Prepping for AKC Fetch Competition (Patreon)

Hey Folks!

So this month I'm prepping for our first AKC FETCH Novice competition. (You can find out more about that sport here.) Basically for the novice level the dog has to make three retrieves at 30 ft out with a few objects in the way of the retrieve. On retrieve to the left, one to the center, and one to the right. You can hold the collar if needed while throwing, but Denver and I have worked a lot on steadiness at the line, so we work without restraint here as well. I use him coming to heel to line him up for the next throw.

And while this training session isn't super complicated or anything like that, I did want to post it here so you can see two things:

1. This is the entire session. I drove to this field, I put out my chair 30 ft away so I knew how far I had to throw it, and then I practiced the pattern I'll need for the competition exactly one time. He did really well, so we quit. I try very hard not to drill things that the dog is doing well so that they don't loose their sparkle for the skill.

2. I post a lot of videos with food usage, so I wanted to show you a session where I'm using toy play and lots of praise as reinforcement. (peep how long I'm praising him and reinforcing him at the end of the session - it's nearly as long as the entire retrieve sequence!).

Unfortunately, I forgot my bumpers for the session so I had to use a KONG wubba that I had in my car, which isn't my favorite because the item is a bit too "fun" for Denver, but I was really happy that he stayed focused.

Now, I did not drive to this field (20 minutes away), train for 1 minute and then pack up. Instead, I did this fetch session, then played about 5 minutes of disc with him (his first time with long rollers!) and then I put him in the car for a few minutes to rest while I hid some shed antlers and we did one set of finding the hidden antlers (another 5 minutes or so). Then we ended with a 10 minute cool down walk.

The point is, consistently working towards a skill for 1-5 minutes at a time a few days a week will get you where you want to go in the majority of specific behaviors you're training, while preserving the fun and joy in the skill.

Happy Training ya'll!