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what age will a puppy go crazy about retrieving

4K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  awackywabbit 
#1 ·
Just wondering at what age will a puppy go completely crazy over retrieving. My 10 week old puppy seems to love it for about 3-5 times and then he just kinda could care less. I quit when he shows that he has had enough. Just wondering what everyone thinks.
 
#2 ·
Just wondering at what age will a puppy go completely crazy over retrieving. My 10 week old puppy seems to love it for about 3-5 times and then he just kinda could care less. I quit when he shows that he has had enough. Just wondering what everyone thinks.
They're all different, but you should try to keep him crazy about retrieving. Try to learn to quit before he's had enough.
 
#4 ·
Plenty of time,still very young. I was a little worried to begin with. Was pretty sure everything would work out fine because of breeding and breeder assurances.But she seemed almost interested . Turned into a retrieving maniac,jumping for the bumper and bringing anything back. Good luck and have fun
 
#8 ·
Thank you all for the advice. I am using the bill hillman puppy video and was just worried that he was not enjoying it. He chases like crazy but just dont always bring it back. I am just going to slow down and try to get him all pumped up and excited, see what happens in a few days. Maybe even start going once every other day. Thanks again.
 
#11 · (Edited)
#9 ·
I don't know the situation for you and pup. I had more success in the drive department with my last pup by putting him in a crate for a few hours before I took him out to play. I was more of a source of fun then.
 
#13 ·
Be sure not to remove the retrieve object from your pups mouth. Dont take it awawy. Just get control of you puppy and pet and praise until pup drops on its own, then throw again. It will help the keep away thing from getting bad.
 
#14 ·
I also have a new pup, she is 20 weeks this week. I also reference the "Hillmann" training DVD and the key has been to keep it fun for her (as all above say). As I understand it, what we are looking for is a dog with 'drive/ enthusiasm' going out to retrieve. Then we have to help them learn to bring it back using a lot of animation/training/patients to call her back. Also, in a separate training/obedience class we are working, Sit, Down, Heal, and....Here! As we have progressed on this obedience, she is retrieving much better....little steps with lots of fun mixed in....this is our 6th retriever and each one has trained better, as we learn more...but each dog is different....training the dog is easy, it is training the trainer that is hard!
 
#18 ·
We had a much better night tonight with the training/retrieving. Seemed like once I figured out what he wanted to go after, it made a lot of difference. He was to the point that he was having trouble sitting still when he knew his toy was out there. When I quit he was trying to get it out of my back pocket, so I think he still wanted more. Hopefully it will continue into our next session
 
#19 ·
I found with my pup that the object makes the difference. He will retrieve a dummy once or twice but I found this little soft ball that he will retrieve perfectly for hours if I let him. When he was smaller he used to retrieve rolled up socks like crazy but was disinterested in other objects.

He is 16 weeks now and starting to teeth plus he's on the small side so I think the puppy bumpers are just not his favorite thing to carry right now. He is definitely not as crazy about retrieving as my last pup was but he is much better when it comes to paying attention and learning obedience commands so I like the trade off. I'm sure in time the retrieving lights will come on and he'll love bumpers.

I think the key thing to remember is that retrieving is a chain of 4 actions, chase, pick up, carry, and return. Even if they don't do all of them at once the key is getting them to do the actions and you can help them put them together later with training. The chase and pick up seem to be the hardest to train so if you at least have those two you are a long ways out of the gate which is why Hillman's first goal is to get the pup to chase. Granted the pup he uses does all 4 right off the bat which doesn't help those of us whose pups have a harder time doing all 4, lol!
 
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