The Trained Retrieve (TR)

[This article is from a post on the PositiveGunDogs list by one of my mentors, Jody Baker, reproduced here with her permission. I've added some notes in italics.]

On May 31, 2010, at 4:55 PM, Jody Baker wrote:

The trained retrieve usually goes as follows

Have the dog hold your finger (use the other fingers and thumb to surround

his muzzle) without mouthing or trying to spit your finger out. Click when

he stops mouthing etc. I use canned cat food on a spoon for the treat for

this.

[I would also work on shaping "hold" before switching to an article. When "hold" is cued, the dog should noticeably tighten her grip. This part of the training may take several days or weeks.]

Then place an object in his mouth - follow above.

With both the first 2 steps build in duration.

Always say "out" when he's to move his head away from your finger or the

object to get it out of his mouth. This is true with all the steps.

You should not take the finger/object from his mouth - ever. He should

always move his head back away from your hand(s), finger or object. Be sure

to be holding the object when you tell him out.

Next by touching his lips with the object see if he will open his mouth for

the object (don't worry about duration at this point). If not, repeat the

previous step. If he does open for the object, do this for a couple or more

sessions, gradually building up duration.

[I would be inclined to clicker-train the "take" of your finger, and later an object, as a default behavior first, so that no force is required to work on mouthing and hold.]

Then start working for distance, 1", 3" 6" etc.

Then start working on reaching up high or down low.

Then for taking a step to get to the object.

Work on gradually putting the object on the floor, one end, then flat while

holding on to the end, then 1 finger, etc.

The dog should always have on a line while doing this.

Now he needs to learn how to get up from a sit and take a step or two.

When he's doing this, I use the line to turn the dog back to me, so he comes

back to a chair/table/bench where I've place the open can of cat food and

the spoon (I keep it there from the beginning so he will learn the way to

get the stinky wonderful cat food is to do something about the retrieve)

[Even before learning to get UP from a sit, the dog needs to learn to get INTO a sit while holding the article. My dogs found that difficult, and it took several sessions before they were comfortable with it.]

Then on to very short tosses with the dog going out picking up the object,

you can call "here" to work on your recall, coming back to you.

If he spits out the object at any time before you've told him "out", then he

doesn't get the cat food.

This is just a rough outline of the steps required. There are many more

complete ones that you should be able to look up on line.

[I think Jody has covered the essential steps, and made clear the idea that this is a back-chaining procedure. I'd like to think about re-arranging some of the early steps.]