Pouring rain providing a slow start to our morning so, I elected to make an informative post to kill time and shed some light on an often misunderstood or confused topic in retriever training.
Our take on Force/Compulsion.
I’ve heard constantly, “well, my dog doesn’t need to be force fetched, he’s not going to be a hunt test dog,” or “do you have to force your dogs and/or my dog to jump from the boat while hunting,” and “force fetch just makes a dog who doesn’t want to retrieve, retrieve.” All are incorrect, ESPECIALLY the latter.
Force fetch and/or a compulsion program, as I like to put it, is about teaching a dog to think through pressure and giving us, as handlers, a tool or correction to use in rare cases of non compliance with a properly forced dog. Teaching a dog to reliably hold a bird, bumper or other object is minimal and achieved in a matter of a couple weeks. Teaching a dog to use their brain in stressful situations is where a compulsion program excels.
Dogs that willingly and eagerly jump out of boats, off dock blinds, into rough water with harsh currents and waves do not do so because they’re made to, they do so because they had proper exposure to that situation and were taught how to be successful in those situations. Forcing a dog who’s unsure or scared of a situation is detrimental and an easy way to make that dog never work in that situation again. We must teach that situation before any correction is applied for non compliance.
Compulsion, while it has taught and “awakened” a handful of dogs who weren’t eager retrievers, is far from a way to make a dog retrieve who doesn’t want to retrieve. That’s a topic for another post, but had to be touched on because of the amount it seems to have been associated with a Force/Compulsion program.
Truly, force fetch, when looked at as a whole and not as a “way to make a dog pick something up”, because let’s face it... they’re retrievers, they do that inherently and on occasion, bordering constantly, is the ultimate brain awakening tool in a formal retriever program. Past teaching a young puppy HOW to learn, a compulsion program teaches a dog how to turn off pressure through compliance, “forcing” them to use their brain in, what could be labeled as, a stressful situation.
Compulsion programs provide the handler and the finished retriever with a level playing field and understanding of how to deal with a situation vs what’s required in certain situations and when implemented properly, with minimal/only the pressure needed to generate the desired response, created an eager team member to share the blind or line with.
Dog Trainer
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