Lab Training: Force Fetch and Hand Casting

[Pilgrim]

Start by casting your dog to the food bowl and move to short bumpers later.

[shortstroke 91]

We use the Mike Lardy method, pretty sure you can look it up. Has worked for all of our dogs in the past 15 years.

[Stolle]

I would pay for someone to FF

tired and won't deliver to hand is the thing of the past . . . . but its well worth it to have a reputable and seasoned trainer do that for you.

I paid someone to force fetch Zeke. It was worth every penny. I have heard stories of force fetching ruining dogs if the person does not know what they are doing.

[Storm]

River rat has the books he needs the problem is that all the books do not tell you how much pressure to use to make him open his mouth ! Yes you can ruin a dog using the wrong pressure If you guys noticed I said to use a small pinch and release after he learns to just hold the bumper. RR just has to learn the min pressure needed to get the dog to start complying. There is no need for anymore pressure than you can generate with your thumb on the dogs ear. When he gets past the length of his arm then he will need a crop or e-collar to lengthen it. There is no need for any other aid to get the response that he needs . I don't mean to tick anyone off but I have a ton of dogs that I have trained thru the years and yes my living depended on it. So my best advice to RR is keep it low and slow you will own this dog for years and will get the satisfaction of having done it yourself. Finish force breaking and then I can tell you what to do for handling by the way your going to need at least 32 bumpers before you get a completely finished dog. Sorry guys never ment to step on toes.

[Storm]

If a pro was down in his area then I would suggest lessons for him so that he could learn how to train his own dogs its not that much 25.00-35.00 per hour 1 time a week and he follows thru on that lesson at home till the next lesson.

[Maxlab]

RiverRat give this guy a call his name is Rick he is San Antonio he Field Trains Lab's for a living. **** good trainer to, and not to far from you. 210 508-3131

[RiverRat00]

Thanks for all the replies guys, how long should the daily force fetch training sessions be?

[Wildman]

Storm,

There is no need for anymore pressure than you can generate with your thumb on the dogs ear.

That is funny because my dad is always telling me he feels bad because I pinch his dog's ear when she gets lazy. Last year she stopped working for him so we traded dogs. I took her out of the golf cart by the ear like a you would your kid. She worked perfectly for me the rest of the limit. I trained that dog with a FF ear pinch and now all I have to do most times is tell her I am going to "pinch" her ear and she gets back to attention.