Mixing up the Retrieves

If there is any disadvantage to the Cocker’s size, it maybe be that it apparently makes it more difficult for the Cocker to mark longer retrieves. Their head being so close to the ground it makes it difficult for them to have good depth perception at longer distances. While I don’t think there obviously is no way to make the Cocker larger (and I don’t want them larger anyway!), it is still possible to work on improving their ability to make longer retrieves. I don’t think it is physically possible for either of my Cocker’s to make pinpoint marks on those longer retrieves, but I would like both of them to get in the general vicinity of the fall and then search around until the object is found.

Rocky and Macy waiting to be sent on a retrieve:

A normal game of “fetch” generally includes the dog either sitting next to the thrower, or at least being in the general vicinity. The dog then either starts running as soon as the object is thrown, and often is halfway to the fall point when the object touches down, or the did sits and watches until the object hits the ground, and then is sent by the master. While the second of these is obviously the better, the problem that I have experienced from doing retrieves like this is that the dog starts to always stay within your throwing range during retrieves. This was how I worked on Macy retrieving for quite a while, and to be honest with you, she was terrible at making long retrieves as a result. I believe that it caused her to have zero confidence at making retrieves past about 35 yards, and it was frustrating to me to watch her zig-zag back and forth on this imaginary boundary, refusing to go further.

This is the problem with doing one type of retrieve over and over again. Macy barely even watched me throw an object because she knew about where it would land already. Her marking skills were terrible and her range was short at best. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I soon realized that I needed to find a way to stretch Macy out further and to help her make better marks on thrown objects.

I do the vast majority of my training without accompaniment from another human, so I had to get slightly creative in coming up with a solution. The video below demonstrates two types of retrieves that I do with both of my Cockers in order to improve their marking and ability to make long retrieves. As you’ll see in the video, it’s imperative that your Cocker is steady to a thrown object, otherwise the routines will not work. You’ll also notice in the video that Rocky does not always go directly to where the ball ended up. He still is a little anxious in his retrieving and will watch the ball hit the ground, but then fails to watch where it bounces/rolls to. I’m not too upset about this because in a hunting situation they are not going to have a ball bouncing on the ground. Instead, they might have a runner that takes off once it hits the ground, and that bird they will need to trail. When the ball hits the ground and rolls, it creates an opportunity for Rocky to practice tracking and using the wind and scent to his advantage.

Macy and the baby watching the show while my wife prepares to video:

Macy is capable of both of these retrieves, but Rocky does it with so much enthusiasm I gave him the honor of staring in the video!