Teach "Mine" and enforce the command when she starts the attack mode. Be careful not to encourage her prey drive. Without seeing how you handle the bumper when you take it from her, its hard to say. My bet is you are encouraging her to chase and grab while your trying to get the bumper from her. It becomes a game of chase and catch. A few video clips would be nice. We are working on a young DD now that has learned to do the same thing. With his owner he is a wild man, it becomes a circus act. With me, it started that way but now he is very calm and he understands "Mine"/ The way the owner handles the end of the retrieve encourages the chase and grab. If you want more details PM me and I will call you on the phone.
Don and Crew

 

I will try to teach "Mine" and see how this works over the next few days. If I don't start seeing some improvement after that I'll try to get a video and probably take you up on the further details. Your words of a "circus act" describes it perfectly with her right now.

 

I know some people don't use chew toys, but with two little kids, it has helped me teach my gal what is hers and what isn't. Obviously, the bumper is mine, unless I give her permission to get it or if I give it to her. Not a quick process, but when harnessing that drive, it rarely is. Another thing is giving her praise while the bumper is in her mouth for a few seconds before having her release and not snatching it right away. Quite possible this is how you're doing it, I just can't tell from your post.

 

I typically do let her have it a few seconds while giving praise before taking it and normally this works for the first two retrieves but afterwards she'll get aggressive once I take it. I also have chew toys for her and she never has any issues when I take them during routine play, it only seems to take place with things that she has retrieved after a toss.

 

dog drags long line, place foot on long line as you take bumper, prevent jumping, when she sits... rethrow

lather rinse repeat

 

This is what I typically do to regain control, however once I step on the lead to prevent jumping she starts to bite at my jeans/sweats (or me) and keeps trying to jump.

 

Do you have about a twelve inch drag cord attached to her collar that you can insist/control her with as she gets close to you? You need some good hands on mentoring now IMO.

 

I don't have a 12 inch drag cord but I still have her regular lead that I use.

 

If she does it right for two throws, why not quit while you're ahead?

 

Actually, I never really thought of that and always try to get 5-6 retrieves in. I'll give this a try

 

It appears from your description (dog does not growl and is not possessive of chew toys) that the dog is not exhibiting possession aggression but rather excitement to chase the retrieve object both when thrown and when it's in your hand. Most people will raise the object up high to get it out of the dog's reach, which then entices the dog to jump in order to get to it. Most of us have been doing everything we can do from the time the puppy comes home in order to bring out the prey drive in our pups-sounds like job well done! The difference between possession aggression and excitement for the retrieve object is important. You need to make sure which one you are dealing with.

If the dog's obedience (sit) was solid, she would not jump at the bumper. If you have a dog overly excited about the retrieve, I think your answer is to get balance by doing less retrieving and more obedience. If you have a dog with possession aggression, seek out an expert in dealing with this problem.

 

seek help from a pro trainer for this now. You need someone who can watch this problem, try things and modify as needed.

 

Hello everyone, I am training my first retriever and she is about 4 and half months old now. For the most part her training seems to be going fine with the exception of giving up the bumper after a retrieve. Over the past few weeks she has become very possessive of the bumpers. She will always bring them back to me but does not release them, and when I do take them (either by waiting until she finally releases it in my hand or after she drops it herself) she becomes very possessive and will start to jump up on me either biting at the bumper or myself if she can not reach it. Once this begins it takes a while to get her to calm down and I usually end up with some torn sleeves. Typically she is still wagging the tail and does not seem angry but she is also completely out of control and aggressively demanding to get the bumper back. when I finally do get her settled I can start another retrieve and she again brings it straight back but again gets aggressive if I take it from her. She has not been taught FF yet or any formal release command so I don't expect a perfect delivery or immediate release but I am concerned about how aggressive/possessive she gets when I do take the bumper from her.

Thanks for any recommendations.

There's your trouble. It sounds like you have a high octane pup... which is great if you can control her.

The quick fix I would try first is once the pup comes back, you need a set order of commands for the delivery. For me, that is Heel, Sit, Give. At 20 weeks they can do this just fine.

Then the procedure for getting the bumper and maintaining control would be to put my left hand on the collar with my thumb under the collar facing her tail just behind her skull on the back of the head, then grab the bumper with the right hand. This eliminates the ability for the pup to jump and get possessive about the bumper. Then what I would do is as soon as that bumper is in your hand it needs to disappear (into a bag) and you stand up. Out of sight out of mind. Then she doesn't get another retrieve until she is focused. Good luck!