Just ordered...

[nimkii]

Just ordered Evan Graham's books, Smartwork for Retrievers and Smartwork II: Secrets of the Pros from LCS. I see his name pop up quite a bit on this forum and others and decided to give it a try. Hopefully it will help further my training with the idiot I call my dog.:stupid: The arrow should point down to where the dog would be at heel.

[Drew Good]

I have both the Smartwork Obediance and Swimby DVD's and have ordered SmartFetch to help walk me thru FF'ing my pup.

So far I like them...

Drew

[Mike Bons]

The Smartwork series are great, I am sure you will get a lot out of them. It's a sequential training program so you will always know whats coming up.
Mike

[nimkii]

Finally got the books today. I see lots of helpful information in them after just flipping through them.

[canuck]

I have both the Smartwork Obediance and Swimby DVD's and have ordered SmartFetch to help walk me thru FF'ing my pup.

So far I like them...

Drew

Drew and anyone else that feels they can answer my question....please feel free to do so...and move this if it is not in the right section.
The forced fetch or retrieve...I have heard good and bad things about it....now is this primarily for competition or anytime retrieving.....of the labs and other breeds that I have seen there appears to be no problem in retrieving....can someone explain the concept of forcing a dog to do what I see it does almost naturally...not trying to ruffle feathers just trying to understand why there is a need to force fetch?
Thanks in advance.
Shane

[sterregold]

It's about building control and consistency. In comeptition you MUST have that, and out hunting it makes the game a lot easier, too! Nothing worse then hearing some guy yelling at his dog to bring a bird in, or having a dog decide that the retrieve through the stick pond is too intimidating.
FF gives you control over the dog's mouth habits, a reinforcer for when the bird isn't too pleasant (ie shot to bits at close range guts hanging out eewwies, or end of a 30C trial day birds), and helps to teach the dog to deal with pressure and tough going. For the not-so-driven it helps build drive, and for the very driven it helps build control. There are those who say a "good retriever" shouldn't need it, and it isn't common on the Brit side of the pond, but here it's pretty much de rigeur, and the results are certainly worth the time and trouble.

[Drew Good]

OMG you are calling me out to answer this?:yikes: (Just kidding) but keep in mind I am no expert so I am sure other's can fill in the holes I leave behind..

Basicly you are right, retriever's already have the desire to retrieve things as it has been bred into them but how many times have you seen a dog that drops the item when it get's to you or get's half way to what ever it is going to retrieve and decide to do something else... that is why you force fetch a dog. Basicly you are training your dog to fetch on command no matter if it wants to or not while at the same time teaching it to "hold" the item until it is "released". It is all about gaining control of the dog.

Not all trainer's use FF, from what I have read it is not very popular in the UK or other places in the world.

I am sure if I missed or screwed something up someone will jump in and expand on it.

Drew

[canuck]

Thanks for the quick replies. Sorry Drew did not mean to put any pressure on ya!:2: I was curious and now there has been some light shed on this for me. Now I have not read any books on this particular topic and maybe I should if I am going to jump into this with both feet with in the next 6mths to a year...what is the best way to start or do this? Is an electric collar the appropriate way (I have experience with them not a fly by night electrician) or long line with choker or pinch collar attached?
Thanks
Shane

[luvmylabs]

If you are a hunter, think about how you would feel if you brought down this fabulous woody or a mallard drake, sent the dog to retrieve it and instead he got out down the shore and proceeded to eat it. Not a nice thing to happen.:angry: Also there is the fact that if your dog had a cripple in his mouth coming in and you shot another bird, he might decide to let go of the cripple to get the dead bird. Good-bye to one cripple.:sad1: Force fetch should clean up a lot of those things.:amen: It has many practical uses as well as teaching how to get out of pressure and control. It also teaches him just whose duck it really is.:idea:

Anne

[franklauzon]

The simplest way I've heard it described, is it turns fetching into a command like sit, or here, with only one expected response, that is to fetch and hold until told to release.

[just chessies]

You have had lots of advice on FF. so I'm going to keep it short. Obedience and force fetch are the foundation for everything you do with your dog for the rest of his or her life in FT/HT. or just hunting, just my 2 cents worth.