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This clicker trained retrieve is not entirely my own work. It is based loosely on
Shirley Chong’s retrieve with
some adjustments that I have found useful when training my German Shepherds. I have included a few short videos of the work
with my 6 month old, Arawen. See the videos page for a download link for RealPlayer
Index of videos:
First, find a dumbbell the appropriate size for your dog or puppy. Starting with something smaller and lighter than a
SchH1 dumbbell will help to increase the speed of learning for a small dog or pup. I wrap the bar of my dumbbells in Vet
Wrap so that the dog has something he can push his teeth in to.
As far as rewards, I use the dog’s regular meals; kibble or chicken necks make excellent rewards and allow for several
repetitions. I find it is unnecessary to “charge the clicker” you can do a few sit – click – reward repetitions the day
before if you like. It won’t take the dog long to understand that the clicker means that the reward is coming, as long
as the reward is given immediately after the click for the first few repetitions. My dogs have usually done sit, down,
stand, articles and targets before I even start the retrieve, so they have a very good understanding of the clicker. I
usually place the bowl out of reach and we race to the bowl once the click has occurred. This movement also helps to free
the dog up after each repetition.
I do not do any drive work with the dumbbell before I start. The reward at this point is the food, not the dumbbell itself.
Possessive dogs will not want to bring it back if they think it is a toy. To begin with, place the dumbbell on the ground,
make sure you have your clicker ready. Your dog will probably look towards the movement, and you can click him very quickly.
Walk back towards the dumbbell and watch to see if the dog looks at it. At this point, any dog that has been trained to
target or articles, will probably go straight back to the dumbbell. You can reward him for either a look or touch. Try
to keep the rewards close together so that the dog gets lots of successful repetitions in close succession. Watch for your
dog getting tired. 5 to 10 successful repetitions are plenty at this point. Often you will see the behavior start to change,
the dog will look, then may take a couple of steps towards the dumbbell, if by the 5-10th repetition, he walks all the way up
to it by himself, click, and give him the rest of his dinner. This “jackpot” is useful to mark the large steps towards the
behavior you are looking for.
Arawen's first retrieve session at 6 months old
Depending on the dog, having the dog go up to the dumbbell and touch it with his nose should take 2-10 sessions. Dogs
with previous targeting experience often are doing this in the first session. Next when the dog has gone out to the dumbbell
reliably for at least 2 sessions, we start to ask for more. Spend a couple more sessions only rewarding the dog for touching
the bar of the dumbbell, the ends do not get him a reward. Next we are looking for a more determined bump with the teeth, or
lick. If your dog starts to get “stuck”, where he spends time offering a behavior he already knows (like sitting in front of
you), just move back a step for a session or two. I have found it ok to ask for a little more sometimes, and taking a step
back does not seem to be detrimental. Obviously your goal is to keep the rate of success very high so the dog does not get
stuck, but sometimes it is fun to wait a while and see if your dog will offer anything different.
Arawen's fifth retrieve session
(She gets a bit stuck and offers article indicating behavior
but keeps trying and then gives a good teeth bump)
Once you are getting a reliable lick or teeth bump (I have used peanut butter on the bar to encourage the lick if it is
taking too long), you are looking for the dog to try to take the dumbbell in his mouth. This is not actually very far from
the lick and teeth bump, and I have not seen too much sticking at this point, but you do want to make sure you can do a
session where the dog gets 100% success on licking or teeth bumping. I tend to do 2-4 sessions at one step to get the
behavior solid, before I move to the next. Only your dog can really tell you the speed he wants to go. Getting the click
timed well also affects your learning speed, but a couple of late ones don’t seem to hamper progress too badly.
Arawen's sixth retrieve session
(Still offering article indicating behavior
but then she tries picking it up)
Arawen's seventh retrieve session
(Understanding the pick up)
At this stage, your dog will probably be taking the dumbbell in his mouth, and maybe lifting or tossing it in the air.
Be very careful not to reward the toss, but click when the dumbbell is in the mouth. Then you can begin to click the dog
for picking up the dumbbell and taking a step towards you. Don’t expect a sit in front of you, but you can try to catch
the dumbbell when you click and the dog releases. This gives him the idea that he is returning the dumbbell to your hand.
Arawen picking up the dumbell and turning towards me
Arawen picking up the dumbell with a slightly longer hold
At this point I break off from Shirley’s retrieve and concentrate on the hold. This is very important for Schutzhund,
we want a nice calm hold. So at this point we are starting the retrieve from the end point – back-chaining. Make sure you
have a good straight Hier / Come position in front of you. Hold the dumbbell out at the height of the dog’s mouth, and start
at the beginning where you click for looking, then nose bumping, then taking the dumbbell in the dog’s mouth. Keep a hold of
the end and begin rewarding for longer and longer time spent with the mouth around the dumbbell. This stage can take a while,
but be patient, it WILL happen! Once the dog is reliably holding the dumbbell for 30 seconds with no chomping, you can take
a finger off the end, then 2 fingers and so on until you can remove your hand from the dumbbell. Move slowly and don’t take
your hand too far away. Gradually you can move your arm to the normal position for competition.
Arawen beginning the hold from the hand
Arawen with a good hold
To improve the hold, tap the ends of the dumbbell, switch hands, gently try to pull the dumbbell from the dog’s mouth.
If he drops it at any time, start over. Build the strength of the pull slowly. You are looking for the dog to clamp down
and pull down on the dumbbell. I have also found that introducing the heavier Schutzhund dumbbells improves the hold.
Now we do the last part of the retrieve. You will need a short sit stay. Sit the dog in front, ask him to hold the
dumbbell and take a step back, call him to you and as he arrives, tell him to sit. Don’t worry about straightness right now.
The dog will probably drop the dumbbell a few times, if he does not have a single success in the first 2-3 tries, you need to
go back to the hold.
Arawen at 9 months doing the back-half
of the retrieve at a new field
Once this is going smoothly and you can leave the dog on a sit stay with the dumbbell, move away 10 feet and recall,
you can insist on a straight front, only reward the straight ones.
Now we are ready for the full retrieve. Sit your dog beside you and throw the dumbbell, you may want to hold his collar
if he has good prey drive, this increases the drive and teaches him not to go until you say. Let the dog go before the
dumbbell stops. Again you may have to go back to rewarding a few bumps, but my dogs nearly always pick the dumbbell up
at this point, I then take a step or two backwards and encourage them to return. You can’t expect perfect fronts and
pick-ups at this point. Throwing the dumbbell so it lands next to a wall will help stop the dog from going around the
dumbbell. If the dog is not straight in front, I often take another step back and encourage him in straight before I
reward. The complete retrieve needs to be reliable before you start insisting on straight fronts.
Arawen at 9 months doing the basic retrieve
at a new field (the front still needs some work
in new places)
Your dog must learn to generalize this behavior to many places, you will need to take a step back when doing a session at
a new place, but you can start doing this right from the beginning, as long as there aren’t too many distractions. Begin
adding distractions after you have done 10-20 new places and surfaces. Or you may prefer to complete the retrieve at home
before you take it to a new place. When you graduate to a larger dumbbell, take a step back also. When you go to a new place,
do a couple of basic holds and recalls with holds before you start the full retrieve. Teach your dog all his commands at new
places and soon, you will find he will generalize better. If you have already generalized the sit in 50 places, generalizing
the retrieve will be easier. Generalization with reward based training is generally a little slower than with other methods.
The more times you can work your dog in as many places as possible, the more reliable your retrieve will get. Don’t expect
perfection at a new field for at least 6 months.
Click Retrieves taught at home in one place typically take 6 weeks with 1-2 sessions per day with a dog which has no prior
experience with dumbbells. A dog which has had previous experiences may be a little more challenging and require emphasis
on different parts of the retrieve they are having problems with. Some dogs have a problem with people’s hands coming
towards their faces, some mouth a lot. The hold in front of the handler is usually the part that needs the most work.
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