OK, here we go again. The first actual obedience exercise that they explained while I was there was the retrieve. Like many other people, they work the hold and delivery of the dumbbell away from the pattern of the retrieve. There was nothing all that unusual about their work on the hold and deliver except their attention to detail and the number of repetitions they did. For example, they are very much aware of their position with respect to the dog. They don't want the dog to develop a history of "less than perfect" deliveries of the dumbbell in the front position so they don't start the training in that position. They make sure that they are in a 90-degree position to the dog to start this training. They work the hold and delivery for months, focusing on all the details - where the dog is holding the dumbbell in their mouth (they prefer just behind the canines because the dog will naturally pick it up there and they don't want the dog ever rolling the dumbbell in their mouth to reposition it), the calm hold, the quick release upon command only, quality of the sit, position of the head at delivery, etc. It is this level of attention to detail that pays off for them in the end.
Then there is the whole pattern of the retrieve, which is what the game that I alluded to earlier is about. Ultimately, they want a fast send, lightening quick pick up followed instantly by an equally fast turn, and straight return. So they have developed a game that creates those elements for them. It is a 2-tug game, but not like the 2-tug or 2-ball game that I have seen many people play with their dogs. In their game, the goal is to have the dog think that the best reward of all is to have both tugs in its mouth at the same time.
To start this game they put two nearly identical tugs close together on the ground and encourage the puppy to get 1. As soon as the pup picks the first one up they encourage him to get the other verbally and by kicking it on the ground. They think it is very important to keep the tugs on the ground at this point. If necessary, they move the tugs closer and closer together until the puppy picks up both at the same time. Then they have a party. However, they do not play with the puppy with the tugs, they want the ultimate reward for the puppy to be possession of the two tugs. So they run in big circles with the puppy telling him how marvelous he is. If he drops a tug, they stop and repeat the game to get both in his mouth.
I really don't understand their emphasis on possession as the ultimate reward for the dog. I tried to ask about it but didn't get a response that made sense to me but it was very clear from watching them with their own dogs that this a core concept in their training program. Peter would slip the sleeve or pillow to Bendix and he would trot almost a perfect 20-meter circle around him for as long as Peter was talking. Now and then he might lay down in the shade, it was bloody hot that weekend and had to be especially hot for the folks and dogs from Germany. He didn't chew on it or shift his grip in any way, he just trotted around with it quite happily. I've never seen anything quite like it.
I have personally shied away from encouraging possession as a reward in my dogs since both are quite possessive by nature. Having seen this I'm no longer as concerned about it. The flip side of this, is, of course, training the out extremely well. Something else they do extremely well. But we'll get to that a little later.
Anyway, back to the 2-tug game. Once the puppy gets the idea that 2-tugs are so much better than1 you start doing more and more with it. At this point, they would go away and play this game with the puppy for months. Eventually building the pattern of the retrieve. The puppy is in place, probably not heel position to start, and the first tug is thrown a short distance. The puppy is sent to get the first tug and encouraged to pick it up quickly and bring it back quickly by cheerleading and waving the 2nd tug around. Once the puppy makes the turn and is headed back the 2nd tug is thrown back between the handler's legs and the puppy goes flying through, effectively building the pattern for the retrieve. Eventually starting from heel position is added. They try to break up the anticipation by rewarding for focus on the handler after the dumbbell is thrown sometimes. Once the pattern is sufficiently fluid and the hold and delivery work with the dumbbell is satisfactory you add the two together to get your formal SchH retrieve. Again, I want to emphasize that satisfactory for them is pretty exceptional by most people's standards.
Their explanation of why this is better than others methods is that the dog is never rewarded for just speed or just possession or just a good pick up and turn or ... You get the idea. That the puppy never practices the pattern without all the key elements. Their primary concern seemed to be rewarding the dog in a way that encouraged or allowed them to spit out the dumbbell before returning to the handler. It makes sense but then so do methods where you teach it in pieces so if you ever do have issues you can break the chain apart and work on the key elements. Anyway, I would be very interested in the opinions of others on this because in many ways it reflects their approach to many foundation pieces. You'll see it again in jumping and a couple other places.
I almost forgot one very important piece to this. Once the dog is retrieving the dumbbell they continue the 2-toy game by finding the right size ball so that the dog can hold the dumbbell and still pick up a ball. So they do lots of ball work in addition to tug work with their dogs. I never saw any indication of a strong preference between ball and tug with their dogs. Sleeve, yeah, for sure, but they took whatever they were given and were very happy with it. This is something that I have always had trouble with Gata. She wants what she wants and it can change in a flash. Though once she fixates on something that is probably it for the day.
OK, enough for now. Stay tuned for another installation later.
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