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...and now I want a block of wood!!

Ahhh... but a very nice block of wood it is!

Seriously, after all this time (and money) ordering Leerburg products and being impressed with their quality, the stuff I order STILL exceeds my expectations

 Quote: connie sutherland

Step one was several sessions of marking and rewarding for just approaching the dumbell. Then touching his nose to it, or licking it..... then putting his mouth around the middle only (ignoring teeth on the ends). Some people wrap the middle so it has good grip-ability.

I did many markers and rewards for any kind of "dumbell is good" action.

(This was maybe 8 or more short sessions to get to where the dog was picking it up in his teeth.)

So how do you get the dog to even approach or look at the dumbell?

If I'm holding something my dog wants (orbee ball or even food), he just sits in front of me and stares at me waiting for a command. If I don't say anything (or if I give a command he doesn't know yet), he just starts running through his repertoire and proceeds pretty quickly to start biting me out of drive frustration

Even if I just have food or if I don't have anything at all, if he thinks it's working time, he gets so amped up that he can't really sit there and think.

He'll react instantly to commands and his obedience is excellent, but without instructions he really gets wound up and starts pushing me (as in, "what now what now what now?") out of anticipation/frustration.

 Quote: Yuko Blum

So how do you get the dog to even approach or look at the dumbell?

I just put it on the ground and marked even a glance towards it.

The dog will look at the movement of putting it down.

Oh, and I was using food. The reward was the food and not the dumbell. (I was trying not to make the dumbell be a toy.)

I wish I had seen the video you used, so I would know whether I am screwing up your method with what I did.

Bob will know much better.

Ooohhh!! Of course!!

Thanks Connie! I think Aja will respond really well to that method - she's a whiz with marker training. I'll try that out with her as soon as I get home and see how it goes.

 Quote: connie sutherland

Oh, and I was using food. The reward was the food and not the dumbell. (I was trying not to make the dumbell be a toy.)

I wish I had seen the video you used, so I would know whether I am screwing up your method with what I did.

Bob will know much better.

I don't think there's any conflict between the method you suggested and the one I was using.

In Bernhard's second method, the dog's motivation for bringing the dumbell back is the chance to fight with it with his handler (this method would never work with Taro - he wants to KEEP the prey item at all costs!). This method is also what Sheila Booth recommends in her sch obedience book.

However, in method 1, the dog is retrieving in exchange for the ball so the dumbell is not valuable in itself to the dog (although Bernhard does encourage making drive with it to trigger the dog's prey drive and help with the initial learning process).

I think the marker method is an excellent way to get it to "click" in the dog's head that this is what you want him to do.
And of course once he's clear on that, using a toy reward instead of food would really amp up the drive & speed for the exercise!

Wow, I may just teach this to Aja in under the 43 years it took for Taro to pick it up

Please keep those suggestions coming!

(Also any suggestions to minimize mouthing would be appreciated - Taro doesn't mouth when he's sitting, but he'll sometimes chomp the dumbell once or twice as he reaches me and flies into the front position. Dog's too hyper sometimes ).

Retrieve Heres something along these lines

 Quote: yuko blum

(Also any suggestions to minimize mouthing would be appreciated -

Did you backchain for the "hold"? For calm and time? From a nice straight position in front of me I would hold the dumbell at about his head level, and again I'd mark eyeing it, licking it, etc. When he had it in his mouth, I kept the end. Reward for a few seconds with it in his mouth, and then a few more seconds.... then after a half-minute or so (which took several sessions with us), I took off one finger, then two..... again, it was much more than one session before I took my whole hand off.

As you can see in the video, Taro has a really nice hold. He'll hold the dumbell indefinitely in the front position without mouthing

The only time he kinda chomps on it is when he's running back to me with the dumbell in his mouth. He tends to "jump" into a sit in front of me, out of enthusiasm, and it's usually at that point that he crunches down on the dumbell. By the time his butt is on the ground, he holds it calmly like a little angel.

The only place where Bernhard corrects the dog for mouthing the dumbell is in the sitting-front position. He says it's the only appropriate place to correct for mouthing.
I originally did correct Taro (just like Bernhard demonstrates) when he mouthed in the front position, and that fixed it within a session.

 Quote: Yuko Blum

The only time he kinda chomps on it is when he's running back to me with the dumbell in his mouth.

Not having encountered that, I don't know the answer. I have trained the SchH formal retrieve exactly ONCE.... pretty much with printouts of the email answer to each question.... then the next one....

Maybe that was what saved me: I HAD to go very very slowly because that's how I was getting the instructions.