Dumbell

[hockey390]

Since I am trying to work with Emma on picking up items and bringing them to me (without me throwing it and saying fetch; like the remote) I have been in the market for a dog training dumbbell. Where have you guys/girls gotten yours at? I went to my local pet store and they didn't have them, nor did they have any suggestions as to where I should get one.

 

[amanda85]

i think u can get at any nearest obedience school.....dumbbell is an equipment required for competitive obedience...

 

[stormi]

I know you posted this ages ago, so I hope you already have a dumb bell

It may be a bit different here, but the best one I ever got was from a stand at an obedience competition (they are usually on sale at the larger shows). They also sell reasonable dumbells at the working trials club I go to. The ones in the pet shops here are usually the plastic ones with a really thin bar (which is OK if you want to wrap heaps of string round the middle, but I feel that encourages mouthing, and I prefer the wood ones). There is also a place in Wales that makes good ones, you can mail order from them. I dont know if you have a company in the US you can mail order from if you cant get them from a competition?

 

[hivin]

Hi:

Just a thought ... our dog does a lot of retrieval work for us ... brings a number of items on demand ... we did the training with the actual items ... it might be hard to get them to generalize to the actual items, it would be the same as transferring the retrieval skills from ball retrieval to items on demand. You could do this without a dumbell ... just curious why you think you need the dumbell as an intermediary step ... sorry, just seems that if item retrieval is the goal then you're making more work for yourself by training with a dumbell and then you'll still have to train with specific items once they've mastered the dumbell ... unless, of course you're planning to get into obedience trials, then you'd definitely want to do the training with a dumbell.

Sorry, you peeked our curiousity that's all: Hivin

 

[stormi]

My understanding of the dumbell hivin is that it is an easy article for a dog to pick up due to the bar being raised from the ground so the jaws can slide around it easily, thus encouraging a clean pick-up. Once retreive with a dumbell is mastered the skill developed can be transfered to more difficult articles. That is my understanding of the theory behind having the dumbell anyway :dogsmile:

In practise I dont always introduce the dumbell first for retreive, but I do introduce it early on, and do a lot of my retreive ground work using the dumbell.

 

[hivin]

Thanks stormi ... sorry if we appeared nosey ... lots of times we get good ideas for our own training situations when we clarify this stuff.

Take care, hoping you're well this evening: Hivin

 

[stormi]

No, hivin, I agree. I love this site because so many people here are willing to share training ideas. I like having discussions about dog training

 

[kdiana2603]

Dumbbell retrieval

I was wondering if you guys can give me any tips on how to teach my dog to do this.
I am specifically having trouble with getting my dog to sit with the dumbbell in his mouth before giving it to me.
Thank you!!!!!!!