Rip & Basil Day 2 8-17-2022

RIP and BASIL both did great. They show to have the understanding that I want the bumper in their mouth. I am not applying any pressure what so ever. This is the 2nd day. BASIL was first and I started where I left off by opening his mouth and placing the bumper in it. After a couple reps I stopped opening his mouth to see what he would do on his own. I just held the bumper in front of his muzzle and waited to see if he would open his mouth on his own. Sure enough he opened it up on his own quickly so I placed the bumper in his mouth and praised him. We did several reps like this and I started to incorporate the fetch & hold command. Right now he doesn't know them but he will soon start to associate them with grabbing the bumper and not dropping it. 

RIP was next and we did the same thing by opening his mouth and placing the bumper in it. After a few reps I again wanted to see what his response would be by just holding the bumper in front of his muzzle. He took a little longer but he also started to open his mouth without any pressure or command and I placed the bumper in his mouth and praised him. He wants to mouth the bumper a little bit, but I just hold onto the bumper until he stops and grabs it. I then praise him. I also started to incorporate fetch and hold with him so he starts to associate the words with the actions. Right now there is no pressure applied. We did several reps and called it good. 

Trained Retrieve works best when you don't get all frantic about it. Just remain calm and the dog will feel that energy and be calm also. It also works great when you only praise them when the bumper is in their mouth at the beginning stages so they associate having the bumper in their mouth with doing something good and getting praised.