# Trainers in ND to force fetch



## DustinS (Nov 9, 2004)

Could anyone point me in the right direction of some good trainers in ND/Western MN that could force fetch my lab. I would prefer them to be near fargo/grand forks or near dickinson. The problem that I am having is that she retrieves dummies perfectly but will not retrieve a bird or a dummy that is covered with feathers. She is 3.5 years old. Any other suggestions are gladly taken. Thankyou


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## ryanps18 (Jun 23, 2006)

Get a Pigeon and put it inside a womens stocking (panty hose) he should retreive it. After he is consistently bringing it back to you cut a small hole in the hose and let a few feathers stick out. keep cutting larger holes until he is bringing back a bird without the hose. If you use a cold bird it tends not to loose its feathers as much.

This will only work if the dog as been put off by feathers in the past.
You did not give much detail in terms of if he has ever brought back a bird and stopped for some reason or another.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

If you have afriend with a retriever try throwning a frozen bird to it in front of her sometimes jealousy will get them to pick it up.

Don't send them both at the same time you might get a fight just let the other dog retrieve infront of her and praise the heck out of it.

Then when she acts like she wants to get in on it let her go if she runs out there and doesn't pick it up let the other dog go she will grab it then out of possesiveness


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## brianb (Dec 27, 2005)

I think you are on the right track in going to a pro. A properly force fetched dog will be an enthusiastic and reliable retriever.

Plus, you can get a lot information from the pro on how to handle the dog in the future.

Here is a link to the Fargo Club.

http://www.ndrc.org/

If you shoot an email to one of the contacts on there, I am sure the club officers could point you to several pros in that area.

Good luck.


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## hunter52 (Dec 16, 2005)

I am having sort of the same problem. My 11 month old lab loves to retrieve, can't get enough. I have not taken her out yet just because when I have gone there have been a lot of guys and other dogs.

Anyway, I brought home a duck for her to retrieve and she would go right up to it and smell it and pick at it and turn around and come running w/o the bird. So i frooze it overnight and tried it the next day and it got a little better. The feathers are what seems to bother her. She has had wings in the past to fetch and had no problems. I am going to try the stocking idea next. Any other sugestions would be helpful. I plan on force fetching her after the season. Just did not get around to it this summer.

Should I maybe start with a smaller duck. I was using a green head


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## ryanps18 (Jun 23, 2006)

Hunter52,

I think you might have better luck with a smaller bird to start out with and work your way up to a duck. But if that's all you have give a try. Also try taking the bird out of the freezer for a little while before you train, so it is a little softer.

If have taught the dog the "hold command" with a dummy try it with the brid in the nylon. When he has it in its mouth praise and pet him. Give this some time and If it does not work you will have to FF the dog.

I am by no means an experienced trainer other than my own dogs but I am able to spend some time with a pro now and again and help and watch him train his clients dogs. This is something that he has used and it worked well the one time I saw him try it. Give it a shot and let me know if it worked.


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## DustinS (Nov 9, 2004)

ryanps18, the stocking idea sounds like a good one and is probably what I need to try. She has made bird retreives before but they took alot of persuasion. She will run up to the bird, pick it up and then just mouth it like she wants to pick it up and bring it to me but doesnt like it in her mouth. I think it is probably a feather thing. The birds that she has brought back, she will bring it about 10ft, drop it and mouth it, then pick it up again and do the same thing until i finally get her to bring it all the way to me. I praise the heck out of her when she brings it all the way and she knows that she is supposed to but the bird's feathers just overcome her.


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## brianb (Dec 27, 2005)

I am not trying to sound like a d--- head but if you are having this much trouble with a dog not wanting to pick up birds why are you trying to band-aid the problem? Those methods listed above may work but is a bailing wire and duct tape solution. Force fetch will clean this up.

It isn't anything magical it is just step by step making the retrieve into a command rather than a play activity. The dog will know exactly what you want and will be able to deliver because it was taught thoroughly.

Here is a great book devoted just to force fetch. Smart Fetch by Evan Graham

www.rushcreekpress.com

You can do this yourself if you take the time to read and think about what you are doing.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

FF is something that takes at least several weeks and really can take a lot out of a dog, especially a shy one, its not something you want to start opening day of hunting season try the other stuff first and hunt the dog as much as possible this season.

If the problem still exists by the end of the season and it may well cure itself, if your dogs see a good bit of action, then FF in the off season.

And if you haven't done it you probably should pay a pro. Its better to do it after the dog has season under its belt in my opinion anyway.


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## DustinS (Nov 9, 2004)

brianb, force fetch is my first priority but I have never done it before and have heard that it can ruin a dog if not done perfectly. I have read up about it very good but i might still take her to a pro.


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## DustinS (Nov 9, 2004)

bobm, I was definitely going to wait until after the season. I'll get her out in the field a lot this year and hopefully with more training at home, she will get better.


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## ryanps18 (Jun 23, 2006)

If the dog is retreiving dummies to hand then force fetch may not be neccesary. however the conditioned hold command can and should be done by anyone, this will cure mothing and droping. If you have purchased a good retriever I don't think that you should have to force the dog to do something that he was born to do, he should want to do it with great enthusiasm.

That being said, I agree with brian if the problems do not get worked out with the method I said or some other trick you will have to FF the dog to be consistent.

Brian must be a pro because he sounds like the pro I deal with. He advocates FF for all his dogs and after studing under him for some time now I agree with that notion for the most part.

The biggest reason I think is not all dogs are natural retrievers and trainers are most usually under a time crunch, meaning the owner is not going to leave the dog there for 5 months. I firmly believe that a dog that is bred from parents who are natural retreivers will not have to go through FF.

And Bob is right let the pro do the FF if that the route that needs to be taken. The amauture will most always apply more pressure than needed when trying to do the FF himself. I am sure brian has had to fix a few dogs in his day due to the owner not doing FF correctly.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Good luck,

It will work out I'm sure of that, often just hunting them a lot will cure the problem your seeing and if she retrieves bumpers well you may not have to FF her. She obviously has retrieve desire and that all it takes

Most good retrievers do fine with just a little experience.

I had a shorthair that was afraid of pheasants her first year now she hits them so hard its funny, she just had to figure it out.


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## DustinS (Nov 9, 2004)

Thanks guys, your info has helped a lot. I know I will always get great opinions when I post a question here!


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## brianb (Dec 27, 2005)

Nope, not a pro. Not even close. Just have FF a couple of my own dogs now and won't have one that's not. Just like I won't have dog that isn't whistle trained. Heck, my dog doesn't even listen that good since we've had the baby. Really shot my training time in the butt.

I just got a good book and used patience. Took me about a month each time, 2 five minute sessions a day. No table, just a leash looped over my shoulders and squatting down next to the dog.

I see too many bad habits in my buddies' dogs that could be cleaned up. My brother in law has a rodeo on his hands getting a cripple away from his lab. My good friend has a 2 year old that still won't pick up a pheasant. His brother has a 1.5 year old that will fetch doves but not pheas or grouse (this is French Brit so you can't expect much :lol: ) Some dogs have natural mouths but it is just worth it to me to avoid all the sloppy habits.


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## ryanps18 (Jun 23, 2006)

brianb said:


> I just got a good book and used patience. Took me about a month each time, 2 five minute sessions a day. No table, just a leash looped over my shoulders and squatting down next to the dog.


Exactly.

Thats how I would do it, I have yet to run across a table in a pheasant field!


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

A tables mighty handy when you graduated high 36 years ago. I can squat but no too many times in one week :lol:

The table is real useful if your training alot of dogs but I agree its not worth it for one dog you can do a good job on the ground.

Heres a article I saved that you might want to read this is the sanborne method and its easier on your dog and on you if your not in a hurry
and you aren't.

Its a good idea to copy this to aword document save it and print it you will go blind trying to read a article this involved on your computer, or at least I would

FORCE-BREAKING: NONSENSE OR NECESSITY? By James B. Spencer Copyrighted, 1983 (This is an article written by James Spencer for Retriever International. It was originally a two part series and was nominated for Best Series by Dog Writers Association of America. Thank you, Jim.) It was mid-summer, 1958. A friend and I stood on shore watching Misty, my Weimaraner, swim back with the lightly hit pigeon I had shot for her. My friend's Golden, Rocco, had already had his workout and was resting in his crate in the car. Misty was extremely gentle with birds. In fact, she didn't even grip them in the water; she just pushed them along with her open mouth. This really amazed my companion. "How'd you train her to do that?" he asked. "Didn't," I answered, "she has just always done it like that." Still, I was a bit vain about this little quirk of hers, even though I knew I'd had nothing to do with it. She was young, and it would never last, but still it was quite impressive. Then disaster struck - as I stood there gloating over Misty's gentle way of handling birds. It happened like this. The pigeon that Misty was pushing along through the water had been dazed, but not hurt very badly. As she neared shore with it, it regained consciousness and attempted to fly away. It fluttered out of Misty's mouth and up perhaps a foot before she was able to leap up and grab it. Her lunge was quick and powerful, and her jaws closed like two sledge hammers on the delicate body of the pigeon. She smashed it flatter than Monday's paper. True, that is not what she intended. She only wanted to prevent the bird from flying away. Mashing that bird was an accident, as it almost always is the first time. Every dog that retrieves a lot of birds will have something like this come up eventually. However, with Misty, I thought it would be with a fighting rooster pheasant or a lively crippled duck, but never with a lightly hit pigeon. I was wrong. The trouble is that once this happens, it will happen again and again, with less and less reason, until the dog is hopelessly hard-mouthed . . . unless the handler takes proper measures immediately after that first accident. As I said, I had known that this would happen, and I was prepared for dealing with it. It is important that first mashed bird become very undesirable to the dog, and there is only one sure way to do that; by making the dog carry the mashed bird at heel until he is so sick of it that he begs to be allowed to put it down. That is the cure, "the treatment". For the force-broken dog, this is easy, since he will carry on command as part of that training. I gave Misty the treatment, right there in the hot Kansas sun. She was force-broken, so it was easy. I made her carry that mangled mass of feathers, flesh and bone chips until she was totally sick of it. That took about half an hour. Then, I gave her another fifteen minutes, just to be sure. My companion thought I was the cruelest human being on earth--especially since we had both seen that it was an unavoidable accident. To tell the truth, I didn't like doing it, but it was much better than letting her develop hard-mouth. Misty never made that mistake again, although she took a firmer grip on birds in the water after that. To demonstrate how this treatment impresses a dog, let me tell you a story about another dog, Duffy, my old patriarch Golden (now almost 15). When he was about three years old--after he had made his first mistake and gone through the treatment--I shot a teal much too close to the gun and sent him after it. It landed in a shallow spot not far from the blind, but Duffy refused to pick it up when he got to it. Instead, he looked back at me kind of sheepishly. Surprised at his refusal, I hollered "fetch!" without trying to figure out what his problem might be. He reluctantly picked the bird up and started back--very slowly, and without looking at me. When he sat at heel to deliver, he turned his head low and away from me, trying to avoid the delivery. Then, it dawned on me that the bird was probably badly shot up and Duffy was afraid that he would be blamed for it. I looked at him, and he rolled his eyes back my way, with a pathetic expression, as if to say, "Honest, boss, I didn't do it. It was like this when I found it . . . honest!" It was hard to keep from laughing as I reached down and took the bird from him. As soon as I had it, Duffy went flat on his belly and closed his eyes. He just knew that he was in for the treatment again. There are those who would say that I should have given it to him, too, just as a precaution. I didn't do it though. Still, I didn't feel that it would be safe to pet him as I usually do when he delivers to me in a hunting situation. However, I made up for it after the next bird. As you can see, the treatment makes a lasting impression. However, it can only be given to a force-fetched dog. What do you do when the non-force-fetched retriever mashes that first bird? Well, I have seen people beat the dog with the bird's carcass; I have seen people drive nails through birds and ask the dog to carry it; and I have seen people use frozen birds. There are probably other techniques in use somewhere, and they probably have one thing in common with those I have listed: THEY DON'T WORK. The only way to save such a dog is to stop everything else and force-break him. This brings us to the biggest single reason for force-breaking a retriever; force-fetching training sets up a framework for preventing hard-mouth. Hard-mouth is not the only problem you can have with a retriever. Another one that varies from a mild aggravation to a blood pressure raiser is dropping birds before the dog gets all the way to the handler--failing to deliver to hand. A lively cripple can get away if not brought all the way in and plumped into your mitt. Even a very dead duck can be difficult to claim if your dog drops it at the edge of the water in deep mud. Without a doubt, if you have field trial aspirations for your dog, you must get him to deliver to hand. If he fails to do this, he will be dropped from competition. The force-broken retriever can be depended upon to deliver to hand. When told to fetch, he will pick up a bird and hold it until told to give. These are the two basic commands of force- breaking--granted some use other words, but these will be used throughout this article for the sake of consistency. Thus, another major reason for force-breaking every retriever is: force-breaking trains the dog to deliver to hand. There are other reasons, too. Sometimes a dog will have an aversion to a particular type of bird--Woodcock affect some dogs this way. A force-fetched dog can be made to pick up the birds he doesn't like, and the non- force-broken dog cannot. Misty, the Weimaraner mentioned earlier, once swam out to an island to retrieve a drake mallard I had shot. It was not hit too well (if you are getting the idea that I am not a very good shot, you are right). As Misty approached the island, the duck became enraged and charged like a mad bull. Misty backed up into the water, turned and looked at me as if to say, "Gee, boss, can a duck do this to me?" I simply said "fetch!" in a stern voice. Misty then understood that she had two choices: Stay out there and fight it out with that three- or four-pound mallard, or come back without it and fight it out with me. I'm not very big, but I'm a giant compared to a mallard, and Misty chose accordingly. She hit the shore like the marines and grabbed that duck very unceremoniously, then brought it back to me. Had she not been force-broken, she would never have attempted that--and the duck would have died a lingering death as a cripple (not to mention that I would have missed out on a fantastic meal of charcoaled mallard). There are many such situations that come up in hunting that make an owner glad that he force-broke his retriever. So the final reason for force-breaking might be expressed as follows: force- breaking makes it possible to handle many small problems that come up in hunting with a retriever. These are the positive things that can be said about force- breaking. But how about the negative? Isn't it a nightmare for both dog and trainer? Isn't it brutal? Doesn't it leave the dog bug-eyed, cowed and afraid to come out of his dog house? Don't the dogs wind up with bloody ears, too? The answer to these questions is . . . yes and no. Yes, that is what force-breaking can do; and no, it doesn't have to be that way. There is a gentle, effective technique for force-breaking-- and it had been around a lot longer than the "Hell Week" approach which has earned it such a bad reputation. To properly understand all of this, it is necessary to understand a little about the history of force-breaking. It all started back in the 1800s when a man named David Sanborn developed the technique to train his pointers and setters to retrieve. Many of these dogs have no natural retrieving instincts, so Mr. Sanborn worked out a structured method of teaching these dogs to hold, then carry, then reach for a piece of dowel, broom stick, or even a corn cob. Once the dogs would do that, birds were substituted for the other objects, and the dog became a reliable retriever within the limits of what is expected of bird dogs. Bird dogs, especially pointers and setters, are spooky. They are bred to get out and cover a lot of ground to find birds, so they are high strung rather than placid and tractable like retrievers. Get too rough with a bird dog and you will have serious problems. You could ruin their class (style in retrievers is about the same thing) and that will end the dog's field trial career. A retriever can win a lot of field trials with only a modicum of style, but a bird dog without lots of class won't even get a serious look from the judge--it is that important in their judging criteria. Because bird dogs are flighty, the force- breaking technique used for them is quite gentle. When Obedience Trials were introduced in this country by Blanche Saunders back around 1940, the bird dog trainers' technique of force-breaking was adopted and adapted to their needs. Here again the purpose was to teach basic retrieving to dogs without much natural inclination along those lines--and to get reliable performances from those who like to retrieve. As a group, obedience trainers face the biggest challenge in force-breaking, for they work with every possible breed from Great Pyrenees to Pugs. On top of the problem they have with these various breeds, they have the additional challenge of keeping their dogs reasonably happy in the ring--or they will lose points. Here again, the gentle, slower process is needed and used. As you can see, force-breaking has been slow and gentle from the 1880s until the current time--at least in the hands of bird dog folks and obedience competitors. How, then, did it become so rough when retriever trainers started using it? First off, retriever trainers were slow to adopt force-breaking at all. The general opinion was that, since it was a technique for teaching retrieving to dogs that had no natural inclination along those lines, any retriever that needed force-breaking was worthless to start with. Still, something had to be done to get delivery to hand, so retriever trainers eased into force-breaking gradually. James Lamb Free's classic, Training Your Retriever, reflects this paradox. He damns force-breaking for retrievers, since they are bred to retrieve and therefore shouldn't need it. Then, he advocates that retrievers be taught to hold and release on command to get good delivery to hand. Over the years, more and more of the process was added to basic retriever training. Today, all serious field trial retriever trainers routinely force-break their dogs. Their motives are different from those of the bird dog trainer, but they do force- break. Why Hell Week for retrievers? Well, professional retriever trainers are under considerably more pressure to complete the job than the bird dog trainers. When a person brings a retriever to a pro for training, it is usually with a grown dog, not a puppy and the pro is sure of two things: first the owner will be back within a month, expecting to see significant progress for all the money he is spending; second, there will not be significant progress, beyond basic puppy stuff, until the dog is force- broken. That means that the pro has to get the job done quickly- -within the first week or so--if he is to make a living. The bird dog trainer has never been under this pressure, for his customers are not primarily interested in retrieving. The progress they look for after that first month is in bird finding and handling. Then, too, force-breaking is so unlike the essential part of bird dog training that it can be done in parallel with no problem. For the retriever, it is essentially the same as his basic work, so it has to be completed before the other can really be started. In addition, during force-breaking there is a necessary period of resentment when the dog is learning that this is must, not please, training. If the dog makes any connection between force-breaking and field work during this period, he will absolutely quit field work until the resentment is over. Obviously, retrievers are much more apt to make this connection than are bird dogs, so it is quite difficult to force-fetch a retriever in parallel with his normal field work. For this reason, most pros stop field work during force-breaking, and that makes it essential that they get force-breaking over quickly. If you try to start a retriever on double marks before he is force-broken, all sorts of things can happen, and most of them bad. For example, Duffy, the Golden mentioned earlier, was started this way. He didn't understand about delivery to hand. On a double, he would pick up the first dummy and return to about ten feet from me. There he would toss the dummy as he whirled and headed for the other one. Cute! - Still, that could lead to many problems, like trying to bring in both dummies at once, switching, and maybe even running off with the dummies. I had to stop giving him doubles until he was force-broken. Now you can see why retriever trainers have developed Hell Week. They are not sadistic. They don't enjoy putting dogs through this process. However, they do like to eat, pay the mortgage and the truck payments - all those things that most of us relate to readily. You, as an amateur training your own dog, have many advantages the pro would like to have. First, you are training your own dog, and you have no one to please but yourself. If you take six or eight weeks to force-fetch your dog, no one is going to come driving up to your front door and take your dog away from you. You also get to work with puppies, whereas the pro usually doesn't see the dogs until the owner has worked awhile with them - a year or two - and had little luck. A dog can do puppy work before he is force-fetched, and even while he is being force- broken if it is done correctly. You also have only one or two dogs to work with. What's more, if you go about it correctly, you can do it in parallel with your dog's puppy field training - single marks. The only thing you have to do is keep him from making the connection between force-fetching and field work until he is through being forced. As was mentioned, there is a necessary period of resentment in force-breaking, and if the dog associates the two types of work during this, he will quit retrieving in the field until he is over this resentment. Taking a few precautions will prevent this association and will allow you to continue puppy field training through the process - no interruption at all. What are these precautions? Well, the most important one is to do the force-fetching with an object the dog will not associate with field training. An obedience training dumbbell is ideal. So is a piece of dowel with legs. Many bird dogs have been force-broken with corn cobs. If you were to start out with a retrieving dummy or a bird, the dog would make the connection, and puppy field work would have to be stopped. The second precaution is that you should never use the force- fetching commands fetch and give in the field until force-breaking is complete. There is usually a temptation to do this to get delivery to hand as soon as the dog is carrying the dumbell. It is a mistake, and it will force you to interrupt field training. Finally, you should force-break at home, not out in the field. Most people do this anyway, just because it is easier. Some even go so far as to wear different clothes for the two activities. This may not be necessary, but who knows? Some dogs really "key" off of the boss' attire - take, for example, the difference in their reaction to a good suit and a hunting jacket. Following is a brief overview of the force-breaking process. First, the dog is taught to accept and hold the dumbell on the command Fetch and to release it on Give. Some use other words, and this is perfectly OK, but I will use these two in this article for consistency. Next, he is taught to carry the dumbell at heel and when being called to the trainer from a distance. Then the dog is taught to open his mouth to accept the dumbell. Here, force is applied for the first time, and the period of resentment starts. With the gentle build-up, it won't last long. Fourth, the dog is taught to reach for the dumbell and finally to pick it up off the ground. The period of resentment will continue through the first part of this step, and will gradually diminish as the dog comes to accept the fact that he must do what the boss tells him to - every time. Fifth, the dog is "sweetened up" a little with a jumping drill. This isn't absolutely necessary, but the dogs enjoy it and it helps remove the last signs of their resentment. Finally, the process is repeated quickly with retrieving dummies and birds. This doesn't take long and there is no resentment associated with it. When this is completed, the force-fetching commands can be used in the field - to get delivery to hand, to cope with that first accidentally mashed bird, and all the other little problems it can be used for. Prerequisites for force-breaking are basic obedience training. If the dog doesn't know how to heel, sit, stay and come, he is not ready for force-breaking. Now let's go over the details of each step in the process. They are quite simple and not unpleasant. Using the slow, gentle approach of the bird dog trainers, the very necessary period of resentment will be no worse than the average dog's early reaction to his feeling instructions. ...(Earlier)..., I covered why retriever trainers force-break their dogs: to set up a framework for preventing hardmouth; to get reliable delivery to hand; and to make it possible to deal with a number of minor problems that come up in hunting and field trialing a retriever. This type of training was developed in the 1880s by David Sanborn to teach basic retrieving to bird dogs with little or no natural inclination along those lines. It was adopted by obedience trial trainers in about 1940. For both bird dogs and obedience trial dogs, force-breaking has always been a relatively slow and quite gentle process. Retriever trainers long disdained force-breaking as unnecessary for a dog with natural retrieving instincts. However, they gradually adopted it for other purposes--those listed in the first sentence of this paragraph. When they did, they "re-invented" it. Instead of using the slow, gentle method of the bird dog and obedience trainers, they developed a new quick and rough technique which I call "Hell Week." This approach was not motivated by any sadistic qualities in the trainers, but actually by pressure from owners who insisted on seeing significant progress within a month or so after turning their dogs over to trainers. The amateur training his own dog is not under these pressures, and he can use the slower, gentler approach. It is no more unpleasant than teaching a dog to heel. While force-breaking should be completed before a retriever is started on the more demanding training (i.e., multiple marked retrieves), it can be done in parallel with puppy field training. The amateur trainer can force-break a youngster without really losing any time in the field. As long as the dog is doing only single marks, it really doesn't matter whether it takes a week, three weeks or even a couple of months to complete the force- breaking. However, there is one potential problem with this parallel training: If the dog associates his force-breaking with his field training before force-breaking is completed, he will start "blinking" his marks in the field (i.e., he will refuse to pick up dummies and birds). During force-breaking, there is a very necessary "period of resentment" when the dog is being convinced that this is a "must" training, not "please." It doesn't last too long, and with the gentle approach, it will not be too intense, but it is necessary. If the dog transfers that resentment to his field work, he will quit retrieving. If this happens, field work has to be discontinued until force-breaking is complete. The problem is easily avoided. If the following precautions are taken, the dog will not make the association between the two until the period of resentment is over: A. Use an object for force-breaking that the dog will not associate with field work. An obedience dumbbell is ideal. Some trainers make a "retrieving buck" out of a piece of dowel by putting legs of some kind on it. (Some start with a plain piece of dowel and then go to something with legs when it is time to have the dog pick it up off the ground.) If a retrieving dummy or bird is used for force-breaking, the dog will immediately associate the whole process with field work, and when the period of resentment starts, he will "blink" marks in the field. Retrieving dummies and birds will eventually be brought into the force-breaking routine--that is really what we are trying to teach the dog to pick up and hold. However, with this method they should not be introduced until the entire force-breaking job has been completed with the retrieving object, and all resentment is past. B. The force-breaking commands "fetch" and "give" should never be used in field work until force-breaking is complete. Until then, you should not try to get delivery to hand in the field-- continue to accept sloppy or dropped deliveries with a patient smile. Many beginners have trouble with this. As soon as their dogs understand these two commands (step one of force-breaking) they get impatient with poor deliveries in the field. The temptation to say "fetch" to induce the dog to hang onto a bird or dummy overcomes them. The only problem is that the period of resentment doesn't start until step three. The dog that has been doing so well in delivering to hand through steps one and two will suddenly start "blinking" as soon as step three is begun. Using the force-breaking commands "fetch" and "give" in the field during steps one and two is a time bomb and it goes off in step three. C. Do not force-break in the same place that you do your field training. Force-fetch your retriever at home. There are a few prerequisites for force-training. First, the dog should be thoroughly trained on the following obedience commands: sit, stay, heel and come. He should also understand how to go to the heel position at your left side from in front of you--what the obedience trialers call the "finish." If your dog is not completely comfortable with these commands, he is not ready for force-fetching--and you will save yourself a lot of frustration if you will put it off until you have completed this portion of obedience training. An important consideration . . . is your dog a reasonably good field prospect? You can force-break a dog that has no field potential at all, but why would you want to? Force-breaking, even the slow, gentle type is serious training. It is foolish to waste it on a dog that will never live up to your expectations in the field. There are six steps in force-breaking: 1. Training the dog to accept and hold the dumbbell on the command "fetch" and release it on "give." 2. Training the dog to carry the dumbbell at heel and when called to the handler from a distance. 3. Training the dog to open his own mouth and accept the dumbbell. 4. Training the dog to reach for and, eventually, pick the dumbbell up from the floor. 5. "Sweetening up" the dog with a jumping exercise he will enjoy. 6. Repeating the previous steps rapidly with retrieving dummies and birds. The first two steps are introductory, and very little force is used. Real force is first applied in steps three and continued through most of step four, and this is when the "period of resentment" occurs. The force is not extreme, but it is necessary if the dog is to understand that this is a "must" training. By the end of step four, the resentment will be gone; but even so, a little sweetening up is in order--hence step five. Step six allows you to transfer this training to the things he retrieves in the field after his resentment is over. After that, you can use his force-breaking in his field work with no problem, and he can move on to advanced retrieves--double and triple marks, blind retrieves. STEP ONE: Training the dog to accept and hold the dumbbell on "Fetch" and to release it on "Give." This is a very important preparatory step that allows the dog to become comfortable with the dumbbell before any force is applied. The "hell week" method skips this step and the next one, and jumps right into the "force" part of the training. It is extremely important that you have adequate physical control over the dog, even in the early steps. He should wear his choke- style training collar and the standard six-foot training lead. Start out with sitting him at heel. Kneel down beside him, toss the lead over your shoulders and anchor it with your right foot. In that position, you have complete physical control. Use this position for all of your step one training. The purpose of step one is to allow your dog to become comfortable with the dumbbell. However, this does not mean that he should think it is a toy. Playfulness is counter-productive in force-breaking prior to step five. In step one, the proper attitude for the dog towards the dumbbell is "indifferent acceptance." To achieve this, you should get your dog over any fear or enthusiasm he may have initially towards the dumbbell. He should be bored by it. Until he is really bored by it, serious work in step one cannot begin. Most trainers will take great pains to get their dogs over any fear they may have, but diluting enthusiasm is a different matter. Many novice trainers secretly like it when their dogs show great interest in the dumbbell. One of my students was like this. I showed him a movie of the entire force-breaking technique, and then demonstrated step one with a dog I was training at the time. He came back three days later and told me that he had completely force-broken his dog in only two days. I knew that the process couldn't be that fast, and that in all likelihood the dog was still playing with the dumbbell--had never been bored enough with it to even start. The owner became quite proud of his "record" time, and the more I tried to tell him that his dog was not force-broken, the more insistent he became that he was. Later, when the dog's field performance clearly showed that I was right, the man gave up training rather than admit that he hadn't set a record. Too bad, for he had a potentially good dog. Until your dog is completely bored with the dumbbell, he is not ready for serious work in step one. Kneel beside him, as described above, and show him the dumbbell. Only let him smell it until he reaches a state of boredom--no fear, no enthusiasm. Now, open his mouth with your left hand, say "fetch," and insert the dumbbell. Then, hold his chin with your right hand, so he cannot spit it out. Praise him lavishly. After a few seconds, say "give" and remove the dumbbell from his mouth. Again, praise him lavishly. He is to be praised for holding and for releasing on command. I once knew a trainer who only praised his dog for holding, and the dog later became quite "sticky"--refused to release on command. I have often wondered how many stickiness problems stem from failing to praise for releasing in the early steps of force-breaking. Repeat this several times in each session. If the dog struggles to get rid of the dumbbell, fine. Just stay calm and retain enough physical control so that he must hold it until you say "give" each time. Praise continuously, even when he is really fighting you. The more you praise when your dog is doing what he is supposed to be doing -- even under duress -- the better he will understand what it is you want. Eventually, he will settle down and hold the dumbbell without a struggle. When he does, remove your right hand from under his chin. If he spits it out, say "no fetch!" rather severely as you put it back. If he doesn't spit it out, wait long enough and he will. At this stage, you want him to try to get rid of it so you can make some good corrections. This is the only way he will learn what it is you want. If he doesn't try to spit it out in the early sessions, he probably wasn't sufficiently bored with the dumbbell when you started. After a few corrections for dropping the dumbbell, your dog will start holding it reasonably well--at least for a few seconds. Wait until he will hold it a minute or so without requiring corrections before you move on to step two. STEP TWO: Training the dog to carry the dumbbell at heel and while being called. When your dog has learned to hold for a reasonable period of time without a struggle, it is time to teach him to carry. Step two is part of the gentle build-up in this technique. Start out as in step one, and place the dumbbell in his mouth as you say "fetch." Then, stand up, say "heel" and start walking. Ninety-nine dogs out of one hundred will spit the dumbbell out before they take the first step. That is really what you want-- so you can get in a correction. If your dog spits it out this way, say "no! Fetch!" and replace the dumbbell in his mouth. Do this every time he drops it--and then praise him when he carries it until you're sick of hearing yourself. This combination of correction and praise will teach your retriever what it is you really want him to do. Too often, the praise is omitted, and the training takes longer. When your retriever will heel with the dumbbell for a reasonable time, try what obedience trainers call "the recall" with the dumbbell in the dog's mouth. Leave him in a sit-stay with the dumbbell, walk to the end of the six-foot lead (yes, he should still be on lead for all his force-breaking) and call him to you. Even if he will heel with the dumbbell forever, he will probably spit it out before he starts toward you. Again, that is good, just what you wanted him to do, so you can get in a good correction. Charge towards him as soon as he drops it, saying the old reliable "no! fetch!" and put it back in his mouth. Then, call him again. After a few of these he will understand what it is that you are after. Next, put him on a long rope (for control) and lengthen the distance he has to carry the dumbbell as he comes to you. You should repeat your step one training in each session of step two--fetch, give, fetch, give. . . several times. If you do this, you will notice that your dog will start opening his own mouth when you say "fetch", at least some of the time. When he does, it is a good sign that he is ready for step three, which is the real beginning of force-breaking. STEP THREE: Training the dog to open his own mouth to accept the dumbbell. For the first time, you will have to apply force in this step, you have led the dog through what you wanted and reinforced it with copious praise and corrections. Your dog has learned rather painlessly to hold and carry the dumbbell on the command "fetch" and to release it on "give." Now he will be trained to open his own mouth to accept the dumbbell. Until this time, you have gently pried it open for him. His part has been passive. To get your dog to open his mouth requires some force. The trainer must do something to the dog that induces him to open his mouth, and this will typically involve a small amount of pain. There are several forms of force from which to choose. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Each also has its staunch advocates, many of whom will swear that true force-breaking can only be done with this or that specific type of force. Not true; they all work. Here is a rundown on them: 1. The Lip Pinch: The dog's upper lip is pinched against the canine teeth--sharply enough to cause a little pain. This will induce the dog to open his mouth. And it is a continuation of the technique used in Step One. (In Step One, no pain was induced as the mouth was opened, but it is in Step Three.) This technique gives good control over the dog's head and muzzle, but it does block his view of the dumbbell. I must admit that this is my personal choice of force methods. 2. The Choke: The choke collar is positioned high on the dog's neck--right behind his ears. When it is pulled up sharply, the dog will open his mouth. This gives good control over the dog's head and adequate control over his muzzle. It does not block the dog's view of the dumbbell. 3. The Paw Squeeze: This is the favorite technique of the bird dog trainer. One of the dog's front paws is squeezed to induce him to open his mouth. It works, but it gives poor control of the head and muzzle. To compensate, most bird dog trainers cinch their dogs up tightly to a fence post or to a ring fastened to a wall. 4. The Ear Pinch: This is the technique typically associated with "hell week." The dog's ear--normally the little flap on the back--is pinched between the thumb and index finger nails to get the dog to open his mouth. It gives poor control over the head and muzzle. It has another problem when not used with "hell week." It is not very effective until the dog's ear has been "sensitized" by repeated pinching--the bleeding ear syndrome. Frankly, with the slow, gentle approach advocated in this article, the dog's ear will not be pinched often enough for this technique to become effective. Choose your force technique and stick with it. In starting Step Three, have the dog sit at heel and kneel down beside him as in Step One. Hold the dumbbell right in front of his mouth and say "fetch." If he opens his own mouth--as he well may--simply insert the dumbbell and praise him. Repeat this several times. Whenever he fails to open his own mouth, apply force, and insert the dumbbell--and then praise him. Praise is especially important when you have to apply force, so don't let yourself become upset that he failed to open his mouth. If you do, you will omit the praise after the force. Continue to do this until force just isn't necessary. It won't take long with a dog that has been through the preparations in Steps One and Two. Very little force will be required to induce the dog to open his own mouth when you say "fetch." Even so, he will resent the force that is applied. If he makes any connection between this and his regular field training, he will refuse to retrieve--at least until he is over the resentment. Continue the carrying drills of Step Two throughout Step Three training. This not only gives your dog something to do that he is comfortable with, but it is also important for his overall force-breaking that he remain accustomed to carrying the dumbbell. STEP FOUR: Training the dog to reach for and eventually pick up the dumbbell. Once it is no longer necessary to apply force to get the dog to open his own mouth, it is time to teach him to reach for the dumbbell. Hold the dumbbell immediately in front of his mouth--an inch or two away at most. Say "fetch" and he should open his own mouth at this stage. When he does, simply push his head with your left hand onto the dumbbell. Praise him more lavishly than before for this. After a few repetitions, he should start moving without your assistance to grab the dumbbell. When he does, you will know that he now understands that you expect him to take a more active role in getting the dumbbell into his mouth. Once you are sure he understands this, you may start applying force whenever he fails to reach the inch or so it takes to get the dumbbell. After a few times, he will reach that distance every time--without force. Gradually lengthen the distance he is required to reach for the dumbbell, applying force only when he refuses. Two or three inches, seven or eight inches, a foot, and so on, until you are placing the dumbbell on the ground in front of the dog. Many dogs seem to have a real problem at this stage. Some will even pick the dumbbell up fine as long as your hand is on it, but refuse when you set it down and take your hand away. One of my students had this problem; and, tiring of applying force, let his creative "genius" foul things up. When his dog refused to pick the dumbbell up, he teased the dog with it and then tossed it out a short distance. It really worked; the dog sailed out and picked up the dumbbell. The only problem was that the dog started "blinking" marks the next time we worked him in the field. He had made the association between field work and force-breaking before he was through his period of resentment. At the end of Step Four, the dog should go out a few feet, pick up the dumbbell and return to heel--all without force. Of course, if he refuses, force should be applied quickly and convincingly. Throughout Steps Three and Four, any application of force should be quick and definite, not tentative and apologetic. Give the command once, if the dog doesn't respond immediately, apply force quickly. Similarly, give praise quickly for the correct response, whether forced or not. Your retriever's resentment will diminish quickly as he becomes confident doing what he knows you expect of him. He will enjoy picking up the dumbbell and returning to heel with it--especially if he is sure that praise will follow. When the dog shows signs of enjoying the exercise, he is ready for Step Five, which is really just a sweetening up affair--not absolutely necessary, but greatly appreciated by both dog and handler. STEP FIVE: Sweetening the dog up with a jumping exercise. Until now, as you lengthened the distance you expected the dog to reach, you always held the dumbbell below the dog's eye-level, until you finally put it on the ground. Now, you hold it an inch or so above his head and say "Fetch." After all the steps the dog progressed through, he should have no trouble with this. He will reach up and take the dumbbell. Gradually increase the distance the dog has to reach until he is standing on his hind legs to get it. For some silly reason, dogs get a real kick out of this. When he is comfortable standing up for it, try having him jump a few inches to get it. I usually do not take a dog any further with this than holding the dumbbell at my own arm's height (I am only 5'7")--just enough for the dog to enjoy the jump. It takes no time for the dog to look forward to this--and mix it with those that have to be picked up off the floor. This jumping exercise seems to remove the last bit of resentment, and makes a pleasant transition from Step Four to Step Six. STEP SIX: Introducing retrieving dummies and birds. Your dog is completely force-broken now--with the dumbbell. He has not made any connection between this and field work yet, but he is ready for this since his period of resentment is long past, especially after the sweetening up in Step Five. It only remains to teach him that "fetch" and "give" apply to dummies and birds, as well as to the dumbbell, and you will be able to use this force-breaking in the field. Run your dog through all the Steps with each type of retrieving dummy you use. It will not take long, and not much force will be required. Personally, I finish this with an old waterlogged dummy that I no longer use for any other purpose. When the dog handles that without force, I know the job is 99% finished. Next, try birds. First dead pigeons, then dead pheasants, then dead ducks. Finally, go through it with live shackled ducks. It is a good idea to tape the live duck's bill shut so he cannot bite your dog. Later, this will not matter, for your dog will understand that a biting duck is easier to deal with than a displeased trainer. * * * There it is. Your dog is completely force-broken, and it was not all that traumatic for either of you. Force was used intelligently, but sparingly. How long did it take? Well, for an experienced trainer but an average dog, about three weeks. For a beginner and an average dog, maybe five or six weeks. I have spent as much as three months for a "non-average" pointer with no natural retrieving instincts, and a higher than average level of sensitivity. This is not the usual case with pointers, much less retrievers. One final point--an important one. I made a sound movie showing the force-breaking of one young Golden female. I have used it to teach many beginners how to do this delicate bit of training. My family has long since tired of seeing the movie, but there is no escaping the sound of it. They call it "The Good Girl" movie. I must say "good girl" 200 times in that six hundred feet of film. My family is sick of it. Frankly, I was sick of it, too. However, in all the dogs I have force-broken and helped others to force-break, I have never seen a single dog that tired of hearing "good girl" or "good boy." That is the real secret to proper force-breaking . . . a little force mixed with a lot of praise.


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## Springer (Dec 21, 2004)

Dustin, I know Chris Boeger in Crookston,MN at Windsorkennels.com will help a person one on one, or do it for you. Give him a call he is a really good guy.


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