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My little pup is just now getting to the enthusiasm level I want to see. I am noticing he likes to chew on the bumper while carrying it back. Having just fought a hard mouth dog issue i am worried. Is this something I should let go and fix when I train hold or is it something you think could worsenand get hard to break. I dont want to squelch any drive at this point... not quite 6 months but as I said just starting to get retrieve crazy.
Force Fetch will likely clean it up if your so inclined and his adult teeth are set. At six months old I would not be to worried. Most likely he is just so excited and that should get better with time. Don
What kind of dog? I ask because I see that you do NAVHDA. I do know that some of my dogs liked to chew the firehouse bumpers but didn't chew other types. Is your dog teething?
NO need to hurt his enthusiasm. You can start by waiting until his mouth is quiet for a few seconds before taking the bumper, and then immediately re-throwing it. Reward the quiet mouth with another retrieve.
This one is my lab puppy. He has adult teeth in but has been also extra "chewy" lately. But his whole overall energy level just jumped up seveal notches also. He does it the worst with plastic bumpers but does it to some extent with both. I will definatly try to reward the quiet mouth. Thanks for the input so far.
I have noticed that this may occur with smaller bumpers. If this is the case, why not try larger bumpers? I have noticed that a larger bumper may be harder to chew on. You will be interrupting the mouthing and maybe preventing it from becoming a habit that is hard to break later on. I would guess that your plastic bumpers are smaller, puppy sized. Also reward the quiet mouth as Darrin suggested. And you may want to let puppy know that mouthing is wrong. "Wrong" or "cut it out" or "no" could be very useful if followed by rewarding for the calm mouth. Also check out RETRIEVER TROUBLESHOOTING by John and Amy Dahl.Quote:
Originally Posted by mountaindogs
That's another technique. Manipulate the situation to minimize / prevent the behavior you don't want and promote the one you do want. Bigger bumper might encourage him to get it right, then you can reward it and try going back to a smaller bumper to test.
You're probably about to FF so just giving some alternate ideas that don't involve pressure.