I have been working on the retrieve with my terrier for two months. He'll pick up and bring the PVC and a dowel but he will not pick up the dumbbell. What can I do to resolve this issue?

I’ve been working on the forced retrieve with my terrier for the past 2 months. I started from the very basic. From take, to hold and now bring. I also used a starter kit similar to the one sold at Leerburg. Which includes a pvc section as well as a dowel.

He’ll pick up and bring the pvc and dowel. He just will not pick up the dumbbell.

What did I do wrong? Also, what can I do to resolve issue?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Leerburg's Answer

When you say you are working on a forced retrieve, can you describe what that means? Are you following the Michael Ellis retrieve video?

Did you go thru all the exact same steps with the dumbbell as you did with the PVC and dowel? It's like starting over again when you introduce new items, so go back to the very basics with the dumbbell as you did when you used the dowel and PVC.

It's a common issue, you may need to keep your hand on the dumbbell as you lower it to the ground incrementally. Break it down into tiny steps for him and I bet he'll get it soon.

I only ask because a "forced" retrieve usually means you use pressure on the dog to force them to take it. Not shaping it as shown in the Ellis retrieve info.

Many trainers back in the days before marker training and reward-based training used some pretty harsh methods to force dogs to retrieve items. Some still do. This is different than putting some leash pressure on a dog that already understands and performs a retrieve trained with rewards. If you followed the Ellis retrieve video that's good.