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Puppy Chewing on Check Cord

9K views 13 replies 12 participants last post by  yellow machine 
#1 ·
Hello, I am new to this forum and the owner of a 4 month old Male yellow lab. I got him at 7 weeks old and have been working with him daily. He has been doing well with the sit and stay command. The Here command is pretty good unless he has something in his mouth. From the very beginning in the hallway he would fetch the puppy bumper but would be hit or miss on returning to me. I did not worry about it at the time. Only 3 retrieves per day. As he got bigger we moved outside and in a confined area he still runs away with the bumper or does not return to me. I have searched the forums and the common thread is to stop retrieving and work on Obedience. So I am doing that. I have put a check cord on him to reel him in. The issue I am having, is when the check cord is on he wants to chew and play with it causing a "tug of war" when I reel him in on the command. Is this a problem and if so does anyone have any suggestions. I just started this process yesterday. This is the first time I have been serious about training my dog. I have had one other lab that I started but life and work caused me to not finish her. She did not have this problem so I am unsure how to deal with this problem. FYI I have been following the Wildrose Way training DVD. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
 
#2 ·
If you just started this yesterday, then I would give it time to work itself out. It is very common for a puppy to bite at the cord. This is probably not the case with your dog but some dogs will bite on the lead as one last ditch effort to maintain control. Dogs feel that they control whatever is in their mouths and therefore some will try to carry the lead. I would try doing a combination of the things that you were doing. Throw short marks for the dog while he is on the check cord and then GENTLY reel him in. If the bumper is in his mouth then he can't tug on the lead. The other thing that you can try is to catch him off guard. Let him romp a little with the cord on and then call him with here and a few tugs when he least expects it. Also, don't worry so much at this stage about the pup bringing the bumper back. At this point it is all about the chase. When you formalize things with force fetch in the next few months, all of this will be a thing of the past.
 
#4 · (Edited)
First don't play tug of war with him, it is better to drop the rope then teach him that he can have a fun game of tug of war when he wants especially during training. Don't chase him with the bumper either, that is most likely the most favorite game he will have. I would throw the bumper and send him to retreive it, as soon as you do run the other way. This will be a fun game of him bringing the bumper to you. (which is what you want.) Grab it when he reaches up to the side of you. Give him a ton of praise. Have him run for a week or two with the lead on, but you not holding it. this will let him get use to it without him biting it. He may be teething too, Give him a frozen rag to play with. Is he chewing anything else?
 
#5 ·
Introduce the check cord when not having fun( retrieving),just let it be on him while in the yard, exploring, ect. (under supervision) it will soon become as common to him as a nylon collar. When you introduce something new like the check cord ,he is going to be curious about it at first.

When I get a pup out kennel/dog box to play with him ,I have several things in my hand /pockets ....2 bumpers and a check cord (it will also help you learn to fumble around training tools as soon most folks will be adding heeling stick and or E-collar transmitter in their hands). I let the pup out ,then put the check cord on 1st thing, every time and we go play fetch, if done consistently soon he will expect the cord to be put on him before you play fetch.

Same concept folks use when introducing the E collar.

The second bumper is an "intiser " (sp)for the pup to back come to my general direction swing it around while making excited hup-hup sounds and/or tooting on a whistle . Get him close enough to step on the rope and slowly walk up the rope to him ,while still calling him in. This lets you have both hands free to clap/swing 2nd bumper or whatever,as soon as he starts to move in my direction .....huge praise for coming in with belly rubs or whatever. I dont care at this age if he leaves the bumper 5 foot from me. (thats where FF will clean that up)

I work on OB here,heel,sit at a separate sessions at this age and my goal is to let simple OB bleed over to retrieving.

I try to due most of what I explained before teething ,then get a little more formal with OB when teething starts , But I keep a foam bumper handy even then ,in case he needs a "pick me up" during OB.
 
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