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| Volume 3, Issue 3 |
International Parti Poodle Gazette |
July 2007 |
CAN MY POODLE RETRIEVE?Authors: Gina Wainiola and Lina Wainiola
If your Poodle likes to retrieve tennis balls, the potential may be there to retrieve seriously on land and in water. A few years ago when I noticed my own Poodles’ keen interest in retrieving tennis balls, I began to research the idea of training for retriever events. My research led me to a number of dog/Poodle retriever training articles, publications, and books that discussed the pros and cons of training Poodles to compete in retriever events. And so I was bitten by the bug. As with any sport, the best place to start is to read as much as you can about what is involved in training and preparing your puppy or older Poodle in order to get ready for an activity. Also, find an experienced obedience/retriever trainer to get you started and to challenge you with progressive goals to achieve as you make your journey towards retrieving with your Poodle.
In this article, I will share some of the things I’ve done to prepare myself and my Poodles for retrieving activity.
If your Poodle is a puppy, you may notice, as I have, that he is constantly looking for something to carry. Your first reaction may be to scold your puppy and remove things from his mouth; however, if this is done, you may be teaching your young pup at a very vulnerable age NOT to carry things in his mouth. In some cases, this early intervention could be enough to dampen the pup’s retrieving instinct and render him difficult to train for future gun dog events.
When we recently brought our new Standard Poodle puppy Minarets REF Tiara Del Sol into our home, I was interested, as I am with all our Poodles, to test her natural retriever instincts. I was amazed to see this nine-week-old puppy actively using her nose in the brush during free play in the field; soon she was bringing me all sorts of treasures she had found. At this age, I like to start throwing things such as tennis balls or soft covered paint rollers for a pup to see if they will bring it back to me. This is enough of a retrieving challenge for a young puppy to begin with. This fun retrieving play is a stress-free way to spark an interest in more serious retrieving for the pup once they mature a bit.
I have been told that more structured retriever training should not begin until a pup has lost its baby teeth and replaced them with adult teeth, usually at around six or seven months. There is the danger of a pup, especially a
Poodle pup, becoming bored with retrieving if you push retrieving too hard, too soon.
At a young age, you can and should start introducing your Poodle puppies to water. Correct introduction to water is VERY important. When the water is warm enough for you to begin swimming, it is time to start your puppy.
We walk along the shore or wade out into shallow water encouraging our Poodles to follow us. (This would also be how you would start an older pup or an adult Poodle that you want to involve in retrieving activities.) You may want to have your puppy or adult Poodle on a long leash during this training exercise.
Encourage your Poodle to follow you until he doesn’t mind getting his feet wet. Use the already familiar tennis balls/dummies to make the water look inviting. I toss the balls into the shallow water gradually encouraging my Poodle to follow me into deeper water.
Eventually, I wade deeper, continuing to encourage my Poodle to follow me.
NEVER pick up your puppy/adult Poodle and throw him into the water.
Eventually, their feet will start to leave the bottom of the lake, and they will be floating. At this point, I use my lead line to gently pull them into a little deeper water: before he knows it, the Poodle will find himself swimming.
You know the old saying, “Sink or swim” . . . most Poodles will swim and begin enjoying it.
Enthusiastic swimming is the result of a careful, positive introduction to water . . . whether your Poodle is a puppy or an adult.
Before a Poodle can be trained as a retriever, he should respond reliably to four basic commands: COME, SIT, NO, and HEEL.
We start teaching our Poodle puppies to come when called at a very young age. Most puppies will come if you call their name, clap your hands, and say “come.” When our Poodle pups come, we praise them and, once in a while, offer treats as an extra reward for coming. DON’T give a command you are not in a position to enforce. We will use a collar and a length of line to encourage our Poodles to come directly to us when given the command, COME. Once our Poodles learn to respond to the COME command, we then introduce the SIT command. A lot of these basic commands can be taught at home when your Poodle is a very young puppy.
Any time after 12 weeks of age, we like to enroll our puppies in a Basic Puppy class. A puppy class is not as structured as a Basic Obedience class and training sessions are shorter in length and non-stressful for growing puppies. As your puppy matures, you will want to follow up its training with both a Basic Obedience class and an Advanced Obedience class.
This will allow you and your Poodle to learn to work together as a team amid distractions, in new and different environments, and in association with dogs and people new to you both. During these structured obedience lessons, your Poodle should be able to master quite a few of the basic skills needed in order to retrieve seriously in competition or just for fun. In preparation for training my own Standard Poodle Rivers Edge Regale Rene’ to retrieve, I completed three levels of obedience training and have gone on to help him earn both an American Kennel Club and a United Kennel Club Companion Dog title.
BASIC EQUIPMENT NEEDED FOR BEGINNERS RETRIEVER TRAINING
These are some of the basic tips and equipment that I have used to get my Poodle and puppies started to work toward a retrieving goal at a beginners level.
In the future, we hope to continue to discuss retrieving and share more training tips and specific exercises/skills required for the puppy/dog to work toward accomplishing.
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