Training Springer to Fetch?

Tea-a-Maria

Posted this in the Animals and Pets forum,but someone suggested I throw it up here too.

Hi all,looking for a bit of advice on our dog.She's a Springer Spaniel,aged 1.She's basically a family pet,but my dad also uses her as a gundog.

The problem is,she won't fetch. She'll catch a ball if you throw it to her,but throw it away into a field and she just looks at you. I've been trying the past few days to get her interested,even using our other dog,who's mad to retrieve,in order to make her jealous.It's not working.

She's an intelligent dog,very keen to earn treats. I've trained her to do other things,so it's not that she can't learn anything full stop.

Any advice?Tips?Thanks.:)

blackstairsboy

Hi,
Your best bet is to restrict the dog to an area where you wil have more control over it and where there is few distractions for the dog. Such as in a shed with the door shut. Only throw the retrieve a small distance and encourage the dog vocally to pick it up and come to you. Will take a long time to get it right but if you reward the dog with praise and treats when she does start learning you will make progress. Do not rush things and take it steady but if you are willing to spend time at it and have enough patience you will get there.

snipe02

will she bring the ball to you when you throw it to her, if not try get her to bring it to you with encouragement, and reward with praise. when shes bringing it back to you regular throw it past her only a couple of feet so she wil bring back and then keep throwing it further and further a few feet at a time but make sure she brings it to you every time, start in a hall way or side gable of a house somewhere the dog has to come into you and not behind or around you its gonna take time and if the dog looks uncomfortable of like she's not enjoying the exercise do something else for a while and make it fun at all times im sure someone else here can give you better advice or explain it better ,best of luck

Steyr243Hunter

I haven't encountered this problem myself but a friend of mine was having trouble with getting his Labrador to bring back a sliotar, to get him more interested in it he put dog food inside it. It worked for him,

Spunk84

Tea-a-Maria wrote: »

Posted this in the Animals and Pets forum,but someone suggested I throw it up here too.

Hi all,looking for a bit of advice on our dog.She's a Springer Spaniel,aged 1.She's basically a family pet,but my dad also uses her as a gundog.

The problem is,she won't fetch. She'll catch a ball if you throw it to her,but throw it away into a field and she just looks at you. I've been trying the past few days to get her interested,even using our other dog,who's mad to retrieve,in order to make her jealous.It's not working.

She's an intelligent dog,very keen to earn treats. I've trained her to do other things,so it's not that she can't learn anything full stop.

Any advice?Tips?Thanks.:)

Ask your dad does she retrieve birds:cool:

Tea-a-Maria

I've asked my dad.Apparently she retrieves from water,but is less inclined to do so on the land. The main issue is that she might pick up a bird for a little bit,but she'll drop it away from my dad and he has to go get it himself.

No6

I have the opposite problem with mine, she just will not stop bringing things back, sticks stones pine cones, eggs (except she eats them!!) bottles and literlly any other piece of junk she can find lying around!! A dog halfway between the two sounds perfect!!:D

EPointer=Birdss

Spunk84 wrote: »

Ask your dad does she retrieve birds:cool:

First thing i thought.

Strikes me the dog has no interest & finds it boring. Often the sign of a clever dog.
Are you trying to get her to retrieve for working or for games.
I'd ask if not for working then don't bother.
Sounds as if the dog has no interest so why force it.
My springer does it all day & loves it. My pointer will pick up the first 1 or 2 throws & then loses interest. Retrieves birds all day though. Friends setter won't look at a ball but will get birds.
Every dog is different & some just couldn't be bothered.
Americans will tell you force fetch. Personally I wouldn't do it.
Whatever way your dad should have been working on this if using her for hunting in her 1st year.

TriggerPL

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Spunk84 wrote: »

Ask your dad does she retrieve birds:cool:

First thing i thought.

Strikes me the dog has no interest & finds it boring. Often the sign of a clever dog.
Are you trying to get her to retrieve for working or for games.
I'd ask if not for working then don't bother.
Sounds as if the dog has no interest so why force it.
My springer does it all day & loves it. My pointer will pick up the first 1 or 2 throws & then loses interest. Retrieves birds all day though. Friends setter won't look at a ball but will get birds.
Every dog is different & some just couldn't be bothered.
Americans will tell you force fetch. Personally I wouldn't do it.
Whatever way your dad should have been working on this if using her for hunting in her 1st year.

If you intent on getting her to retrieve then don't let her out for a day or two , then put a lead on her , bring her out into the garden , sit on the ground with her in your lap ! Get her interested in the ball and then throw in about 2 or 3 meters , don't let her go till she fighting to go , then let her off and the minute she picks up the ball call her in quickly with lots of praise , takes time if a ball isn't working try a small dummy , I've seen dogs with no interest in balls ,

Shoot2kill

Alot of sound advice given already there. I Always started training with an old sock stuffed with newspapers. I feed the dogs in the evening so before I'd feed the dog in training I'd do a small bit of retrieving.

The evening beforehand I would give the dog a small bit less food than usual and I would dampen the dummy with water and bury it in there bag of nuts, I find this increases there want for picking up the dummy and makes them a bit more alert towards it, once they pick it up, getting it back to you is all down to incouragement. Offer a treat the first few times but not for long as some dogs will start dropping the dummy/bird before they get to you because there more interested in getting the treat.

I repeat this every second day, throwing it at very small distances, confined spaces at first, then the garden and then onto rushes or high grass. Once the dog is picking the dummy confidently in a confind space I stop using the sock method and just use a normal dummy.

Two things I never do with springers is use a ball or have another dog that is confidently retrieving out, whilst trying to train another. It drives them mad, especially springers.

Thats just my two cents. S2K.

Tea-a-Maria

It seems something has clicked today!:) She's happily retrieving a ball and is keen to bring it back,even from bushes. Bought a dummy in town today and introduced it to her this evening. She's a bit wary of how to carry it,hopefully that'll come over the next few days.

Thanks for the advice!