How to teach a dog to put a toy in your hand instead of dropping it?

it sounds very stupid i know, but i need to teach xeva to start putting her ball, tuggy or whatever it is she is playing with (usually the ball) in my hand, i was playing with her after class on sunday, told her to sit and wait, threw the ball and then sent her to go and get it once it had stopped, my trainer saw this and said, start getting her to put the ball in your hand instead of dropping it and that was the start of her retrieve, then we will move onto a dumbell at some point (now from what i gather she cant be mouthing at a dumbell, but one problem at a time)

so how do i get her to start putting the ball in my hand instead of dropping it?

Does not sound stupid at all.

Have you read this thread?

You start (contrary to the song in the Sound of Music) at the END in a retrieve and do what we call backchaining.

So if you teach your dog a hand touch first WITHOUT a retrieve it is simiple to move it forward.

Throwing something for a dog does not mean it will go out, pick it up, turn round, hold it and sit in the present position or give it up to hand.

You have to teach the dog what you want!

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=144908

HTH

I would start by playing with the dog so he gets used to you both having the toy at the same time. Then playing `your toy, my toy` - passing it back and forth. The reward for the dog taking and holding the toy is simply having the toy. The reward for giving it back is praise and another go at the game.

I missed out alot of steps when training a retrieve but, even though I still have a problem getting Flynn to bring things straight to me, i've never had a problem with him spitting it out.

I didnt use a clicker back then so he only got rewarded with a ball or a treat when I took the object from his mouth. If he dropped it I encouraged him to pick it back up again and he only got rewarded once he held onto the retrieve article.

However, we are starting from scratch and are backchaining. Some objects hes fine holding in a sit position in front of me, some he's reluctant to so i'm working on proofing a good hold on various objects.

Can you provide more information on how to teach my dog to put a fetched item in my hand rather than drop it? You asked the inquirer if they had "read this thread". What thread are you referring to? I can't find where this question was answered. Thanks. first post here

Click on the link below:

Link to the thread

And welcome to Dogsey!

Thanks for that link Malka - Cora also isn't quite as well ahead with retrieve and release as I'd like and a quick read through that thread has some very good tips I will definitely start trying with her!