Sunday, April 1, 2012

Tips On How To Teach A Dog To Fetch

By Lynne Keller


One of the first dog training tasks that people want to learn about is how teach a dog to fetch. Playing fetch with sticks in the park is a lot of fun for both dog and owner. By throwing something for her in the yard, you can encourage your dog to have a lot more exercise. If you can't take much exercise, then you just stay in one place and let your dog do all the running.

But because many people doesn't know how to teach a dog to fetch in the best way, they make a lot of mistakes. Remember that in the beginning, your dog doesn't know the rules but this should be fun and not difficult.

If you choose something familiar to throw at them, like a toy or a ball of theirs, then your dog may run after them. But what they won't realize is that they have to bring it back to you and drop it so you can throw it for them again. Most likely, they will go fetch their toy and then sit around playing with it.

When you're finding out how to teach a dog to fetch, starting in a small and enclosed space is best. If you're in the park then you may tire yourself before getting back the toy because you've been chasing your dog around. Even your yard is not a very good option. When your dog is outside, she do too many interesting things.

Find a place where the dog can really focus on you. Inside the house or maybe in a hallway would be your best option. Here there are no distractions and if you close the doors into the rooms, you can set things up so that the dog has nowhere to go except back toward you.

This will make it much more likely that she will do the right thing by accident, and bring the toy back to you. Reward her afterwards and she'll start to pick up the idea of the game.

Want to know another thing that you can do to make it easier on yourself when you are starting out with how to teach a dog to fetch? Don't just use one toy and bring all of her toys that you can find. This way, you can throw many times before collecting everything up.

Make sure your dog is interested in the toy before you throw it. You can do this by waving it around her nose. If she just chases it in the beginning, praise her still.

A dog can be called back to you if it's already been trained to come when called. The dog may drop the first before coming to you. You may praise her for coming back, but the treats should come later when she actually brings the toy back with her.

It has to be the right toy - the one that you just threw - not a different one that you threw five minutes before. This is because later, when you are playing this game in the park, you do not want to throw a ball for her and then have her bring back something completely different that she finds in the park.

Most dogs learn this game easily but if you are having trouble, you can try borrowing a friend's dog who loves to fetch. Reward the other dog for bringing back the toys and dropping them at your feet and let your dog watch this. With this, it will be easiest to teach a dog to fetch if it seems she doesn't want to learn.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment