Force Fetch Wrap Up

Several weeks ago I posted asking for suggestions on my dogs refusal to pick up object off of table. All other work (hold, fetch out of hand, fetch object at various positions) went well but complete refusal to fetch off of table.

Many suggestions given, some good others way off the wall.

Here is what I came up with.

Used dog's love to retreive and worked in backyard
Short tosses with fetch command given
Initial hesitation but worked through
Made fetch command a fun command
After a few weeks of this went back to table and worked through the problem without any difficulties
Dog now fetches and holds while my other dog is sent for retreive.
Still some sharpness to work on but dog didn't loose enthusisam to retrieve
taking dog an short walks requring him to hold and carry a log weighing 5 pounds
Will work on proper fetch while switching to birds
Through the remainder of summer dog will get a variety of work with pigeons
Work on steadiness to flush and shot bird with fetch as the reward.

By the end of summer I hope to have dog ready for a full season of chasing pheasants and relaxing in a duck blind once and awhile

Lesson learned: sometimes you must keep to what turns the dog on and not follow the normal process