How To Train A Golden Retriever To Fetch – Professional Dog Training Tips
– You may have gotten
your Golden Retriever
to be the perfect family pet
but to have that perfect family pet
you may need to burn off a little energy.
In this video, you’re
gonna meet Instructor Wendy
and her Golden Retriever named Gypsy
and they’re gonna show us
how to teach your Golden
Retriever to fetch.
I’m Ken Steepe and this Gypsy.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
(guitar strums)
(puppy barks)
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So Wendy, tell me a little bit about
introducing Gypsy to retrieving.
Now you may have seen
Gypsy on the channel before
and we showed a little bit of retrieving,
but being a Golden Retriever
it’s such an important part
of working with them, having
fun with your Retriever
to do some retriever training.
So how did it all start with Gypsy?
– So when she just a little
puppy, ’bout eight weeks old,
I right away started
with a little soft toy
and I would teach her
a little bit of tugging
and then I would just
toss the toy a little bit
and really just praise
her for bringing it back
and we would tug again
and then eventually I’d get my
tosses a little bit further.
– Okay, I noticed that when
we were just working this
just before we sat down
to talk to the camera
you were using your voice, using motion,
really being really encouraging
because puppies can get easily distracted
and it’s so important that we do maintain
some of that focus.
– Oh very easy.
I would do it in the
hallway so there wasn’t much
a lot of places that she could go
She would be standing right there with me.
I got all the other
distractions out of the way.
– Yeah, the other thing I noticed
is that you had her on a line
and I know maybe in another
video had the toy on the line
so that you have a
little bit more control.
Talk about why that’s important
or why you’d do that.
– Well because when I do toss the toy
I wanna make sure that she’s
bringing it back to me.
I don’t want her to take
the toy and run away
or just sit there and chew at.
I wanna really encourage
her to come back to me
and then with the line on
I can help her come back.
– Yeah, what about some of our viewers
who might be watching saying,
“My Golden doesn’t really love toys
“and I’m not sure why.”
What can they do to get their dog
a little bit more engaged
with the act of playing fetch?
– A lot it depends on the toy too.
I got a real soft, squishy toy.
Sometimes a little squeaker in it
makes ’em a little bit more exciting.
Really hard rope toy.
Some dogs really don’t like that at first.
Their mouths are sore.
You just want something
really soft and engaging
that they’ll be interested.
So try different things.
– Yeah I love that idea,
to try different things
because maybe squeak toy is the solution
and then you can work your way
off of something like that, great idea.
Now we’ve got our dogs at home
retrieving the toy on a line.
Maybe a six foot leash or maybe
they’re working at 10 feet.
What’s the next step?
When do our Retriever owners know
that they can make things
a little more challenging for their dog?
– If they’re pretty reliable
at coming right back to you
then I would try the further distance
and I would turn and run and
really encourage them back
and if that’s working great
you can add a little bit more distance
but if you find that they’re starting
to not come back to you
then I would go back
and put the long-line on again
so I can make sure that they
are coming right back to me.
But always make sure
when they do come to me
I’m not taking that toy right away.
I wanna tug with them, have fun,
so it’s with lot value
coming right back to me
and we could play.
– Yeah I think that’s
such an important point
and you talked a little bit about petting
and praising your dog when
they’re holding the toy.
At this point when you’re
working at this stage
with a young dog and
you’re using a tug toy
versus something like a bumper
which we’ll talk about shortly,
a game of tug is a great
way to build relationship
and build value for the toy.
But as you move along, as you
progress in your training,
tugging becomes less important.
Talk about that for just a minute.
The difference between our
young Golden Retrievers
with a tug toy versus a retrieve toy
that’s specific for retrieving.
– Well a tug toy they can tug.
I kinda hit ’em on the
side, we play a lot,
but when I’m actually
working with the bumper
I don’t want her tugging on it.
I want her to bring it to me and hold it
until I release her from it
so she learns the difference between a toy
where we’re just having fun
and then their bumper one
we’re actually working.
And then you also have to
teach them to release that toy.
They do have to release it back to you
so we start with a little bit of tug
and then I will tell her, “Out,”
and put a little bit of food on her nose
and work that until
eventually when I say, “Out,”
she spits it out right away.
At that point I could reward with food
or a lotta times just giving
them the toy right back
is reward enough, they love that.
“Out,” she gives me the toy,
then I give it right back
and have her tug again.
– So we have our Retriever
dropping the toy reliably.
What’s next for the training?
– Well because she is a Retriever
and I do Retriever Trials
I also want to introduce a bumper to her,
which is a different
texture than my soft toy.
So then I bring the bumper in
and we work on that in the house.
Just little tosses with that.
Make sure that she’s bringin’
that back to me and holding it
’cause like I said again,
different textures.
Had to encourage her to
help pick up the bumper.
– Yeah and this is the point
when you’re using a bumper
and specific to some
of the Retriever Trials
and training that you do,
we don’t play the game of tug as much
– with the bumper.
– No.
No with the bumper, I want
her to bring it back to me
and just hold it but I
don’t want her to tug with.
So she’ll bring it back to me
and then I’ll just
praise or pet her a lot.
Good hold, good girl
and then I’ll ask for that out command.
– So it feels like it’s time
to take the show on
the road, to go outside
because that’s really where you’re gonna
be playing retrieve
– Oh yes.
– with your dog ultimately.
So talk about that
process, getting outside
and teaching your dog to fetch.
Even with the soft toy,
I would go to different places.
Go outside, go to a a new location.
Make sure that they can
retrieve other places
because it’s different picture
when you go somewhere else.
– For sure.
– They might not wanna do it.
So we work that
and then we take the bumpers
of course outside too.
Different weather too, winter, summer.
– Sure, yeah, outside
can be so distracting
and this is sometimes
where the wheels falls off
as you’re teaching your
Golden Retriever or any dog
to retriever outside because
there’s so many distractions
that might be out there.
As Wendy mentioned,
you might need to take a
step back in your training.
You might need to do shorter retrieves.
You might need to use that soft toy.
Ultimately you’re gonna be
retrieving that bumper outside
but maybe you need to get that
high value tug toy outside
to not be so worried about
the distractions that are out there.
– And definitely a long-line outside.
‘Cause you could toss the
toy, they run to pick it up,
and as they’re running
back a leaf might blow by.
They might all the sudden
find that a little bit more exciting.
– I think that tip is so important
and controlling the environment
and controlling your dog because
it’s pretty self-rewarding.
Once your dog picks up that toy
and if they like toys, they like to chew,
it can just be a game of keep away.
They’ll just run around in
circles and have so much fun
because it’s a stimulating environment.
But having a line on them
and in some cases having
a line on that toy
can be really, really helpful
to overcome some of those challenges.
So we’re at a point where our
dog is retrieving really well.
What about for our Retriever owners
who want to go to Retriever Trials.
How do they level up their training
and start to teach their
dog all the right steps?
– So at the Retriever Trials
obviously they have to be sitting
while the bumpers are bein’ thrown out.
I wanna make sure that I get her excited
so I maybe hold her collar
while I’m throwing the bumper.
I wait until it hits the
ground before I release her
and I work gradually like that,
but the bumper has to sit on the ground
maybe for a few seconds
before I release her.
Eventually I want her to sit
there until I release her.
– [Ken] Yeah and having that weight.
I’m sure there’s a couple
things that are happening.
That restraint is probably
pretty exciting for the dog.
– Oh yes.
– But it’s also teaching them
to remain in position because
let’s talk about ultimately
your expectation is that your dog
will just remain in at your side
if you’re competing in Retriever Trials?
Talk just for a moment
about how that works.
– Yes, they have to sit at your side.
While they actually use ducks not bumpers,
– Yep.
– She has to sit
at my side while they shoot the ducks out
and then she has to sit there
until I give her an actual release command
to go out and get it and then
she has to bring it right back
and swing in to my side and sit there
until I tell her to release it.
– Yeah and we do have
a video on the channel
that talks about moving
into that get in position
which might be helpful for you guys.
I’m gonna run some B-Roll
over this where it’s showing
where Wendy is bringing
her dog into her side.
We actually have a video on the channel
that will help you out with that
so be sure to check that out.
– [Wendy] So once your
dog’s retrieving reliably
you wanna challenge them.
Go to different places, maybe
running through the water,
running through longer grass.
Maybe have it go into the longer grass
and they have to go in and find it.
– [Ken] Oh that would be challenging.
– Yeah, yeah it’s lots
of challenges you can do
with your Retrievers.
– Yeah and I really like that idea
where we sort of build
this solid foundation,
get your dog retrieving reliably
and then you make it a
little bit more difficult.
It’s fun as a trainer to
find some of these places
and to go discover some of these areas
that might prove a challenge for your dog.
It’s a lot of fun to make
it more difficult for them
and then to see them to be successful
and to help them to be successful.
If you’re a Golden Retriever puppy owner
be sure to check out that card right there
where we talk about
Gypsy’s first week home.
I hope this video helps you to get out
and have some fun with
your Golden Retriever.
I wanna thank Instructor Wendy
and I definitely wanna thank Gypsy
for showing off some of
those Retriever talents.
On that note, I’m Ken, happy training.
Bye for now.
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