27/08/2025
The stolen retrieve…. Sometimes we will send our dog for a retrieve, that either isn’t there, or has already been picked. So we need the ability to recall them when they are searching. Here is a simple little exercise to do just that.
The good thing about this exercise, aside from the fact you can do it on your own is the fact that you’re chucking the retrieve out yourself, so your dog shouldn’t be a huge distance away from you ( unless you are some sort of Olympian… I am not! Ahem Kath 🙊😂) , as your dog should be closer in proximity to you they will be more likely to listen to your recall or stop, we can then build up the distance they can respond to these cues by gradually building up to them being further and further away from you.
After chucking the retrieve out I walked to it, scented the area a bit and discreetly put it in my dummy vest. Although it seems daft, a lot of dogs despite you walking out to the area will still believe there is a retrieve down, and will search as if it’s still there. You couldn’t see very well due to camera angle, but Newt was really hunting for it. She thought it was there. Obviously like anything, we don’t want to do too much of this or they’ll know there’s nothing there and just stop hunting, but it’s a good one to practice occasionally, as it helps with our handling when our dogs are retrieving.
My customers are generally people who just want to have fun with their dogs, and are not preparing their dogs for fieldwork. We do still however work on advanced handling skills in classes, why? All these skills are fun for you and your dog to train, and they increase responsiveness to cues. We all want an amazing recall in order for our dogs to be safely off lead, being able to recall a dog with a huge retrieve drive off of a retrieve is a great way to proof a recall cue. These types of exercises are also great for building frustration tolerance, which is hugely important for all dogs, but especially important for our working breeds who are often bred for persistence and can struggle to manage their frustration if we don’t help them through training.
