a treat and a finger in front of her nose and say "HOLD IT..... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!"

By that point, I felt like a proud mama bear and promptly gave up the fetch endeavor. It's possible I'm the world's crappiest trainer. I also happen to have a dog who currently thinks that playing is beneath her. :D

But she'll fetch squirrels! :rofl1: So long as they were alive before she caught them, she'll bring them straight to the back door. Now if someone could just tell me how to translate this skill into something constructive in less than a year... like bringing back the newspaper :rolleyes:
 

Maxy24

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#50
I have trained Tucker to retrieve stuff as well. Since he naturally fetched it was easy. I took a very floppy small tug toy (braided fleece or something) and started by tugging and fetching. Then holding him back when I threw it and then pointing and telling him to "bring it". Then instead of throwing it I'd just place it out and send him to get it. Once he would bring the fleece tug on command I just started tying it to things. At first I'd use keys so that he could really just grab the rope. Once he was good I'd use keys with a big soft key chain attachment and stop using the tug toy on it. When he was good there we did more difficult keys where he really was just grabbing metal. Once he was a champ there I could really tech him to grab anything by tying the tug toy to it (like the remote) and then later removing it. And at this point he'll grab anything I ask him to without having to do the tug toy first. He can even pick change up off the floor.
 

Catsi

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#51
Neither of my dogs play fetch in the traditional sense.

The chase bit came naturally to both. The returning it to me bit never really got cemented into the game. Sometimes they'll bring it back. Sometimes I'll chase them for the toy.

Personally, my favourite game is when I play with more than one person - one will throw the ball/toy and the other will chase it down with the dogs. We mostly let them 'win', but it keeps them on their toes. They love it. I'll tug with them afterwards if the toy is tuggable.

I just never got around to teaching fetch. But Abby will retrieve the dumbbell. Completely different game I guess.

It's funny, because as a young pup Abby would return the ball/toy to me straight away. But when it fell by the wayside, I was ok with it. Grace has always preferred tugging anyway, but she'll certainly chase down a moving object. Her fave is the soccer ball, but she can't pick it up anyway. It's the only toy she gets grow-ly with. And I don't mean growling as in resource guarding - she is just so excited.

I remembered my heart sinking when we first played with the soccer ball and I heard her 'growl' many moons ago until I stepped back and took the whole thing in context... :lol-sign:
 

Laurelin

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#52
Mia has decided EVERYTHING must be fetched. Unless it's something like a glove or sock because then it must be killed.

[YOUTUBE]q45duQUWwco&list[/YOUTUBE]
 
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#53
Krystal did retrieve when she first came to me from the shelter. However that ability disappeared when we moved??? We did have a dog park community the first year we were here, where she showed a surprising competitive streak when someone threw a ball. The norm there was to return the ball so it could be thrown again. She caught on right away.

Once we stopped going to the park (new people changed the nature of the group), she dropped the retrieval bit--and was resistant to training But now, after several years she will suddenly appear with something for me to throw, and will retrieve it to keep the game going. It's an off an on thing.
 

Sit Stay

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#54
Quinn had a natural tendency to retrieve and fetch as a puppy, so with some nurturing and praise it didn't take her long to be a fetch freak. She figured out how to retrieve to hand totally by herself, though. The only thing I "helped" with is I wouldn't throw it for her if she dropped it at my feet (I prefer to grab it out of her mouth instead so I don't have to bend over) and now she'll put things right in my hand totally on her own.

Ned showed the same tendency as a puppy but we really haven't played fetch with him much. He'll do it a couple of times but doesn't seem to get the same joy out of it as Quinn. We'll throw it, he'll get it and wait and chomp on it a few times, then come trotting back to get it thrown again. He's not as intense as Quinn, but I'm sure it will come when the footing is better and we can actually play fetch more with them!
 

Whisper

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#55
Millie has absolutely no natural desire to fetch (despite being part lab), so yep, that was a trained thing.
Fable, yes and no. She loves running and catching, bringing it back to me is the issue. :p
 

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