How do I train the dog to fetch specific items?

[Slubberdegullion]

chez clicker?

Because I am farking idle invested in mentally stimulating my dog and want to impress visitors with my awesome training skillz enjoy clicker training, what I want to try and train is

'slippers. go fetch'

And

'crocs. Go fetch'

And

'remote. Go fetch'

I'm sure this is possible but we are getting in a muddle.

Go Fetch as a cue is deeply ingrained, we have that down pat. Outside it is fine as there is only the kong wubba or a tennis ball to go fetch.

Inside it all goes to pot.

I am working on a single word, like " slippers" and when she touches it with her nose she gets a click. Likewise other stuff, like 'ball' or 'croc'.

If I add in Go Fetch it all goes to pot. She lies down, she speaks, she gives me a high five, she touches the slipper with her nose 300 times, but she won't bring it back.

If I throw the slipper, then she'll go fetch it and bring it back.

mmmm what am I doing wrong?

I'd leave out the 'fetch' for now and teach this as a totally new behaviour, not connected to the known fetch command, IYSWIM. I'm not normally a clicker person but it is very useful here. You've already shaped touching the target object - brilliant. If you lay all the objects in a row will she touch the correct one when asked?

I think how I'd move on from there would be to hold each object, ask her to touch it and encourage her to mouth it, clicking and rewarding for anything approaching holding it in her mouth, gradually shaping towards her holding the object in her mouth.

Or, um, throw the slipper but work on shaping it, throwing less and less distance each time, until you are merely placing the slipper a short distance away from you, and eventually just pointing and saying 'slipper'?

Mine knows the difference between ball, bone, ducks and river. But all are very, very, very exciting to him.

Does the remote control excite him?

Depends on how interested in toys and things the dog is. We do it with a certain command.

I'll give you our method, and you may want to adapt it to your dog.
Hide a toy (or whatever) for a couple of days, so that when you start playing with it, it's exciting.
Then get it out, and hold it in front of the dog. Say its name. Nothing else.
Then hide it. Somewhere really obvious, so just slightly out of sight. Say behind a doorframe.
Then ask the dog "where's the thing?" Hopefully the dog will go looking for it.
Praise if it returns with it. If it doesn't find it, go with the dog and show it the thing, again asking where's the thing.
Praise when dog prods it.
If dog is loathe to pick the thing up, play tug with the thing, (and assuming you have a command for tug play, which in our case is "fun") say "fun with the thing".
Just use the name a lot.
So "fetch the thing", "where's the thing", and when picking it up "is it the thing?"
Dog should pick it up fairly swiftly.
But as long as the dog as a good retrieve, the showing, hiding, and looking for seems to cement things in the best.
Dog now knows about ten different things, mainly because I refuse to let the dog have more toys than I do, but there's a collie that can do a thousand. Just keep adding things.

P.S. I take no responsibility for the above advice making you sound like a complete moron.

Ok that is all v helpful.

Will leave 'go fetch' for now and just concentrate on c & ting mouthing, and finding the thing. Mostly I want her to fetch my slippers in the morning. Seeing as she sleeps on top of them so they are pre-warmed it seems a giant waste not to have them retrieved.

Robin. I am comfortable with making a fool of myself in front of my Labrador.

I agree with the others - drop the "go fetch" and just use the names of the things. Click/treat for interest, then touching, then a harder nose bump, then teeth contact, then mouthing, then picking up, etc... gradually increasing the criteria until the dog's holding it and turning to you, then coming all the way to you, etc.

If she's already familiar with bringing you stuff, it shouldn't take too long.

I had to teach my older dog to fetch a ball like this. She had zero natural interest in chasing moving things. I had to teach it like a formal retrieve, although now she seems to enjoy it for its own sake.

As for tricks - I can highly recommend "Hide eyes/be shy" and "limp" as "Fairly easy to teach but highly impressive party pieces".

Hiya Kate haven't chatted with you for ages. Is it you who has a you tube clip of 'be shy' and did you not use evil sellotape on the snout to get it

I have a little dreamy dream of being at my own dinner party, the port is being passed and terribly casual like I suggest to the dog "slippers, go fetch" and her bringing them to me. How totally freaking awesome would that be, and of course rewarding and fun for the dog too

when I say dinner party of course I mean kitchen supper as I would never don slippers at a dinner party

Yeah it's my Boo on Youtube

A sticky label, yeah

She limps now which is even more impressive and not as difficult to teach as I thought it would be. It's taken her about 3 days to get it on cue.

I like your dreamy dream a lot. The feeling you would get would be, I imagine, similar to the feeling I get when I'm having a cuppa with a friend and getting a bit chilly and ask the dog, terribly casual-like ( ) to shut the back door

Why stop with slippers, slubber? Train the dog to pass the port. (To the left, of course.)

I can tell my dog to "Find a toy," and he will go all around the place sniffing for one of his toys to bring. But I haven't managed to get him to distinuigh between toys. Some good tips here, though.

Hahahaha at training her to pass the port

Shutting door casual-like also v impressive.

Woo hoo

The dog will now locate and bring me my slippers upon being given the command "slippers". This is the best trick ever.

Now I just need to plan a kitchen supper in which to perform it.

Excellent!

But look out for the slipper slobber slubber.

(Cos no one likes slipper slobber at supper slubber.)

Oh brilliant Slubber!!!

Well done! It's a great feeling when they "get" a new trick, isn't it?

Haha Calatalie. That has properly made me LOL. yy by the end of our intensive day of training the slippers were indeed most slobbery.

Kate it's a brilliant feeling. I went and hid my slippers before dh got home and when he arrived (I was too excited to do it casual-like) said "Slipper" and off she ran and had them back to me like a shot. She was v chuffed with herself too.

Clever dog. Clever clicker. Clever slippers.

I may hold off on "remote" as really no one wants a moist remote given to them.

(can you clicker train not to drool?)

I think there is definitely a lesson to learn about reward/enthusiasm when it comes to teaching tricks.

Example: my dog LOVES being asked to shut the back door. She can be fast asleep, and I go "Boo? Can you get the door?" and she's up immediately - "What? Whassat you said?" and I go "Get the door" and she's off into the kitchen so fast her legs do that comedy cartoon skid when she turns the corner. She shuts the door and gallops back, ready to be told how clever she is.

I haven't actually used a treat as a reward for shutting the door for probably 4 months; yet she remains as keen to do it as she would be if I were waving an 8oz steak.

HOWEVER if I dropped food rewards for everything for 4 months, I'm fairly certain her performance would deteriorate. She'd still DO what she was asked, but with far less sparkle, I think.

And I think it is because when we teach a "pointless" trick, we tend to be more genuinely excited, more effusive, more impressed when they get it right than with more "ordinary" stuff.

I know for a fact that I made far less fuss when she learned "sit" and "down" and all that sort of stuff. You sort of EXPECT them to be able to do things like that.

A good game to play when teaching fetch an item is "I win you win" (be prepared to look a bit stupid though!)

Get item you want to name eg slipper and play with it, be really excited with it , lots of jumping about throwing it and catching it etc.

Then get someone to hold the dog but release it when you say go
Put the slipper down
Get the dog really excited (lots of ready steady, ready steady in an excited voice ) and you race to get the slipper make sure you get it first and really be happy that you have won the slipper.

Do this a couple of times with you getting to the slipper first - then let the dog get there first, still race the dog but let him win.

Without minutes you will have a happy cheerful dog racing to fetch your slippers

I'm seriously impressed by the slipper fetching dog!

Just in case it doesn't last you could always do what I did when dd1 was very small (and unable to talk) I would write what I wanted, eg 'my nappy needs changing' or 'cup of tea please' stick it to her tummy and send her through to the other room to her dad.