Labrador Retriever and German Shorthaired Pointer Puppy Retrieving tips!
alright guys it’s an awesome winter day
in the bluegrass the sun’s out the sky
is blue as far as you can see and it’s a
crisp 24 degrees and I know some of you
are thinking hast only 24 degrees that
sounds kind of cold but in the dog
business especially in Kentucky 24
degrees is perfect because we have real
wet winters and it gets muddy you know
ask any horse barn or anybody on the
horse farm it just gets old muddy that’s
the only thing bad about Kentucky
winters mud and where’s 24 degrees like
the grounds kind of frozen not
completely but it’s frozen just enough
so the muds not so much of a problem and
24 degrees is just just warm enough
right where every time I look up Eli is
not run over in the building and it’s
hiding by the heater but I’m not gonna
throw a lie under the bus too much I
mean because he’s just a young fella and
he ain’t quite got up to Uncle Stoney’s
old man toughness standards yet so
that’s alright but what we’re going to
talk about today is something fun right
a few weeks ago I made a video and in
that video there was a section where I
was doing some retrieving work some
marker training with the dog on some
little pads and a lot of people emailed
me and asked me about that and I thought
I’d give you a little bit more details
okay so now this is what we did that we
call that camera Gigi what are you doing
what’d you do with that grass let me
have that grass what we call that it’s
an inductive retrieve okay so like I
have a little dog like Gigi
who likes to fetch you know and I bring
her in now before I’ll go we’re working
on Gigi’s retrieving you know I get out
here and I try to like make sure that
I’ve got some good lines of
communication with her I’d like to make
sure that I’m building a good
motivational base with her and I really
want her to understand that access to
things that she wants comes through
weight in direct action in other words
that’s a fancy way of saying that she
understands that she has to work with me
to get what she wants easy
come on and so we come out here and like
I’m gonna work on the retrieving in a
second right that’s why all the other
dogs are put up but I want to go ahead
and cover the material that I always
cover in my videos where like this is
our basics this is our small challenges
course this is where we teach the dogs
our basic vocabulary come on let’s go up
easy wait
good you know that kind of stuff stay
but y’all seen that a million times so I
don’t need to remind you but what i’m
doing here is i’m just priming this dog
wait easy i’m priming her so that when
we go over here and we start working on
fetching oh we’re gonna skip that right
now gigi was trying to go to the next
part of the to the next part of the
obstacle course there sit stay uh-huh
that’s it but eli has on slick rubber
boots today and it’s ice it’s icy so
we’re not making him go back there I
don’t want any I don’t want any
insurance claims today so we had to skip
that part all right so look there we go
so what Gigi just demonstrated to me
there is that she is willing and able to
work you know she’s like hey yep
Stoney sure I can work so we’re gonna
come over here go gg gg gg gg oh my gosh
alright guys we’re walking down here and
now so this is my little fetching pin
you’ve seen my big fetching pin before
and what we do before we move outside to
the fetching pins is we kind of get the
dogs to where they’ll fetch in a corner
or a hallway and what this fetching pin
is meant to represent for you guys is a
hallway in your home all right now so we
got these right here pieces of fence
panel so that you can see through those
walls but the reason you want to start
your fetching off like in a hallway is
because you don’t want like the kids
moving around or the cat moving around
to distract your dog now when you go to
your hallway if your dog is not being
calm and polite and attentive from my
perspective it’s really not the best
time to start working on retrieving so
see how I came to my hallway and this
dog came right in front of me she’s
looking at me and she’s trying to use
the concept of access through indirect
action in other words she wants to play
fetch and she wants to get some
attention and she wants to get some
treats she knows what she wants what she
has to do now is figure out how to get
it right so over the course of the last
few days I’ve been teasing her a little
bit with this dummy oh my gosh teaser
teaser teaser and once she would show
some interest in it oh my gosh then I
will just kind of drop it so I go to my
hallway I have a dog is calm polite and
attentive a teaser a bit oh oh my gosh
and then look what I do I just kind of
dropped that dummy
and then when she picks it up and moves
towards me I reward her now you don’t
have to use this marker for the rewards
guys you can just do the trade up like
she brings it to you you give her the
treat and then you throw the throw the
retrieving item again I’m gonna use the
clicker because it makes it very clear
on the videos exactly when I’m happy
with what the dog is doing all right so
I’ve got my retrieving item I get my
treats ready and I throw the retrieving
item and GG goes and gets it oh my gosh
what a fine animal very nice that’s two
repetitions that’s two perfect
repetitions one from close one from a
little farther away remember I’m only
after three to five but if I get
something that’s really perfect I might
stop even shorter oh what a good dog GT
you’re very nice I mean that’s right
there’s pretty perfect okay so I would
stop there normally I might do five
sessions a day but I’m going to stop at
a point to where that dog is looking at
me like hey stony can we please do that
one more time never stretch your
sessions out to the point to where your
dog is bored and looking off and and and
it seems disinterested in the activity
I’m gonna do two more repetitions though
just because Eli wanted to get over here
and get a little bit different camera
perspective teaser throw it oh my gosh
encourage you’re very nice dog trade up
there we go make sure like when you’re
doing your treat work if you give them a
fat treat you give them time to eat some
a teaser this is our last rep oh and
that was the farthest one oh my gosh
good Gigi good smarty very nice she
hands it to me right now the key here
guys is she’s going to look at me and
say hey I would like to do that one more
time that’s how I keep these dogs so
interested because I always end my
sessions on a high note I always leave
my dogs wanting to do it one more time
okay Gigi we got to stop now oh my gosh
a teaser put it back in my pocket
okay now what we’re gonna do we’re gonna
work with Jake for a minute now Jake
hasn’t been here as long as Gigi’s a
little bit younger and you can tell that
by his demeanor you know like he just is
a little bit wild so
normally what I would do is I would hold
off on you know doing this inductive
retrieve until this dog was quite a bit
more calm and we debated on whether or
not to show this dog because I honestly
you know I’d rather you not rush the
techniques but I know the world works
and Eli was like so he was telling me he
said dude look at your look at who
watches your videos
it ain’t a bunch of over in like you
there they’re not gonna wait as soon as
they see that technique they’re gonna
try it with their dog whether they’re
told eight weeks old or 12 weeks old or
16 weeks old okay so what do you do if
you got a dog it’s not quite as uh not
quite as far along in train and doesn’t
as good as foundation as Gigi right so
that’s that would be this dog that would
be Jake all right so let me show you
what I mean by not quite as far along so
when we try to do the course with Jake
like I just come over here and I’m like
hey jump that and he’s like you mean
stand on this rock tree block you see
it’s just not there yet we haven’t had
that much time with him so we’re still
helping him through all of these things
it’s not that he can’t do it it’s just
that you know he takes a lot of extra
effort so me being 47 years old you know
I understand that you know and Paige’s
Ted things take however long that they
take you know and so like if I have to
like wait on my retrieving work with
this dog for two or three weeks well
that’s fine I don’t mind you know but
like Eli from his perspective he’s 21
he’s like dude we talked about Jake’s
pretty good you know so you got to help
him a little bit extra around the course
so what I want to I want to go ahead and
do the retrieving with them I’m not
gonna argue I’m it’s not the end of the
world right so for Eli’s sake we’re
gonna do Jake and see that’s what I’m
talking about
so for all you young guys out there and
girls you know whatever I don’t want to
want to be judgmental here probably you
young guys and girls out there
I would rather you wait but I understand
that you are a bunch of Eli’s and y’all
just can’t hardly wait I would say at
least this at least get your dog
moving in the direction of understanding
that they’re supposed to be coming and
being still and having good manners even
if you’re still having to help them a
lot
so we’ll take Jake over here and we’ll
uh we’ll work with them and I’ll kind of
show you what you can expect out of a
dog that attention span is not where it
should be from my perspective but where
but it is realize expected because he’ll
Isaacs you guys watch this dog work on
this course this is what it’s like
walking working with Eli Eli tries
everything and the for about 30 seconds
oh my gosh get up here come on Jake
you’re a pretty good dog get up here oh
very nice
so Jake’s not doing bad I mean he’s only
you know 13 14 weeks old
can you sit there and stay for any
amount of time Eli no only time he last
days is by the heater I’m bring this
heater out here and tell Jake
pretend you’re Eli stay by the heater
get him in the Sun but you see how
Jake’s still a wiggle box is what I’m
saying right and so that’s going to show
up over here when you’re trying to do
your inductive retrieve with it okay but
that’s all right we don’t mind it’s not
the end of the world and that’s what
that’s another thing I mean it is true
like you know I think I know how to
train dogs right and of course I know
how to train dogs a thousand times
better than Eli but in all honesty like
Eli trains the dog just fine right he
just he did it he he has to redo more
work that it takes right so he has to do
things a thousand times over and over
and over but he gets it done so like all
you young guys out there just waiting to
hammer away look go ahead hammer away
I’m not gonna argue you’ll get it done
so wait where Jake go oh there he is so
we’re gonna tease him a little bit see
if oh my gosh but you like to even show
any interest into retrieving item oh my
gosh yes you would and then we’re gonna
tell him oh it’s the retrieving item fun
oh yes all right so do that a couple
days and Eli says he’s already been
doing that with Jake
so we’ll see bring him in here and we’re
gonna toss our little retrieving eye on
him Oh what are we gonna get dang that’s
not bad
okay but you notice the difference
between Jake and and Gigi you see how
Jake grabbed it and he carried it about
six or seven inches and dropped it
okay that’s all right you know if you
want to if you want to work then just
you have to be more patient for me I
would rather develop the dog’s patience
so I don’t have to be as patient once
I’m in this hallway but if you have a
lot of patience or if you don’t have any
patience at all either way right this
will work oh my gosh what a good dog now
so what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna reward
him for bringing it back towards me you
know because I know he doesn’t have the
focus yet or the self-control to bring
it all the way back to me and that’s
okay we’ll build on that Oh coming
that’s pretty good now so I’m having to
reach up here and get it now if he drops
it any farther than that then I’m just
gonna move up here like this you know
I’m gonna go to the end of my hallway
oh and so that he doesn’t have as far to
move come here Jake oh my gosh and I’m
gonna start to try to only reinforce the
times that are a little bit closer to me
come on come on you can do it and this
is what you’re going to get a lot of you
said I’m saying like he gets it there we
go see how that got close and I’m gonna
move back down my hallway a little bit
so he’ll I can get a good video shot
good boy Jake very nice
oh right there and that’s where I’m
gonna stop because he brought it all the
way back over here to where I didn’t
have to bend over now what am I getting
in this session that I like I like the
fact that he ended the session happy
wanting to do more and he brought the
retrieving item all the way back to me
so I didn’t have to bend over I’ll go
from you know if I can get this close
then it won’t be long before he’ll bring
it right to my hand and what happens is
the obedience that we’re doing over
there on the small challenge is coerced
and back there in the fields it’ll
translate the better attention span and
impulse control on his part and next
thing you know he’ll be handing me this
and doing like GG where he sits in front
of me and he waits patiently okay but
that’s pretty good he wants more and
he’s having a good time and I’m gonna oh
look at that I have to give anyone more
retrieve done’
okay go get it
oh my gosh little Jake oh and he brought
it all the way back to the beginning I
was super lucky all right let’s get
somebody else okay guys now we’re gonna
walk work Lois right low German
Shorthaired Pointer oh my gosh tell Lois
hadn’t been here too long but he’s got a
ruler strong retrieving instincts now
you’ll notice with like say these German
Shorthairs you see them in my videos and
there’s a common theme and that common
theme is that they’re very athletic and
they’re very smart but their attention
span man it’s really hard takes a lot of
repetition to get these dogs to have a
good attention span to be able to show
high-quality impulse control wait under
distraction okay so my general rule like
we were talking a minute ago about the
difference between the impulse control
levels of GG versus Jake right these
German Shorthairs they take a lot of a
lot of extra patience guys a lot of
extra repetition so all in all my
general it’s not funny to plant my
general feeling on it is you want to get
them to where they’ve got some pretty
decent obedience before you really start
fooling with that retrieving too much
now a lot of people don’t look at it
that way but it’s just how I look at it
so we’re gonna take Luis and if he can
make it all the way through this course
without me having to do too much right
then we’re going to take him to the
fetching pin just because I thought you
guys would get a big kick out of it yeah
these dogs have gotten real popular here
lately
they’re very good-looking dogs and so
like people always you know they always
comment about them in my videos good so
good boy that’s pretty decent for a 14
week old dog that’s if he has any
patience now what’s going to work
against us up here on this table is it’s
cold cold cold from Louis’s standpoint
and he’s like I do not want to put my
bottom down on that table so I could
tell him stay watch him try to hold he’s
gonna try to stay and keep his bottom
off the table but look okay so that’s
pretty good so we can take Luis to the
fetching pen Lois you want to go do some
pitching good dog
I did it up didn’t I down okay
so now what this dog what this dog is
really good at
oh it’s getting really excited about
fetching so I can kind of just tease him
a little bit oh my gosh tease him and go
to my hallway if I was in the house and
tossed my fetching item oh my gosh good
boy Louis come on come on come on and do
a trade up and some of them guys it
really works that’s it’s works that fast
like you know dogs fetching it’s really
not something that you teach you know
you might have friends and you know they
brag about teaching their dogs to fetch
really it kind of category wise its dogs
that fetch and dogs that don’t fetch you
know and then of course there’s
gradations in the middle of that but
some of them like Lewis or like Denny
the one I’m bringing out next they just
they just are fetchers you know so it
doesn’t this trade up strategy works
very quickly with them and you’re
literally only looking at about ten days
or two weeks worth of doing trade ups to
have a super solid retrieve where you
don’t have to do anything except throw
the fetching items so that’s three
perfect repetitions but like this dog so
good at fetching I think I can get five
perfect repetitions perfect I’m gonna go
for one more good I feel lucky oh and I
got it now what am i what do I want to
make sure I want to make sure that after
that last repetition it was a
high-quality repetition and my dog is
looking at me and it’s wanting to do it
one more time and now you’ll notice
there’s a helicopter flying my
daughter’s over there playing but what’s
this dog doing he has enough attention
span enough impulse control to stay in
the fetching pen right that’s what
you’re looking for in attention span and
impulse control I’ll give him one more
oh what a good dog Louis all right now
we’ll go get Denny okay so we’re gonna
go over here out in the yard okay in
this a little bit more a little bit more
open little bit more to stray
acting area now what always gets us here
when working these short hairs
is there’s all kinds of birds always in
these bushes and you know we’ll we’ll
get them to where they’re fetching
inside then we’ll come out we’ll put
them in a fetching pin and they’re kind
of stuck in there and they’ll fetch and
we’ll come over here and start working
on fetching and every time you know some
birds they’ll go light in a tree right
behind ela you know and I’ll lose my dog
so that’s gonna happen to you I mean if
happens to me don’t happen to you so
don’t get you know don’t get don’t get
frustrated now what I’m looking for here
okay since I don’t have that physical
barrier to make this dog run in a
straight line back to me like I have to
accept that he might kind of bow out one
way or another he might run to me and
past me he might drop this this
retrieving item like too far away from
me there’s a lot of things that can go
so I have to kind of I have to kind of
lower my criteria so I’m not maybe going
to get quite as accurate affection you
know out here in this field as I was
getting in my fetching pen it’s just
what you have to accept there’s no
reason to get upset and those reason to
worry about it and definitely don’t get
mad at your dog because I mean they’re
not trying to make you have a bad day
did he pitch up and call him bend down
its if he can bring it okay now see so
he brought it to me he just didn’t hand
it all the way to me you know I can live
with that I mean it’s dogs only you know
14 or 15 weeks old did he pitch up not
too bad now that right there is too far
I’m not gonna there we go
all right now I’d like for him to hand
it to me but if he can get it right over
here to where I’m not having to bend
down listen I can live with that every
time
okay so now like not good enough not
good enough good enough
oh well nope you little closer dude ha
ha
good enough alright so we’re gonna go it
again and you might say Stoney why are
you doing the extra repetitions with
this dog
he’s just so dang physically strong and
fit that he cannot sometimes this so so
ok you know how every rule has its
exceptions well sometimes you’ll have
especially with these short hairs like
they’re so physically fit and have such
high energy expenditure rates and have
such good endurance that like before you
make a video like this like I came
straight out of the kennel with them I
really probably should have run him
around the property a few times and used
a pre fatiguing session to kind of you
know kind of burn some of that excess
energy off efficient very nice good boy
come on that’s close enough I appreciate
it
now he’s starting to settle into a
little bit of a routine tease him a
little bit
very nice oh what a good boy Denny I’d
like it a little closer I’d like it a
little closer please
very nice okay so I ended up with that
one in my hand but it was on after he
had dropped it what I would really like
to see in this session is maybe one
repetition where he goes out and gets it
and brings it all the way back to my
hand now I don’t know if I’ll get it you
know I’m gonna try sky right amount of
vocal inflection oh that’s not good
enough except oh yeah a good boy
that’s a good boy nope now see he’s a
little bit more interested in the street
right now than he is this fetching item
right so I’m gonna have to wait and be
patient oh okay that’s pretty good come
on
that’s a Hummer buddy come on let’s give
them one repetition let’s give him one
repetition good boy
oh good what a good dog oh that’s so
close oh it’s only gonna break his own
rules about doing too many fetching
times ready just pitch up pitch up oh
good boy Lewis come on out Danny oh no
wonder you dropped it card xeronium
fetch up Danny bishop oh good boy I’m
sure some sisters oh good dog there it
is I got it now look I broke my own
rules there you know I just like I
always say guys dog training is an art
and like sometimes you can break the
rules but if you break the rules
consistently you’re not gonna make any
progress and so right there really I
should have stopped when he brought it
back to me pretty close a few times you
know but I wanted to show you what I was
really looking for and what I was really
looking for is to get him to be you know
kind of calm enough and show enough
impulse control that he could make it
all the way back to me and deliver this
retrieving item to my hand and he did it
I had to stretch out that session a
little bit too far and so you know these
numbers that I tell you like three to
five sessions a day three to five
repetitions per session look all that’s
just guidelines
it’s just guidelines you know it’s not
those aren’t hard numbers
if you get out you know and you feel
like you feel like you’re gonna get it
you know go with your gut instinct
because sometimes you are gonna get it
as long as at the end of the session the
dog is still looking at you he’s still
interested he still wants to he still
wants to engage in the activity with you
okay you did it master session alright
guys so this is my new little project
mr. no-name
you might say well Stoney why’d you name
him mr. no-name well I didn’t it’s just
the older I get the harder you know the
harder I have a time of finding a good
name for a dog so nowadays it’s taken me
a couple of months sometimes to get them
a good name but what I want you to
understand is I’m going through the same
thing you’re going through you know I
want my dog to grow up and be able to
show off I wanted to be to mind well I’m
to fetch well right I mean I had a lot
of pressure on me I’m you know
professional dog trainer people come out
you know they want to see my dog mind
but it’s a process guys and what I’ve
learned over the years is to not rush
that process okay enjoy the process
because I’m 47 and I never thought I
would be 47 okay so don’t get stressed
with your puppy when you’re working in
the corner right and they’re not doing
it right just laugh about it when you’re
working in the hallway and they’re not
doing it right
just just laugh about it you know and
and and redo your routine until you can
get it right okay whether it takes you
six months or two months or 12 months
what’s it matter right I mean you’re not
getting paid for this you’re not you
know there’s nobody there’s nobody tells
you you have to get it just enjoy the
process because I can tell you the most
common complaint amongst dog trainers is
how quickly the time goes so enjoy your
time with them enjoy the process don’t
get fixated on the results if you enjoy
the process the results will come every
time okay so that’s my new project now
let me go over here and kind of show you
what you’re working towards for your own
life I’m gonna walk over here
and I’m gonna call my older dog Henry
y’all seen him on the videos
Henry he’ll and Henry’s gonna run right
over here and he’s going to get in this
position right and the reason is going
to get in this position guys and he’s
going to ignore mr. no-name is because
he has internalized the concept of
access through indirect and what I mean
by Henry has mastered the concept of
access through indirect action is he
understands that if he wants to come
over here and engage in retrieving
activities then he has to be able to
ignore mr. no-name what maybe rescue
your Pegasus from the eyes
okay sure baby go on over there and
stand by him I’ll be over there in a
second to get him that’s what I mean
about enjoying the process guys I’ve got
a 19 year old son and back in the day
when I was making videos and he was
little if he would have come over here
and interrupted me during the video we
had had had to cut because me and him
would have had a little come-to-jesus
meeting as what they used to call it
where I’m from but I’m a loader now and
I’m more mellow so my daughter comes
over here and you know she’s a little
girl so she hasn’t she hasn’t mastered
that concept of waiting patiently now
hopefully when she’s a big girl she
won’t be coming and whine and asking me
to do stuff for her but right now she’s
a little girl
I’m just going to try to enjoy the
process and look at Henry like Henry is
just waiting here calmly attentively
politely because he’s been through it
thousands of times and he knows there’s
no fetching until I get to the point in
the day where I can do some fetching
with him right so now as a result of him
living up to his end of the deal which
is waiting calmly politely attentively
right I’m going to throw his retrieving
item right so he knows we played this
game a thousand times I get out as
retrieving item and I tell him to stay
then I throw the retrieving item then I
say Henry and he goes and gets it right
okay what a good dog now watch what he
does he runs right back over here and he
gets right back into this spot and he
goes to goes to play in his role again
and what’s his role his role is to wait
patiently to show me that he has impulse
control to show me that he respects me
enough to not interrupt my day by being
pushy right by trying to boss me into
this activity he knows that if he’ll
just say
here and wait calmly attentively and
politely then I’ll tell him to stay and
I’ll throw his retrieving item then I’ll
say Henry and he can go get it right and
we’ll play that all day and we’ve made
enough videos together me and Henry that
he understands that after two or three
repetitions of this then we’re just
going to throw some dumps of some fun
dummies and I probably go take the
four-wheeler out back on the farm okay
so that’s what I want for you guys all
right so get out there be consistent be
persistent stick to the game plan
focus on making incremental progress and
before you know it guys before you know
what I mean it happens in the blink of
an eye it seems like forever but it’s
really a blink of the eye you’ll have a
dog just like Henry all right good luck
guys
good training now this is what a dog
trainer slash dad slash homeschooler
principle does all day you see my
daughter has got her Pegasus out here in
the middle of the pool and the pool is
iced over luckily she didn’t think that
she was a professional ice skater though
and get up on here because that’s not
too sturdy and I would had to interrupt
the video to come over here and
interrupt my beautiful baby girl he goes
Charlotte you’re welcome
