Back in 2007, we knew that 8-week old Cooper was a natural-born retriever. We played all kinds of retriever games with him, not the least of which was “fetch the newspaper!”
We hadn’t really noticed the same affinity for retrieving in Tooey. She didn’t seem to enjoy retrieving games very much.
But recently, she’s been working on fetching and holding a dumbbell for her competition Obedience work, and she just got her Junior Hunter title for which she retrieved birds, so when we started getting the newspaper again, I had an idea.
Every morning, I get all excited: “Tooey! Let’s go get the newspaper!!!” She jumps up and, now that we’ve been doing this for a couple of weeks, runs to the door, dashes out, locates the newpaper, and fetches it up.
By this morning, we’ve gotten to the point where she’ll hold onto the newspaper until she gets across two rooms and onto her rug. When I catch up to her (after closing the door after she comes back in), I wait a few beats and then, standing in the “Front” position, put my hands out and tell her to “Drop”. When the newspaper falls into my hands, she gets a piece of homemade chicken jerky and an enthusiastic “Good fetch!”
I know she’s liking this game because, when I get the plastic-covered newspaper in my hands, the plastic bag is all wet with drool. She’s working for that yummy treat, which I am happy to pay her. And I can also tell because her tail starts wagging at “Tooey! Let’s go get the newspaper!” and doesn’t stop until she gets to her rug.
What do you think?