teaching hold – Misty Shores Chesapeakes

I wanted to do a follow up on my post Titan Update; I may not have been quite clear on the where Titan is on his training. He is past the hold training which includes walking hold. He has completed these two elements and has moved on to the Trained Retrieve; he is almost to Walking Fetch. He is using small and large bumpers for retrieving now. This is what Michelle said in a comment “Titan is progressing very nicely. It was nice to let him swim and see he held the bumper even while he shook and he delivered the bumper nicely. Titan does love to work and does like his uncle Dave.”

I do a newsletter for my dog club (although I have really fallen behind on that) but anyway, my friend Michelle reminded me of the article Dave wrote on teaching hold so I wanted to share that with you. You can view the article here then go to page 4, but feel free to browse through the whole newsletter Oh and that is Cheyenne in the picture demonstrating hold, she didn’t like bumpers so I used a paint roller to teach her hold.

I will have more on the Trained Retrieve and Walking Fetch for you in the next week or so and hopefully more pictures.

I have been looking forward to Friday all week because this is the day I get to see my boy after two weeks. I wondered as I was driving to Dave and Michelle’s house if Titan would be as excited to see me as I am to see him…he was!

After loving on him for a bit we all went back to the pond to get him in for a swim and have him retrieve the bumper.

We did this for a little bit as it was just to hot to work for very long so I got in some more loving time while he rested a bit then Dave showed me what they have been working on.

This is an obedience dumbbell that he is using to teach Titan to hold. The dogs must learn to be very consistent with their hold so they do not drop or leave their birds in the field or water and they do not release it until you tell them too; as you can see he is progressing nicely with this.