Dog Training Tips : Train a Dog to Retrieve
Hi I’m Ty Brown with dogbehavioronline.com.
We’re here in Riverton, Utah today teaching
you how to train a dog. The topic of today’s
discussion is teaching your dog how to retrieve.
Now teaching your dog how to retrieve can
be a fun game for both you and the dog. It’s
fun to go outside and play fetch with your
dog, and it’s a great way for your dog to
use his energy in a productive way. So the
first thing that you need for teaching your
dog how to retrieve is a dog that wants to
retrieve naturally. A dog that has a desire
to chase a ball, to chase a toy, or something
like that. The second thing you want is a
nice long-line like this so that when he goes
out to get the toy or the ball, then you can
immediately bring him back in. Many dogs get
very good at getting the toy, but they don’t
like to bring it back. And so from a young
age, you want to teach the dog through a lot
of repetition that he needs to bring it back.
And so once you have the dog, and you have
the long-line, take the toy and get the dog
very interested in it. And don’t start off
throwing it too far, throw it pretty close
and just simply tell the dog ‘fetch’ as you
throw it, once he gets it reel him back in
like a fish. If you do this a lot of times,
the dog is soon going to get used to this
conditioned response of grab the ball, bring
it back, grab the ball, bring it back. And
this is a fun game. So take your ball, ‘fetch’,
he gets it, ‘good boy’, brings it back. Fetch
and good boy. Bring him right back. Good boy,
all the way buddy. Good boy, good boy. Now
with a lot of repetition you’ll give the dog
the concept of fetching on command and you
can stop using the long-line and he’ll just
do it without it. And that’s how you train
your dog how to retrieve.
