[Stephen Whitley]

I have been working on HOLD for a week now. The first two days were pretty frustrating. Things began to click on the third day. When I got to the point of trying to get him to heel while holding he did not want to move a muscle. He obviously thought he was suppose to stay in the original spot. I finally got him moving. Now, I can sit him and walk away. I call him to me and he sits and maintains a firm grip better than half the time. As soon as he drops the bumper and I give him a verbal NO things immediately go downhill. His hold gets very sloppy. For example, the bumper sometimes is actually resting on his bottom jaw with his mouth slightly open...or, he lets the bumper very slowly slide out of one side of his mouth. When he does the last one I will slide it back in before it drops sometimes. Still, he will allow it to fall out. We seem to be stuck in this same ol' thing. It hasn't gotten better in the last 3 days.

As soon as I let him out of the kennel I give him some fun bumpers because he is so jacked up. During this "fun" I do not stress that he hold the bumper because I don't want him to get a bad attitude about retrieving. The last two days he has delivered 3 or 4 fun bumpers in a row to hand. Of course, I always throw one too many and he'll drop that one. He'll eventually pick it up long enough for me to take it from his mouth. Then we move to the "hold" lessons. As soon as he messes up the first time things get ugly. Need some help from you, PLEASE!
Stephen

 

[Mark Littlejohn]

I'd suggest that your initial FF work be done somewhere other than the yard. It doesn't sound like you're being very "formal" with this.

Are you following a program, eg, Graham's SmartFetch? It leaves no stone unturned and provides more details than you're going to get via a bunch of RTF posts. Its a slow, progressive process which could take you a month (but shouldn't).

 

[Stephen Whitley]

I am using Lardy's program simply because that's what I am most familiar with. I don't remember having this trouble with my other dogs. I know, every dog's different.

 

[Judy Chute]

Rather than "NO"... maybe just reinforce ..hold..with the command "hold" and put the bumper back in his mouth. "Gooood"...

"NO" sometimes just shuts a dog down...or they think they should not be doing that at all...holding the bumper, taking it, picking it up etc..the whole picture is a "no". So leave the word "no" out of it. ???

 

[Stephen Whitley]

I actually stopped using the word "hold" for awhile because I thought that might be what was hanging him up at the beginning. For example, I would correct him and say HOLD when I placed the bumper back in his mouth. He seemed to take that as meaning "it's okay to drop this thing but whatever I do don't move". He does better when I don't say anything it seems. Maybe I should shutup and try it?! :?

 

[Miriam Wade]

Oh-I never give training advice, but it's late & I'm tired...

Disclaimer-I pick up my dog soon who was sent to a pro for ff & cc, but my older dog made it to Master level work w/out ff & a collar, so I don't believe they are the end all depending upon your goals.

I would stop w/ the happy bumpers as the beginning of your hold exercise. You're giving her dessert before she eats her vegetables.

Do the "hold" in small bits & pieces the way you have been, but I wouldn't follow up w/ happy bumpers either.

Paul Young posted his method for hold w/out ff and I guarantee you his dogs are every bit as reliable as any dog out there. Maybe you could PM him for some help w/ this.

M

 

[Stephen Whitley]

This morning I went out and had him hold the bumper while I walked away. I called him to me and had him sit until I took the dummy. I could tap on the ends of the dummy with the heeling stick and feel him tighten his grip a little. We did this four or five times and I put him away. Sort and sweet is the answer maybe. Thanks for the help!