Easy Dog Tricks: How To Teach Your Dog To Retrieve In Just One Afternoon

If your dog does not know how to fetch and retrieve then why wait any longer - let's teach him today!

Retrieving is probably the most basic and easiest of all dog tricks. Even without specific training, many dogs learn to retrieve on instinct. Not only is it fun for you to be able to play ball with your dog on a bright, sunny afternoon, but he will also have an absolute blast each and every time.

Your first goal is to simply get your dog to focus on a particular area that you want him to retrieve the object from. This is easily accomplished by pointing to that area with your finger. The idea is for your dog to understand where to go and then to investigate the location.

Bring along small snacks or pieces of his favorite dog food to help make things easier. Pull out a handful of these tasty treats and sprinkle some on the ground. Avoid letting your dog run over to gobble up all the food at once. In fact, it is best if you train him to be patient while staying in the sit position until you say otherwise. Then, after a few moments, release him and say "Pick Up, Pick Up!"

As soon as your dog runs over and picks up the snacks, sprinkle a couple of additional pieces a few yards away and say once again "Pick Up, Pick Up!".

As you can assume so far, you are training your dog to associate the command of "Pick Up" with that of looking for something to put in his mouth. This training period goes very quickly. In fact, most dogs will learn this association in just a few hours.

Now it is time to move from using dog treats to a regular non-food object. As soon as he has gobbled up some treats, throw him a curve ball by tossing a small towel or his ball behind you, then quickly say the commands "Pick Up, Pick Up!".

At this point in training he should immediately run over to where you dropped the ball and put it in his mouth in order to bring it back to you. It is vital to give your dog showers of praise when he is successful.

The final step in teaching your dog to retrieve is having him drop the object at your feet once he picks it up. This is where the "Drop It" command comes in to play. Whenever he picks up something in his mouth and starts to run toward you, have him stop, sit, and while you pull the object out of his mouth with one hand, rub his head lovingly with the other hand, while giving praise at the same time.

Repeat the entire retrieving process over and over until he successfully grabs the object, brings it back, and releases it right in front of you.