Playing fetch with your dog is a great way to burn off a lot of energy in a
short period of time.
One of the biggest struggles that dog owners have though is teaching their dog
to bring the toy all the way back in today's video,
I've enlisted the help of instructor Carol,
who is a five time world champion of disc dog and she's going to show you how to
motivate your dog to bring the toy back with more energy and more enthusiasm
every time. I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann Dogs.
One of the first things I ask myself when I hit a problem is where's the
value for my dog? So if I have a dog that loves to play with the toy,
he comes back and I rip it out of his mouth and throw it again cause I like
throwing, well, why does he bring it back? He wants to play with that toy.
On the other hand,
if I have a dog and they come back and I'm big into tugging but they don't
really like tugging,
then probably they're not going to bring that toy back to me or at least not
quickly, so I need to figure out how to make this valuable for my dog.
So what can we try?
There's a number of solutions I would do and each one is geared towards a
different type of dog. One solution does not fit all number one.
Soon as they get that toy, I'm going to call their name.
Then when they turn, I'm going to turn and run.
Those dogs like to chase the toy, like things moving.
It brings out that chase instinct,
so I'm not going to stand still facing my dog. I'm going to turn, move away.
I can still keep, stay connected. I can talk to them, cheer them on in,
make it more interesting, make me more valuable. Number two,
what is it that happens when they come back with the toy?
I want to do whatever my dog likes. For some dogs it might be this long,
fuzzy tug toy. I could actually run and have it bouncing.
We could have a big game when he comes back and entices them in and it can trade
for the toy that's in his mouth.
Some dogs aren't as keen on tugging or toys and we could even use
a little um, food pouch.
So this toy has a little food pouch right in it. So when my dog comes back,
I can actually take the food out and reward my dog.
Ellen's been working through this and one of the solutions she's tried is using
a long line. If you go online,
which of the YouTube videos are going to tell you that get along line,
attach it either to your dog or the toy and then you can make sure that they're
coming right in.
Especially for those dogs that like to bounce around or just take off and play
with the toy themselves. That's great.
As a preventative with a puppy or if you have a wild and crazy labs or lab
people.
But those dogs that love toys and they bounce around putting the line on,
um,
and letting them know the only chance to have fun is bringing it right back to
me is going to work great. But for a lot of dogs, if they're not super keen,
retrievers being dragged back in or having the toy controlled me,
not add to the retrieving. Now this is one of my favorite ways to troubleshoot,
retrieved problems for those dogs that want to play too much with the toy.
They're so busy playing is they come back or they don't come back in close
to the handler. And uh,
I got my really inexpensive piece of rubber with some duct tape here.
Nothing too fancy. All I want to do is set up a picture. Texas,
you want to come mark this good girlie. This is Texas.
She's six months and I have a handful of treats so I'm rewarding her here but
drop the treats girly and I'm going to throw one out.
Of course she comes right back cause she knows I've got more treats.
Throw one out.
She comes back and I can even give her a handful of treats when she comes back
or several. Oh yeah. So she can see,
you can see she comes right back. She says, Oh,
I figured out this game and at this point he's pretty focused on me.
I'm going to put out my toy.
So for those dogs that are crazy about playing with the toy,
I don't want one that's super exciting, a fuzzy, long tug.
So I'm going to use something a little bit plain and all I'm going to do is put
it out on the grass. So I put my toy out a couple of feet out.
Not a long time because I don't want her to get super stimulated.
When she stimulated, she's more likely to play with that toy.
I'm going to make sure she knows I still got the treats and I'm going to tell
her get it. Yay. Good girly. Good girl. Bring it here.
Bring it here. Yay. Good girl. Yes.
So you didn't see the first time she wasn't even interested in picking it up.
That's okay. She's thinking me and the food.
Pretty soon it'll balance out. So again, get it. Yay. Get it girly.
Get it.
Yes. Let's try it again. Come here Texas. Good girly. Yes. Ready? Get it.
Yeah. Bring it here. Yes. Right into my hand. Good girl,
Nancy. I had to work through a couple of problems the first time she'd just been
rewarded with food so much here. She said, I don't want the toy.
That's fine. Um, I'm, that's my goal and this is,
I want her more focused on me when there's a toy in play. Now I did it again.
If you noticed, she'd swallow the treat so she spit it out. So no problem.
I'm just going to each time to send her back. The last time I sent her out,
she was successful. She grabbed that toy,
turned right back cause she learned the game.
Come back to this thing and you get a handful of treats.
Now if you have a dog that is, uh, takes more times,
you keep sending them out and they're not getting it.
Maybe you need just a little bit more stimulation if they're too food focused.
So if I did it 10 times and they're just saying, no way,
I could put my toy further away because that run to get it will stimulate them.
I could also use a more exciting toy where it's going to make it a little bit
easier. You've got your toy, you're going to throw it. When she comes back,
you're going to, same thing. Use your voice, encourage her to look up at you.
Try and stand up tall. If she offers that toy, we're going to take it.
We're going to open it up and give her those treats.
Okay. Ready? Ready
and run out with her. Say your name. Good.
Yay. That's it.
Give a little tug and now open that up and she gets the
jackpot. Oh look at that.
And Lucy had a great drive back to Ellen.
It was just the handoff that she was struggling with. However,
you may have a dog that gets that toy goes out hard,
huge chase drive, but once they've got it,
they either hang out there or they come back really slowly to you.
So how are we going to fix that one? I can use two toys.
So I'm going to throw my one toy out. Same thing. I still want to be interested,
interesting to my dog so I can run after my dog and a color name.
Take off, let them chase me back. But before they get to me,
I'm going to yell out and I'm going to say get it and throw my next toy,
the other direction, run out, call them.
I can pick up that first toy out,
get it so that my dog realizes that there's a toy coming the other
direction. We can really help drive coming back to me.
Now if I have our retrieving problem, there's two questions I ask myself.
Number one, does it happen part way through?
So if my dog's keen bringing it back looks great,
but I do 10 retrieves and suddenly my dog's not coming back to me,
he's going sniffing around it. Chances isn't chances are it's not a bad dog.
Could be they're already tired. I'm either throwing too far or too long.
The other question I ask is, did it just happen?
Is my dog is super keen retriever,
and suddenly that has stopped and they're not as interested. Uh,
could be that my dog is injured. Well, that toy is zipping out there.
They may be stimulant enough that they don't feel the pain and they're happy to
run, but coming back, maybe painful for them.
Hope that helped you with your retrieve.
We know how important exercise is for dogs.
You're looking for more ideas to quickly and safely exercise your dog.
Just click on this card here. On this note, I'm Carol. This is Thorpe.
Happy training.