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Sunday, June 27, 2010

The Fetch Command Comes in Handy

I like watching dog films, It's fascinating to see pets act and perform, especially when they do tricks that are really amazing. When I was a kid I dreamed of having a dog just like the ones in movies, a dog who can sit,stay,come and fetch things. At that time I have no idea how these commands can be possibly taught especially retrieving objects which I find very impressive and useful. I never knew that someday I'll be able to train and teach my dog the command I love most "Fetch or Get". but of course my dog went through a consistent training starting from the basics before he can actually do tricks.

Teaching the Fetch, Retrieve or Get command may be easy for some dogs who are natural retrievers, however, there are dogs that require more motivation and guidance, and owner teaching this command to his dog  need a lot of understanding & patience.

Fetching or retrieving is not only a fun activity but also a good physical and mental exercise for your dog.It's also one of the few interactive games that will reinforce your human-dog bond. Working on a good foundation of Retrieve makes it easy for a dog to follow a more difficult task. Imagine your dog retrieving your car keys, instructing him to get his leash or even carry a basket for you. It takes time to master the trick so it should not be rushed.

Here is a demonstration of what fetch, retrieve can do after Loki successfully mastered the command. I use the word "Get" instead.

You can also view  Loki's other related videos.

Loki's Training Exercises
Dogsketball
Loki the Son of Pixel


3 comments:

  1. For the dog training treats to be fully effective, always use treats that your dog really likes. Something enticing and irresistible to him. It should be small and soft, something that he could gulp down immediately.

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  2. Agreed! A lot of people like small pieces of hot dogs...

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  3. I'm all for positive reinforcement, I'm also for correction - but I'm not really talking about that, I mean the clicker itself. What's so special about the click sound that the dog is supposed to understand? I've read a number of "clicker training" and they give these reasons why the clicker's better, but then they try to sell you the clicker...If you were disabled or something, mute or deaf I can understand, but if you're not these, why can't you just say good dog, or a pat, or a treat? one of the reasons they said was that it's quicker, that just seems lazy to me. Another reason is dogs don't understand English. Well, duh! but apparently they can associate a lot of sounds and gestures to understand well enough to sit, heel and stay, and my dog like it when I talk to him. When we do something he's uncomfortable with, like trimming nails or bath-time, he responds a lot better when I'm telling him that it'll be OK, than not. Or if dogs are all about body language, why not just invent some sort of "reward" gesture, or a short word that's unusual for your dog to pick out of normal conversation gibberish. (However, sometimes my dog will pick out the word "sit" in normal conversation and do it) So what's the real point of the clicker itself? Or is it just a way to make money on anybody looking for the "new" thing?

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