OUTDOORS: Retrieving 101: The best fun a puppy can have

WORTHINGTON — Two weeks ago, I wrote about just how important it is to properly socialize your puppy.

That was good information, regardless of if you are holding your first puppy or if you’ve had 20 dogs during your lifetime.

The more dogs that have been in your life, the easier it is to kind of short-step some of these critical areas. As you are working on properly socializing your puppy, the second thing that new puppy owners need to be doing is helping the puppy learn to love the game called ‘Puppy Retrieve 101.’

Dogs of many breeds will have the retrieving desire right from puppy-hood as a result of many years of breeding for just this trait. The key is to build on the natural desire of the puppy to retrieve. Making retrieving the most enjoyable game in town is the stated goal for the new owner.

Retrieving, to the human handler, is work. It’s why many hunters have a dog in the first place. A good retriever can make the effort of retrieving a duck no effort at all. Compare sending a dog to do the work versus either paddling the boat out to the duck or a long walk wading through two feet of mud. Retrieving is work to humans.

But in the dog’s mind, retrieving is the most exciting fun that a dog can have. Once the dog has the bird or other item in its mouth, they now have successfully gained the prize. It is this desire to achieve the prize that the new owner wants to build on. The process can seem quiet simple— and it is — but that does not mean that it is foolproof.

Puppies have a natural instinct to play “keep away”. Once they have the prize, they want to keep it. There are several ways for the human to win in the game of keep away. The first thing that you need to do is to experiment with different objects until you find one that the puppy really likes. At this point, it doesn’t matter if that is a knotted sock, a chew toy or a commercially-produced puppy bumper.

Attach a short cord to the collar and get located in a spot like a hallway or other- type area that allows the puppy only one way to run. This one direction is only back towards you. Throw the item a short distance and send the puppy by saying their name. The puppy will bound out and grab the item. In many cases they will bring it right back, and that’s when you heap on the praise. If the puppy does not want to bring it to you then grab the cord and gently drag the puppy back. Regardless if the puppy comes on his/her own or if they need help with the cord, the praise is the same when thy return. The puppy soon learns that he/she is only the hero when the item is returned to you. If you need to wave the item around to get the puppy excited, this is very acceptable at this stage.

Pros do this outside with a hallway-shaped corridor made out of snow fence. The item is tossed to the closed end and the only way for the puppy to exit is past the handler. When the puppy comes running by with the intention of bolting past, the handler snatches the puppy and heaps on the praise.

Once you have the puppy retrieving consistently, you can move outside to a less-confined area. The same cord is attached, but this one is longer. It has to be as long as the throw. Toss the item and send the puppy on their name. In the open, the puppy may bring it right back or it might want to play keep away. The same methods are used.

If necessary, use the cord to reel in the puppy, and when he/she is returned — heap on the praise. Some puppies will, on occasion, only come back part of the way and just stand there like they are goading you into chasing them. Never chase the dog. If you move towards the puppy, this action will drive the puppy back. The more you pursue, the greater the temptation for the puppy continue the keep away game. This is NOT the game that you want your puppy to start enjoying.

There are several other tricks that you can employ if your puppy does not want to come all the way in or wants to play keep away. The cord is one, and another is to move away from the puppy, slapping your hand or cap on your leg as you encourage them to follow in an excited voice. The last thing that the puppy wants is to be is left behind, and if the puppy thinks that it might get left, it will advance towards you. As this happens, you slow your speed away from the dog and allow the puppy to catch up. When they do, immediately turn and grasp the puppy. Immediately heap on the praise and love them up big time.

The puppy needs to understand that in the retrieve game, the love and affection is gained only the puppy returns all the way back to the handler.

There are several other rules in my book for dealing with puppies during the retrieve-game train. All of these rules are based on this one important preface: Puppies are like children in that the younger they are, the shorter their attention span.

Remember these additional important puppy recommendations. I learned many of these the hard way and you can avoid most of the common pitfalls by heading the following:

1. Never chase the puppy. This will always end badly and make training much harder.

2. If during the retrieving game, the puppy is not doing what you want it to, never scold the puppy. All of the actions used during the basic-retrieve training end with lots of praise, no matter what method was employed in getting the puppy back to your lap.

3. Keep sessions short. Once a puppy has retrieved so many times that it becomes bored and quits, you have actually done more harm than good in that session. Always quit before the puppy quits.

4. End on a positive. Monitor the puppy’s attitude and quit before they do. Always end the session with a successful retrieve and victory. This might mean only two or three retrieves once every three days.

5. This next one is probably the biggest killer of retrieving desire that I have ever experienced on any one day. NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER restrain the puppy on the retrieve. Holding the puppy by the collar and mandating they sit while you throw, and making them wait until you send them, is the greatest killer of retrieving desire in puppies. You turn this great fun game into an activity where the puppy is in trouble almost all of the time. It won’t sit and squirms all over the place because it’s excited during which time the handler is hollering, “Sit and stay and it and knock it off,” all while trying to make the puppy comply.

Does this sound like fun if you are the puppy? Remember all we want to do is make this the best fun that the puppy can have. The term “steady” is used to describe a dog that will sit calmly until sent. Big dogs do this, puppies do not; don’t treat a puppy like a big dog.

As the puppy ages, the attention span increases, and an adult dog would love nothing better than to spend all day, every day doing retrieves on both land and water. This is what big dogs do.

Remember the attention span issue. Big dogs have longer attention spans. Once the desire to retrieve has been instilled in the puppy, you usually have to screw up really bad to kill that desire. It can be done, but the handler has to make many mistakes, usually many times. Killing the retrieving desire in an adult dog is rare.

Have fun playing the game. All of the other training is built on the desire to retrieve. In your dog’s lifetime, it will most likely make thousands of retrieves.

There is one that stands out from all the rest. I always counsel customers to make sure that they take a camera on their first hunt with the young dog. A picture of the first retrieve of the first pheasant or duck can only be taken one time. Miss the opportunity and you are never going to get it back. This is one of those camera or mental memories that nothing can beat.

It all starts with that first retrieve in the “Puppy Retriever 101” class.

Be a good teacher and enjoy the pupil. Puppy Retrieving 101 only lasts one semester and then the harder work begins.

Scott Rall is the Daily Globe’s outdoors columnist. His column can also be read weekly at www.dglobe .com.

Tags: northland outdoors, outdoors, sports, hunting