Force Fetch - The Key Foundation For all Competent Hunting Dogs. 8

The Stimulation - During force fetch, the dog is learning to turn pressure off — a key component to future training in many programs.The stimulation, or ear pinch/toe hitch/training collar, is what turns many people off to the trained retrieve process. Don contends that if people build a solid foundation and spend adequate time in the sacking out and mouth conditioning portions of the process, the actual stimulation portion goes by quickly.

"The biggest misconception is that (force fetch) is hard on the dog. It's not torture, it's teaching a dog to respond to a specific cue in a specific manner. It's really no different than the rest of the training we do,". "The hardest part of force fetch is over in 10 minutes. In the 20- to 40-hours it takes to go through a very thorough program, that 10 minutes is not a big deal."

"A lot of times doing this, they (the owners) don't realize it, but it's the first time their dog has been asked to step up and do something that they don't want to do. Their dog may bite, snap or snarl. They had no idea that they thought the dog that loved them would do that,".

What happens is if you push through that and keep your emotions down, you'll have a whole new relationship with your dog because you will be the alpha in your dog's pack."

Of course, nobody likes to actually hurt their dog, but the stimulation portion of force fetch isn't about needlessly inflicting pain — it's about teaching the dog to respond to a cue and turn the stimulation off. Don's position is that the stimulation involved in the process "isn't a threat, it's a promise," and if the trainer can get their head around that and just carry out the steps properly, the entire exercise will go smoothly.

"Get your mind set right and get through it. Push through it, don't be tentative, mean it. Don't baby it. Don't get emotional when the dog gets upset,". "The biggest problem is that people are tentative and afraid to get started on it and I think that has more to do with the misconceptions about what it is more than anything."

In order for the dog to better understand what you are asking, you must release the stimulation as soon as the object is in the dog's mouth. While the stimulation may be the hardest for trainers to deal with emotionally, it is actually not the hardest part for them to deal with physically. The timing required by the trainer when stimulating the dog's ear or toe is critical. Releasing that physical stimulus as the object is place or taken into the dog's mouth is the most important, and most difficult, part for novice trainers to correctly carry out.

"People release too late during the hold/fetch process. The point of force fetch, of the ear pinch, is to turn off the stimulation," said Potter. "Getting the buck in the dog's mouth and being late makes it difficult for the dog to understand how to turn it off. The stimulation has to stop the minute the buck is in the dog's mouth."

Force Fetch - The Key Foundation For all Competent Hunting Dogs.

Force Fetch Step: 3 - Stimulation

Force Fetch - The Key Foundation
For all Competent Hunting Dogs.