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by RLHAR on 13 February 2014 - 18:02
I always enjoy an opportunity to use the IPO obedience training my dog has in real life.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to ask about the history behind the retrieves and how they fit into the whole picture back in the day when Schutzhund was a breed worthiness test. It was explained to me that the retrieves helped to test the dogs willingness to 'retrieve' the shepherd's staff or other article the shepherd may have left aside (or on the other side of a fence gate) and required the dog to 'retrieve'. Thus why the retrieve also goes over obstacles.
Perhaps this was simplistic but that explanation has always stuck with me because though I do IPO as a sport hobby, I enjoy studying the history of it back when it was more practical in nature.
So today as we were trying to unbury trucks from approximately 2 feet of snow on all sides I had the opportunity to test some of that theory. We were using brooms, shovels and long handled scrapers and having to alternate between each item depending upon what we had to work on in shoveling out the trucks. My male was out with us getting some energy out and on a whim I made each tool (broom, scraper, shovel) into a "toy". It didn't take much, just holding his collar, a couple quick 'misses' with the tool in question, one toss/return and he had the idea.
As anyone who has shoveled a vehicle out of 2 feet of snow knows, the snowbank around the car gets very deep and the space you have around the vehicle is very narrow so it became useful that when I abandoned one tool to work with another and then worked my way around the car, then needed to swap out tools, I would send Erik across the snow banks to "Bring" the required tool. He'd bound over, grab it and then return to me and "out" it for a twig or a snowball (not too many snowballs I didn't want his stomach to cramp). Thus instead of exhausting myself in trying to struggled through the snow banks going back and forth, Erik fetched the tools as required and this allowed me to focus on digging, shoveling and clearing the truck.
Thus I was able to dig out my cars and work the dog at the same time!
After we were done I found a frisbee for him to play with as a reward because a ball was just going to sink into the snow and be lost. He's never played fisbee so I applied the same game as I had with the tools with the exact same results. Only this time, since I didn't have wet soggy gloves on, I got pictures!
A few years ago I had the opportunity to ask about the history behind the retrieves and how they fit into the whole picture back in the day when Schutzhund was a breed worthiness test. It was explained to me that the retrieves helped to test the dogs willingness to 'retrieve' the shepherd's staff or other article the shepherd may have left aside (or on the other side of a fence gate) and required the dog to 'retrieve'. Thus why the retrieve also goes over obstacles.
Perhaps this was simplistic but that explanation has always stuck with me because though I do IPO as a sport hobby, I enjoy studying the history of it back when it was more practical in nature.
So today as we were trying to unbury trucks from approximately 2 feet of snow on all sides I had the opportunity to test some of that theory. We were using brooms, shovels and long handled scrapers and having to alternate between each item depending upon what we had to work on in shoveling out the trucks. My male was out with us getting some energy out and on a whim I made each tool (broom, scraper, shovel) into a "toy". It didn't take much, just holding his collar, a couple quick 'misses' with the tool in question, one toss/return and he had the idea.
As anyone who has shoveled a vehicle out of 2 feet of snow knows, the snowbank around the car gets very deep and the space you have around the vehicle is very narrow so it became useful that when I abandoned one tool to work with another and then worked my way around the car, then needed to swap out tools, I would send Erik across the snow banks to "Bring" the required tool. He'd bound over, grab it and then return to me and "out" it for a twig or a snowball (not too many snowballs I didn't want his stomach to cramp). Thus instead of exhausting myself in trying to struggled through the snow banks going back and forth, Erik fetched the tools as required and this allowed me to focus on digging, shoveling and clearing the truck.
Thus I was able to dig out my cars and work the dog at the same time!
After we were done I found a frisbee for him to play with as a reward because a ball was just going to sink into the snow and be lost. He's never played fisbee so I applied the same game as I had with the tools with the exact same results. Only this time, since I didn't have wet soggy gloves on, I got pictures!
by susie on 13 February 2014 - 18:02
Love it!
by beetree on 13 February 2014 - 19:02
That was very enjoyable! Nice happy dog, too!by Nans gsd on 14 February 2014 - 15:02
I love the retrieve; what a good boy... Enjoy....
by andhourspass on 15 February 2014 - 18:02
Great story, thanks for sharing! I use Bring all the time - my dogs bring the remote, towels, pick up anything at all that I drop without me even asking, and even carry in grocery bags from the garage to the kitchen! They are truly helper dogs and enjoy doing any task that comes up. Erik is beautiful! I didn't think to use a frisbee and lost a ball on a rope in the snow yesterday, it will reappear in a few weeks LOL.
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