I was wondering if any of you guys had any tips on playing with a young dog. Mine loves to play "tug of war" but from what I understand if they like playing that it is hard to get them to release anything they retrieve. Is this true and something I need to worry about. Also at what age should I start using a bumper and so forth.
Thanks for the input,
Chris

If you have a dog that will be retrieving it is best not to play tug of war or chase with the puppy. It just brings about bad habits such as a hard mouth or not delivering a retrived bird right to you. Doesn't always happen but it can.

Yeah, tug a war is not good, you don’t want dog to play that game with a bird!

Get on your knees with pup or sit on the floor, get a little stuff animal toy, toss it and let pup run and pounce on it! Clap your hands for pup to bring it back, when she does, just say good girl and pet her, don’t immediately take the toy away from her, that is her trophy, pet her for a bit, maybe pet her on the stomach, when she like goes to bite your hand, she may just let it go, otherwise take the toy quickly, I try to sneak it from her, then toss it again. If pup does not bring it to you, don’t worry!! Keep it fun, and don’t over do it (pups tire real easy), put toy away well BEFORE she gets tired, put toy away when she is still very excited over it. Keep it fun!

If you have a hallway, you can toss it down that. It will guide her back to you. I started mine on a canvas small bumper(6 inches long) at about 11 weeks. She is now 15 or 16 weeks and starting the big plastic bumpers. They work much better in water.

Hay thanks guys. I bought her some little tennis balls and she loves chasing them and hitting them with her paws and chasing it agian. She will chase toys but when she gets there will lie down and go to town, but she is only 7 1/2 weeks so we will wait and see.

Chris, that is very very young!! Take ur easy for sure. Maybe it is just preference, but I just really never wanted my dog chasing a ball. If I were you, I would get a little stuff animal to play fetch with, us that little animal just for the “fetch game”, just a few fetches at a time, be careful not to over do it, again don’t worry if she does not bring it to you, no big deal, she is just a baby. When done, but the little stuffed animal up, that is your special fetch toy, only for the fetch game! Have some other toys for her to chew on, or those raw hide bones are the best.

As she gets bigger, move to a canvas bumper, then plastic, or just go strait to the plastic. She will probably like the canvas better, so that might be a good stepping stone before you get to the plastic bumper, that is what I did. But just me, no ball, never used them. Bumpers or birds only!!!

When mine hit about 11 weeks old, I attached a check cord to her and would toss the bumper and then just guide her back to me. That way she learns by coming to me every time. Now she is 80% there. She usually walks past me 3-5 feet.

I'm going to try to find the video clip of a pro trainer actually encouraging people to use tennis balls. His opinion is that a tennis ball is much smaller and therefore harder for a dog to see. If a dog can consistently mark a tennis ball then it shouldn't have any problems marking a bird.

Ok, I've found it. Under the Training Equipment: Tools of the Trade heading click the 'Watch Video' link.

Training Equipment: Tools of the Trade

Every Lab I have ever owned, loved to carry a tennis ball around. I asked the trainer who force fetched my dog if it hurt for them to chase or play with tennis balls and he told he did not think it hurt, since they were FF they should not have a problem fetching what ever you tell them to fetch. Sure seems to be true with mine. She will fetch a piece of paper blowing by if I tell her to.

That’s interesting, but I still don’t like them.

Tennis balls tend to bounce and roll, and can end up many feet or yards away from where it actually landed, I would not think that is good for marking. Maybe that is good for simulating a wounded bird. I also think a bumper is better for teaching a dog to hold (which I reinforce all the time). I just like the idea of limiting what my dog fetches as a replacement to birds, that’s just me. Also, aren’t orange bumpers hard to see? I thought dogs can’t even see orange bumpers, they have to use their nose, seems that would be just has hard if not harder than a green tennis ball.

My dog has many toys she plays with in the yard with my kids when they play in the pool ..., including balls, even tennis balls. I just want my dog to know when she sees a bumper, to associate that for training, I leave balls and such for play, that’s just me!!

So i guess what you're saying is that, when it comes to serious dog training... you just don't have the balls to do it?

No. I have the balls, I just don’t use them for training.

I agree about playing and training. I only use bumpers when we are training. the ball is for play only.

Ok, Wayne, so I guess you are in the camp that let's your dog chew on your balls, is that right?

I use tennis balls in play and play retrieving...to me it builds prey drive, much the same way as teasing a puppy with the bumper before throwing it. Many animals in the wild increase their prey drive by chasing insects, small animals, littermates, etc. It is fun for them to chase something moving. I have noticed by playing with the ball, when they are older and I am working with cripples or introducing them to clipped wing pigeons, they aren't surprised, but actually more excited to catch the prey than trying to figure out why I want him/her to fetch something moving. I do use bumpers when doing formal training.

Just my 2 cents.

Good post Eric! Always enjoy your posts, you always give a view from a dog perspective, I think you and FC are half dog.

Like I said, we got balls around our house, my wife buys them, one time my wife even brought home a whole bunch of tennis balls, I have just never made balls a part of my training plan, maybe I should!!!

But I can dig exactly where you are coming from, I have many times, namely in side the house, just playing around with my dog, made her sit out in front of me, and would toss her a ball for her to catch and when she missed it, she would jump and pounce on it so it would not get away, kinda like wounded bird trying to escape. I can see where that is beneficial!!

Chris, you taking notes?

Well thanks for your nice comments Guy