German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[wgonfan]

My now 8mth old Male GWP. Has done really well with anything I have tried to teach him (sit, stay, whoa, kennel ect...) except fetch. I used the method outlined in the NAVHDA "green book". for those of you not familiar with it in brief the author suggest force trainig fetch by putting the dummy in the dogs mouth, commanding fetch & not letting the dog drop the dummy until he has excepted it & is not fitting to get it out of his mouth, the command "out" & reward the dog. do this several times until the dog does not fight the dummy. the next step is putting the dummy in your hand & rolling it down towards the pups snout & commanding fetch - the pup should then pickup the dummy & hold it until you command "out".

Well cargo did just fine when I place the dummy in his mouth & command fetch & will hold it until I command out. this worked well until we got ready to progress to the next step. Now when it's time for "fetch" training, he turns off, trys to change the subject & trys to leave the training area. If I quickly switch to another lesson he's right back into training & willing to learn. I can't think of anything that I did that made him not want to do fetch. I tried upgrading my treats for the fetch sessions from store bought stuff to sirlion steak cut up in bit size pieces. He loved the treats, but still didn't want to do fetch.

Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get my pup willing to learn fetch.
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Tom - Texarkana, Tx.

Cargo - male GWP

[pointon]

Hey fellow Texan! I'm not an expert but I can tell you what I'm doing w/ my pup and she's doing really well in the fetch area(she's 4 months).. I used Joan bailey's technique of conditioning her to fetch.. This really works.. Bailey teaches to build on what your dog does naturally.. Encourage your pups instincts.. My dog liked to chase after the dummy but not necessarily bring it back.. So, I started making it a game and the game started w/ me throwing the dummy.. My pup quickly figured out that if she didn't bring it back, I was going in and she didn't have anyone to play with.. That was at 1st.. Now, she fetches the dummy and like clock work brings it back, goes through my legs and to my left side and waits for me to take the dummy.. Get Joan Bailey's book "How to Help a Gundog Train Themselves." It's good reading and you'll find some alternate ways of doing things if you hit a road block here and there.. Inevitably, I'm sure there's a road block for everyone..
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training tips are welcome