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Puppy help

3K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  Wayne Nutt 
#1 ·
I have a pup I got at 6 weeks old. Tomorrow he will be 9 weeks old. I have tried to get him to retrieve by playing different games and he shows no interest in it. It has been a couple of years since I have had a pup and all of the pups I have had before just naturally retrieved when they came home. I don't know what to do to try to start building a prey drive. Any advice would be appreciated
 
#4 ·
try taking a wing on a string or rope and jigging it infront of his face and let him follow it around but dont throw it, keep it infront of his face let him bite it and and pull it out and then do it all over again. eventually he will follow it on his own and you can lead him farther and farther then throw it give it a week or so. good luck
 
#7 ·
If you try to have him watch an older dog do some retrieve. Find a toy or bone or whatever he likes the best. Tease him with it in a hall way or an area that will keep him focused. Once you have him wanting to chase it throw it a little ways down the hall encourage your pup to bring it back. Once he does it praise the hell out of him and get him excited to do it again. Be patient he will retrieve just going to take a little time and work to bring it out.
Good luck
 
#8 ·
Where are you doing the play retrieves?
 
#10 ·
Fruit fly like that
 
#11 ·
How about trying a frisbee - it definitly is different then throwing a bumper or paint roller. Just thought of this this morning because with the rain the past couple days the snow is gone and I found the Frisbee again which my pup goes crazy for. He does pretty good with the paint rollers and other things, but that Frisbee drives him crazy - not sure why other then the flying motion. We had some fun with it this morning. Good luck.
 
#12 · (Edited)
See what Pat Nolan has to say about it...
http://www.trainingretrieverpuppies.com/help-my-puppy-wont-retrieve

Back off any obedience at all for now. I see many new puppy owners get caught up in the Wolters methods or watching puppy videos and try to enforce "sit" and other commands way too early for some pups..Every pup is different. Also, stop throwing puppy retrieves since your pup is not interested for a couple of weeks.. do other bonding things..spend time with the pup, take it for brief puppy walks (weather permitting), dependent upon the vaccine schedule.. Also make sure your retrieve object is only out when you play retrieving game and is put up at other times.. you don't want the pup bored with the object... leave other chew toys out for that.. I also advise my clients when the pups go home to not throw anything for the pups for the first 2-3 weeks...just focus on bonding and housebreaking... then start in the hallway with a rolled up sock..and don't overdo it initially...no more than 3 retrieves per session.. builds desire and you always want to stop with pups before they quit... there have been some lower drive pups where I stop with one puppy retrieve initially and then build from there.
 
#13 ·
I have been trying to retrieve with him in the hallway. We have also tried to retrieve in other parts of the house. I haven't pushed the issue trying to do it too much or too many times a day. I did take a teal wing and let him play with it which lasted about 2 minutes and he has not really taken up with any toys yet and he has alot of them. I have not done any obedience with him. All we have been doing is working on house breaking, bonding, taking walks, getting use to the leash, and lots of socialization. He knows his name very well.
I will try to get my big dog out with him to do some retrieving but he is 13 and could care a less now.:D
 
#14 ·
What is the breeding? I wouldn't be too terribly concerned yet. I had a pup like that but all of sudden the light bulb went off. He is a retrieving demon now.
 
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