Suggestions on teaching a stationary 'hold'

S

seashel

Forums Enthusiast
I'm having problems teaching Yogi to hold the dumbell. If I throw it he's fine to run out and get it but I need to train him to sit and give it to me. Revel was trained the forced retrieve (held the dumbell in his closed mouth) and he has a solid retrieve. I'm training Yogi using the clicker (the forced retrieve wouldn't work with him). However, after 2 months we have got as far as him picking it up about 2" off the floor and if I put my hand underneath quickly enough I can catch it as he drops it but I can't seem to get him to make the connection to place it in my hand. Any thoughts of him sitting and holding it are a distant dream at the moment.

Yogi's trouble is he is fine holding something while he is moving, but he dosn't understand the concept of holding something in his mouth while he is stationary.
I suspect part of the problem is he will be 8 in august and for all those years he has been allowed to get away with throwing the dumbell/toy at me, so it is a case of old habits, but even when playing I've never seen him stand still and hold something.

He is in other respects a VERY keen worker, naturally attentive and unlike most shelties, is happy to do something over and over again.
Any suggestions please?
 
If you are sitting on the couchand your dog is sitting facing you, will he take the dumbell from your hands? This is where I start to teach the hold. There is a spot under the chin that accomodates my gentle pressure with my thomb and lifts his chin up, while my fingers touch the sides of the dumbell, and other fingers rub his forehead and praise. i work with a nano second, then release and treat, slowly working on more time and less help with my hands.
 
Unfortunatly as soon as the dumbell is in his mouth, he stands up. It's almost as if he associates having something in his mouth with moving his legs:(

However, there is a glimmer of hope as I managed to get him to sit and hold his tug toy briefly while sitting this morning, (for about 3 seconds!) I might see if I can get him to hold that first..
 
I do sort of the same thing 2Gooddogs does but with Diva I couldn't get the mesage across to hold it. She would sit there with the dumbbell resting on behand her teeth mouth agape. I used a clicker and clicked when she would bite down even a small amount. Soon she was clamping down on the dumbbell.

Don't worry about if he is standing or sitting. Just work on the holding it in your mouth bit first. Then you can teach him to hold sitting, moving etc. I think I started both Diva and Ember in the standing position and then went to the sitting when they got the idea.
 
Update

Finally it seems to be getting through to Yogi that what I am looking for is a nice steady hold while he's not moving his legs!! The last couple of weeks have seen quite a lot of progress. While sitting in a chair, Yogi will now pick up the dumbell from the floor and stand holding it until I put out my hand for it. He will probably do this for about 10 secs now which is a huge improvement and today he even offered a SIT while holding it - greatly surprising us both!!:biggrin2:

I am so pleased as in other aspects of training he's coming on so well. Considering I only started training him in March, he now is doing some lovely focussed heelwork. To be honest he really has the attitude I hoped Revel would have. To Revel, obedience was something he did because it made me happy and if I was happy, he was happy but he never really enjoyed it. Yogi would work forever and is so happy if I pick up the clicker and training gear. He's always had the focussed disposition so necessary in an obedience dog.

I should have packed in the showing and done obedience with him a long time ago:wink2:
 
To hear that things have just "clicked" just makes me smile ! I love that and the fact that you've found that you are both enjoying this so much together. Go Yogi !
 
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