Reply To: Killing drives with obedience?

[Dave Page]

Edit: For Ace that is how I am incorporating play into his training.

He likes to run so I am using premack and training distant recall with a whistle. He knows if he stays in position I will eventually blow the whistle or verbally give him the recall command and he gets to run really fast. 🙂

Also put him  in a down or some command and have him hold while I pull a tug on the ground making it enticing. Release him and make him chase for a bit before I let him catch it. Give him an out after a few minutes and immediately let him go at it again.

I usually don’t give an out command to end the game. He eventually loses his grip by trying to get better bites and when he does and I  fell we have played enough I just tell him, “enough.” If I feel we haven’t had enough play when he has lost his grip I will give him another command to hold for a short time before letting him ‘catch’ it again.