Teaching Casting  --  A Key Skill Set for the Working Retrievers

BY PAT NOLAN
 

Most of us do some introduction to casting early on during work on force fetch. Now we want to teach a more formal casting response and add whistle sit and e-collar corrections for cast refusals. Don’t spend too long on this drill; a week or so is plenty. Your dog will get casting practice the rest of his life. He doesn’t need to be perfect before moving on. Make sure he knows the casts and will accept correction for refusals and you are ready to move on. 

This drill teaches four basic casts: left and right over, and left and right back. The sequence of steps is as follows: 

Ø       Teach left and right over separately

Ø       Cast over to a pile

Ø       Alternate casting over with two piles out

Ø       Teach the left and right back cast

Ø       Put out all three piles and alternate casting through each of the four casts

Left and Right Over 

Teach each cast individually. Start by casting to a visible, thrown bumper.  

Place your dog on a sit-stay. He should be wearing his e-collar and a choke chain with a 15-foot line attached to the live ring of the choke chain. Step off about six feet in front and turn to face him. With your right hand, toss one bumper to land 10 feet off your dog’s left shoulder.  Pause, and when your dog is looking at you, cast with your right hand and command “fetch/over.” Praise for a good retrieve; ear pinch correct for any refusals.  

After each retrieve, move forward to receive the bumper. Stand so when your dog returns to sit in front for delivery he will be sitting on the spot from which you first cast him. Encourage a straight sit in front, but do not correct for a less-than-perfect sit. As your dog gains experience on casting you can increase your requirements for a straight sit. Work to get four or five good retrieves on the right-hand cast.   

Some dogs take to this readily; if yours is one of these, you can introduce the left over in the same session. If you need numerous attempts to get four or five correction-free retrieves on the right-hand cast, wait until the following session to introduce the left-hand over.  

To teach the left over, with your dog in the remote sit position, toss the bumper and cast with your left hand. For the first two sessions, command, “fetch, over.” After the first two sessions, your dog should have made the association between “fetch” and “over” and you can drop the fetch command.  

During this drill, hold your dog accountable for stay. Now and later in the field, he cannot take a cast he does not see. If your dog breaks to retrieve before you send him, do not re-command sit. Use the line to prevent him from retrieving and then with a series of short, quick jerks on the line correct him back to where you first placed him for the stay. With your last correction, give a whistle sit command and a nick with the e-collar just as his rump sits on the spot. 

Often two sessions is sufficient exposure to casting to move to the next step, but be sure your dog will cast both left and right smoothly before moving on. 

Casting to a Pile  

Place your dog on a sit-stay. Place four bumpers about 10 feet off his left shoulder. Stand about six feet in front as before and toss one bumper to the pile. Pause, and when he is looking at you cast over. Walk forward and receive the bumper. After praising him, flip the bumper behind you. Leave him on a stay and step back. Now, cast him to the pile for another.

The second and subsequent casts of this set present an important difference to your dog. You are directing him to retrieve without the excitement of the throw.  For most dogs, this presents no difficulty. Occasionally, a dog will refuse to retrieve without the throw. You should ear pinch force to a bumper for all refusals. Your cast is a command and not a release to retrieve if he feels like it.  

Some dogs will shop back and forth, picking up each bumper in turn, delaying the retrieve. To eliminate this, use a quick jerk on the line for failure to return. If after this correction, your dog comes away empty handed, ear-pinch back to a bumper. He will soon tire of this game and choose one bumper when he gets to the pile. 

After your dog has retrieved all the bumpers from the right/over pile, replace the pile, this time off his right shoulder and work on the left-hand cast. Again, for the first cast to the left, identify or “mark” the pile by throwing a bumper to it. Work through the left over pile just as you did for the right. 

Work one or two sessions as needed so that your dog will cast left and right to retrieve from a pile without you marking the pile for every retrieve. 

Two Piles, Alternate Casting  

Put out both over piles at the same time, with four bumpers in each pile. Place your dog on a sit-stay between the piles and facing you. Begin just as before, by throwing and casting to the right-hand pile. Now, instead of tossing the retrieved bumper behind you, return it to the pile it came from and cast to the opposite pile. Instead of retrieving all the bumpers from one side before changing casts, you will alternate casting right and left. This is an important difference. Work through until your dog has made five retrieves from each pile.  

This step presents two changes for your dog. Until now, you have always thrown and cast the same direction. Here you are casting away from the thrown bumper.  In addition, this is the first time he has had a choice of directions. If your dog tries to retrieve from the wrong pile, whistle sit and cast again. Accept this as an error and not disobedience. However, the newness of the situation does not negate your dog’s responsibility to retrieve; if he refuses to retrieve when cast, ear pinch force to the correct pile. 

Two or three sessions are usually enough to accustom your dog to alternate casting with two piles out. However, before moving on to the next step, make sure your dog is waiting for your command to retrieve, casting in the direction you choose, and that he picks up as soon as he gets to the pile.  

Left and Right Back Cast 

Place your dog in front on a sit-stay but angle the dog to your right. He will not be facing you directly but facing your five o’clock position. Toss a bumper with your right hand past his left side to land 10 feet behind him at twelve o’clock. Cast right-hand back and command fetch/back. Praise for retrieving, and correct for refusals. Cast four or five times. If all goes well, introduce the left back cast. Sit the dog in front and angle him to the left. This time he should be facing your seven o’clock position. With your left hand, toss the bumper past his right side to land at the twelve o’clock position. Cast left-hand back and command fetch/back. By offsetting the dog to the side you plan to cast, you are making it easier for the dog to turn the correct way. At this point he doesn’t know to turn left and right back in response to command, so do not correct if he turns the wrong way. Instead, whistle sit and recast. 

When he can cast “back” turning both right and left, drop the fetch command and just say “back.” Begin to place the dog straighter. Eventually you will sit him facing you directly and cast for either left or right back.   

Three Piles 

Now that your dog can do all positions, left and right over, and left and right back, put all three piles out at once. Alternate casting through each of the four casts. After each retrieve, return each bumper to the pile it came from. In the beginning, follow each over with the opposite back cast. This way you are casting your dog away from the temptation of returning to the pile he has just retrieved from. When he has more experience casting with all three piles out, teach the inside cast; that is, follow the left over with a left back, the right over with the right back.   

Indirect Pressure 

Until now we have used the e-collar to apply “direct” pressure: a whistle sit and nick for failure to sit, and here-nick-here for failure to come when called. We can also use the e-collar to apply “indirect” pressure by correcting or forcing on one command to improve performance on another.  

To apply indirect pressure for cast refusals, whistle sit your dog. If needed, call in to reposition, whistle sit, nick with the e-collar, and whistle sit again. Then recast.  

This works on three levels to improve casting response. First, the dog is unsuccessful in his choice of response. Dogs will eventually eliminate behavior that does not bring reward. Second, the e-collar nick is an unpleasant result of the inappropriate response. Dogs will eventually eliminate behavior that results in discomfort. Finally, dogs can generalize information; improvement in the dog’s performance on any command carries over to other commands. A key goal of our basic training is to teach this concept: obedience to command brings a positive outcome. 

This indirect pressure on whistle sit is the primary correction we will use for cast refusals throughout the dog’s training in the field. The requirement that your dog sit on the nick is not new and should pose no problems for him. But, be diligent here. Some dogs will try to jump to retrieve in response to the nick or run in on the nick. For you to correct with the e-collar now and later in the field, your dog must sit on the nick. For any inappropriate response, step in and use the line to force the correct response, repeat the sit whistle, and nick with the e-collar.