RETRIEVING AUSTRALIA FORUM

Hi All,

My pup is now 4 months old and has teeth falling out and coming through everywhere. He currently seems reluctant to carry a dummy for long. He races out to it, picks it up but then drops it on the way back. He's fine with soft toys.

My question is, do I cease all retrieve training until he finishes teething or continue but use something softer for the retrieve article? I'm concerned about any discomfort being associated with the retrieve at this early stage so wonder if it might be better to leave off altogether.

Any thoughts?

Kirsty

Hi Kirsty - what is his name? My thoughts are to either give up retrieving or use a paint roller which has a fluffy cover but wont encourage chewing - that is what I do with pups. Prue

Sounds like a good time to do some obedience work to me.

Where are the pics of the puppy Kirsty?

Cheers, Jason.

Kirsty,

I am with Jason just wait till the teeth are thru and then begin force fetch. You can speed the process with a pair of pliars

Gareth

Hi Guys,

Thanks for that - will give him a break then.

Prue: his name is "Pepper"
Jason: here's a pic

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f371/ ... 0053-1.jpg

Gareth: My favourite use for pliers certainly doesn't involve my puppy's teeth

Thanks again!
Kirsty

Kirsty Gray wrote:Jason: here's a pic

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f371/ ... 0053-1.jpg

It's a black dog in a bear suit! Cute pup. I look forward to watching him fetch.

Cheers, Jason.

Kirsty - certainly don't want to get into an argument with Gareth - again but from what I have read in the US publications, etc , it is important the pup has the maturity to take FF as well as adult teeth. A six moth GSP certainly doesn't until about 9 months at earliest - not sure about Flatcoats but imagiane they would be similar. Labs seem to me to be like adults at 6/7 months (or most of them). Prue

Hi Prue,

No worries - I'd already done my usual "non-Lab" adjustment for the FF age ie add 6 months! I don't think he'd have the mental maturity to deal with it at this stage. Still very much a baby.

Pup was definitely reluctant out training today so will bite the bullet and pull the pin on retrieves. Been working on remote whistle stops with the clicker so probably will just continue with that as most of the other obedience work is done already.

KG

Kirsty

Have a talk to my brother, he has trained a couple of those black poodles and would let you know how they mature. He does tell me they have the best nose of any dog he has had anything to do with.

I think no retrieving when they are teething especially with the woollen paint rollers (sorry Prue) you wouldn't want a loose tooth catching in that wool and hurting pup.

As for force fetch I am not yet convinced it achieves much for those who don't use a collar and force to a pile (I force to a pile). Your dog needs to hold and needs to pick up on command. If you can achieve that without force fetching then you probably don't need to do ff. Having said that ff can achieve it very effectively and it is what I use.

Good luck with Pepper, looking foprward to seeing you out there.

Graeme

Graeme Parkinson wrote:Have a talk to my brother, he has trained a couple of those black poodles and would let you know how they mature. He does tell me they have the best nose of any dog he has had anything to do with.

Hi Graeme,

I think your brother is probably sick of me annoying him about black poodle traits and training tips! He has been a great help and I'm indebted (sp?) to him for the insights he has given me into the breed.

As for Pepper's nose - I'm not sure about how well it will function since he jumped out of the car window today (it was parked in a paddock) and landed nose first into the gravel. Thought for a moment I might have to enter him in the Boxer class at the show on Saturday Seems ok so we'll carry on...

Think you're judging on the 24th, aren't you? See you there

Hi Kirsty, have just attended a seminar with Susan Garrett - a Canadian dog trainer who is a positive trainer/high motivational trainer. A similar subject to this came up on day one and her view was that she would adjust the retrieving item to the dog (so a softer item) and would continue the retrieving training. She has some rather interesting views one of which is that YOU determine when the work/fun happens AND ends, not the dog.

So she went on to say that she has never yet had a puppy stop retrieving whilst teething therefore the dog never learns to stop working just because its mouth hurts (she also said, if your dog has the choice on it's own - does it care about it's mouth hurting/teeth falling out/blood if it's playing with another dog?? - most likely not!). She keeps her training sessions with puppies very short (like 30secs to a couple of minutes short!) but makes them fun, fun, fun whilst ensuring she is in control and she says when it ends, not the dog.

Just some food for thought.

Hi Joanne,

Interesting. Thanks for that. Your head must be swimming with all the information from the seminar! Lucky you!

It turns out that my pup's reluctance for retrieving was probably not due to teething after all. A visit to the vet revealed he had a coccidial infection of the gut which was making him feel pretty crappy. The teething seemed to be the obvious reason as there weren't too many signs other than apathy toward the retrieve.

It wasn't until he vomited in the car and then wouldn't eat dinner that I thought something else might be up

We did some retrieves yesterday and, in Maureen's words, "he's a different dog". Relief!

Glad to hear the little guy is better and back to retrieving.

Yes, my head is definately swimming, though 3 days was not long enough to take it all in I don't think. Have been busy trying to incorporate some of her ideas/methods into my UD training this morning - with some good results, I feel!

She certainly presented some very challenging & interesting ideas in relation to obedience dog training and general dog training. An interesting lady!

Happy training with your pup - looking forward to hearing how he goes as he grows.

Cheers