How to Teach your Dog to Fetch

January 9th, 2009 · No Comments

Yellow Lab Dog Loves Bully Sticks Dog Treats

Teaching your dog to fetch is one of the oldest tricks for a dog; it is a simple command to your pet and is easily learned but the value of this command has more to do with the building of the bond between you and your dog.

As a basic game, your dog is directly interacting with you and following your commands; the dog loves this as they are animals who need a set hierarchy and always look to their pack leader (i.e. you the owner) for where they stand in the family group and what they should be doing. Playing this basic game reinforces their instinctive view of how things should work.

There are several methods for teaching Fetch, and the most simple one uses two identical toys that the dog already likes – the toys are exactly the same and must be interesting and enjoyable for the dog to play with.

With your dog on a leash, conceal one of the identical toys and with the other, show it to your dog – then throw it a short way before releasing your dog and saying “Fetch!” or whatever command you are using.

Don’t throw it as far as you can – you are only looking to teach your dog what to do not go play hide and seek plus you’ll probably end up having to retrieve the toy yourself a number of times in the initial stages.

Your dog is probably going to chase after the toy – which is why you want it to be one that the dog already likes – and when your dog has taken hold of the toy, now is the time you produce the hidden.

A dog will probably drop the toy they have chased and return to you with the identical toy you are now offering.

Upon returning to you, place the dog back on the leash and then throw the new toy – once you do this you give the command again – “Fetch!” – as your dog is chasing this new toy, you run and retrieve the toy that has been dropped by your dog in the first instance.

Now repeat this a few times using the “Fetch!” command as you do so.

Your dog will quickly get the idea that “Fetch!” involves retrieving the toy and returning to you but remember that after each retrieval or return to you, you must reward and praise the dog generously; this is positive reinforcement and will quickly imprint on your pet that this is good behaviour to be repeated whenever asked.

If your dog is not turned on by toys, try using food flavorings or rub some bacon grease on the toys which will increase their attractiveness to your dog and keep them interested; if you are using a stuffed toy, remove some of the stuffing and pack it with some favourite food your dog likes – bacon bits work very well for this.

Remember to be patient and gentle and to make this as much fun as possible for both you and your dog – yes this is training but it shouldn’t be a chore. A key technique for training a dog quickly is to make the activity fun for the dog so that they associate your training with fun and reward. Following these techniques with your pet will make them more enthusiastic about learning new commands and not just the simple retrieve command.