Q about delivering to hand.

[PWCorgi]

For those who have taught dogs to deliver objects to hand, I'm just wondering how well/how much accuracy you get? And if you have a high rate of accuracy, how long did it take?

I'm pretty certain that Frodo realizes that he only gets rewarded when the ball actually lands in my hand, but he isn't very accurate about actually getting the ball into my hand. It's like he gets close and drops it, he heads directly for my hand so I think he realizes that's where he gets rewarded, but he has no certain method of knowing where my hand is. Does that make any sense?

Right now I'd say it lands in my hand about half of the time, and I only reward when it lands in my hand, but there has been no increase in accuracy over time.

Any ideas on how to help us figure this out?

I've tried convincing him to keep holding onto it until I can just take it out of his mouth, but he doesn't like that idea at all.

I also realize that it's probably super hard for him to figure out where my hand is since my hand is lower than his line of sight, but if I put my hand up to his line of sight (above his head) he doesn't attempt to get the ball up to it, he just gets as close to my hand as possible, and then drops it.

 

[CharlieDog]

I put it on cue. Every time Oz would make my hand, I'd say "Put it in my hand". Now if I say that, he'll pick it back up and try again. He doesn't have a problem holding the ball though.

 

[PWCorgi]

Oh he will try again and again, lol. If he misses he will try again, sometimes when he misses a couple times he will get frustrated and I'll have to say "Get your ball!" to keep him on track. But if he doesn't get a click/yes! then he will keep trying.

 

[CharlieDog]

I'd try the cue. Ozzy seemed confused until I actually paired it with a cue. Enzo, when I was trying to teach her a flip finish had about 50% success rate also. I took a rally class and the teacher suggested putting it on cue when she did get it right, vs asking her to try again, so I did. She got it down within a session and was reliably doing it 90% of the time by the end. So now when something is happening like that, I try putting it on a cue. It works most of the time.

 

[SaraB]

Zuma is 100%, she doesn't drop anything on the floor and will seek out my hand. When I was shaping her retrieve, I was constantly moving my hand to different spots and having her search it out rather than leaving it in the same spot every time. She was easy though, she learned really quick that I won't throw anything or play tug with her unless it hit my hand.

Zinga is getting there. She doesn't like to bring things back when we are actually playing but her retrieve on random objects is at about 85% to my hand. She won't seek it out as actively as Zuma does, but will hold it until I grab it from her. For instance, Remi (the cat) and just drug a flip flop out of the closet and was chewing on it. I sent Zinga to get it, she grabbed it, jumped onto the couch and hovered over me until I took it from her mouth. I need to do more shaping with it like I did Zuma, it's on my to-do list.

Biggest thing is to jackpot the direct deposits, if he brings it straight to your hand. Reward the fixes, but not nearly as much, and then as the direct deposits get more frequent, stop rewarding the fixes.

 

[SaraB]

Ok, so now that I said she wasn't that fabulous at it... Zinga was chewing a bone, randomly picked it up and held it above my hand. I went to grab it and she was appalled that I took it from her! So she took it back and went to chew on it where it was safer from me.

 

[PWCorgi]

LOL!

Can't I just send him to Camp Sara, and you can do it?

Maybe I can emasculate him some by berating him with "Your girlfriend can do it, why can't you?!!!"

 

[SpringerLover]

Amber does the same thing Frodo does, just gets it near and drops it. Bailey will chin target with an object in her mouth which I think helps. Then it will always end up in your hand!

Try getting him to hold something and offer a chin target.

 

[PWCorgi]

Hm, so for a chin target should I work off of what I have, which is him willing to pick up and temporarily hold a ball and mold that into also having a chin target. Or start a chin target separately, and then try to merge them?

 

[SpringerLover]

Chin target separately.

 

[SaraB]

What about a whole different approach. Teach him to drop something into something else, like a spoon into a bowl or a bowl into another bowl. In Silvia Trkman's puppy class that we are taking, she recommends using metal objects just so the dog can hear the one object dropping into another. Now, some dogs obvs don't like that but it might be worth it to try. That way he'll learn that it does matter where he drops the object and it would make it easier to teach him to drop into your hand later.

 

[Doberluv]

I separated the cue, "give" (that means in my hand) from "drop it" (which means where ever you are, just drop it out of your mouth on the ground) I'd volley back and forth between the two. For giving it to my hand, I'd put my hand right under the dog's chin. Only reinforce the correct responses to the cues. Switching from one to the other helps drive home the point. It would be better to have the dog hold onto it until you have your hand on it, then say your cue. Mine is a little sloppy in that the dog is dropping it, but into my opened hand. Jose`is good at it though. Chulita hasn't been taught that. But Jose` is my super retriever. LOL.

Oh...I forgot. I used treats to trade at first, to get him to drop it.... then used them as reinforcers after the fact. Fade them as lures asap.

 

[Dizzy]

We will be teaching this. So far we're just building a really solid "touch". Hand target. Our trainer has said cupping your hand helps, and when they move to stick their nose on, move your hand back slowly.

You want to build a really solid, long touch.

We're shaping the retrieve separately, then going to combine the two, retrieve to touch. To start the retrieve we're just playing with a toy and clicking for putting his mouth on it, building till he holds it etc.

 

[GipsyQueen]

Gipsy only became 80-90% when she was around 10. Before that, I am convinced if she didn't look like a labrador retriever - you wouldn't have know. She'd "retriev" - but she'd think it was a great game to run away with the toy.