Thanks to all who responded with your support and expertise to my dilema of getting my chocolate boy to take and hold the dumbbell. I watched the videos HOLD and FETCH by retriver trainers Jim and Phyllis Dobbs. I was training bass-ackwards. I retrained the "Hold" first and when he was solid on "Hold" I went on to "Get It." I don't have an E collar, but a couple of ear pinches for noncompliance on the "Hold" command sealed the deal. A couple downward snaps of the training collar helped with the "Get it" command. Patience and praise for each successful attempt built his and my confidence. We put all of the pieces together and recalled at short distances at first. Now he comes a full 40 feet on recall, although not at a trot or gallop, sits front, holds until I give the command to "out" and finishes right. YEA!

We work on these commands throughout the day. I switch it up by not recalling, just "Hold" or "Get it" followed with praise. We're going for our 1st leg of Graduate Novice this weekend. Wish us luck

Good job and good luck!!

Kathy, did the Jim and Phyllis Dobbs video teach the force fetch? My boy actually has shown grad novice, loves to retrieve and is good with dumb bells but drops birds when hunt training. I've read and watched many books and DVD's and even took a class with a field trial expert but still don't know how to properly FF.Thanks,

Jim Dobbs' video teaches the force fetch for HOLD and FETCH (I say GET IT)using the ear pinch, E-collar and toe pinch. It's all about timing.


Google the Dobbs and visit their store at http://www.dobbsdogs.com go to 'tritronics: trained retrieve, Part I HOLD & Part II FETCH . $19.95 + shipping.

I liked his approach to training. He uses untrained dogs in the video to show you that 'yes, you can do this.' He is very patient but firm approach to training the dog. He's based in Marysville, CA about 2 hours from where I live. I'd love to train under him.

I used cheese whiz on the dumb bell easier on my dog than ear pinches