I have an 8 month old that I am working through Evan Grahams program. We are proficient(not perfect, but pretty darn good) with the obedience commands sit, heel, here. Collar conditoned to here(very tight on this command). I took him through the first Smartfetch DVD and we were doing well until the last week when i was throwing just a couple of marks to him, and he retrieved the first and brought the bumper back and spit the bumper on the second one halfway back to me and would not pick it up. Ever since then, it seems that all of the "hold" work that was done a couple of weeks ago has been forgotten. He was pretty darn good with walking hold, so i figured it was time to move on. It seems like he knows what the "Fetch" command is and does it to relieve the pressure but will spit the bumper(especially when i ask him to sit with a bumper in his mouth?????)...I went through all kinds of bumpers(avery, sportdog, canvas) thinking that he would hold one better than the other because he didnt like the way they felt in his mouth. I started tonight with a quick hold refresher(going back to the paint roller), and maybe i need to just take a couple of steps back and work on this until we get it right?????? I dont want to continue with the "fetch" command with him spitting bumpers like this because i feel like he may be getting too much pressure, and i could see it in his reaction to the pressure today.
If anyone has seen this and has a potential solution, i would love to hear some comments!
Thanks in advance
Ian Byrd
If anyone has seen this and has a potential solution, i would love to hear some comments!
Thanks in advance
Ian Byrd