Teaching Your Dog to Bring, Hold, and Give Back
Searching and playing games in everyday life are much more fun when your dog brings you what he finds and gives it back. In today's post, I will show you how to train your dog to bring you back what he finds and why such training is beneficial.
Structure the submission
- Handling practice – From bringing to holding and back. Playing correctly: Your dog learns how to play properly (with you). This way, he realizes how exciting you are and that playing without you is boring. In this way, you become the catalyst for the fun and encourage his retrieving instinct.
- Giving up and swapping: You show your dog that a toy does not simply disappear as soon as it lands in your hands. The fun continues just as well, only with a new toy. This way, your dog understands: "Aha!" Giving up and swapping is not bad; the game is not over!
- Hand target: Your dog learns that there is a target, and that is your hand! Once he realizes something great happens when he puts his nose to your hand, he will transfer that knowledge to the command. Once you have introduced the hand signal, you can always refer back to it later when things get tricky, for example, during trials.
- Retrieving: Only now do you begin actively practicing retrieving. Your dog picks up a toy and brings it to you. It is important that he actually brings it all the way to you and not just to a point that's roughly in your direction.
- Further reading: Here you will find tips and basic rules to help you get off to a good start with retrieving training.
- Release: Once you have practiced all of that, you can move on to training the release. Now it is simply a matter of showing your dog what you want and how you want the toy or dummy in your hand. As your dog comes to you with the found toy, slowly walk backward, showing your "target hand." Your dog cannot throw the toy at your feet because you are moving. The only way for him to exchange the toy for another one is to give it to you. Moreover, there you have it – your first release into your hand!
- Holding: Train holding only after you have practiced retrieving enough and the release command is reliable. This prevents problems, such as your dog deliberately not bringing you anything so he does not have to hold it for long.
Why the order is crucial
Should I start with retrieving and only finish with holding? Will not my dog get completely wound up and then be unable to calmly and properly release later? No! Although this myth persists, it is just that: a myth. Young and energetic dogs especially benefit from focusing on retrieving first during release training, and only later concentrating on releasing and holding. This lets them learn, through relaxed exercises where they can be active, how much fun it is to do something with their human. If you start with more rigid tasks like releasing or holding, they quickly put themselves under pressure because it is hard for them to be calm suddenly. Sometimes they become so tense that they even hold their breath.
That is why your dog needs to learn to be calm and relax before you start training him to stay still. Calmness is not something you can force – it has to be learned by the dog. To do this, show him he can enjoy lying down and does not have to do anything.
Tip: To learn more about training the "down" command, read my article, "Everyday Exercises for Every Dog."
However, you can also start with release training before your dog has learned to calm down: Playing, swapping, and fetching correctly let your four-legged friend practice key elements of release without forcing him to calm down and practice under pressure.
Conclusion: Structure leads to success
Structure leads to success. The key to successful release training is a structured approach. Practicing retrieving first, then dropping and holding, is particularly helpful for excitable dogs, as they do not have to force themselves to calm down or put themselves under pressure. Instead, they can learn and practice important steps in the release process with fun and at their own pace. Systematically building release training also has other advantages: You do not have to wait until the release is reliable; you can always work with what your dog already knows. This way, you avoid putting pressure on yourselves to make everything perfect right away, and you can enjoy training again. If you want to know why I never use the "stay" command, yet my dogs can still wait for minutes at a time, stay tuned for the next article. See you soon!