Category: Performance Events ¤ Author: Shirley Chong ¤ Title: Fitting the Dumbbell ¤ Helix Fairweather asks: Now, Shirley and Dani, should I train a systemic retrieve with a dumbbell *first*? or can I do it with some other object that is more comfy to pick up? What is so uncomfy about a regular wooden or plastic dumbell??? Okay, Helix, GET THOSE SPIKES OFF THE MOUTHPIECE!!! Something I forgot to put into my first post: before you begin training the retrieve, take a good long look and sniff inside the dog's mouth. There shouldn't be excessive tartar build up (which can hide hairline cracks) or any gum inflammation at all. The mouth should not smell yucky--it should smell pleasantly like dog breath, but not smell of infection or anything else. If you just had your dog's teeth cleaned, wait on retrieving for at least a few days or a week. Depending on what was done, the cleaning can leave the gums a bit tender and the teeth feeling funny. I'd rate a well fitted dumbell as a one in difficulty in picking up (on an ascending scale of one to four). So, let me go into what I mean when I say well fitted. The mouthpiece should be about 1/4" wider than the dog's jaw. If the dog is relaxed about having his/her mouth handled, the easiest way to measure is to use an ordinary dowel (the diameter of the dowel can be anything from 1/4" to 3/4") about a foot long. Put a black mark on the dowel about three inches from one end. Place the dowel in the dog's mouth and hold the mouth closed--gently! You want to see the dog's lips just barely touching the black mark on one side. Put another mark on the other side. Take dowel out of dog's mouth and measure the space between the marks. Look in the catalog and order the dumbell closest to but not less than your measurement. If you have a choice of bell sizes, pick the largest bell size possible. Wooden or plastic? Doesn't really matter. Wooden is a bit warmer to the touch, if you train in cold places. Wood does sometimes break, plastic tends to be tougher. The mouthpiece of a plastic dumbell should be textured to give the dog a good grip. If you get wood, only paint the bells, not the mouthpiece--there's yucky stuff in paint and it outgasses forever, you don't want that in your dog's system. When the dumbell comes, gently place it in the dog's mouth and hold the mouth closed. Do this SLOWLY, so the dog doesn't bite their tongue or pinch it against the dumbell. Now, you need to look at the dumbell from two angles. The first, and MOST important angle is a straight on view. Get down on the dog's eye level (or put the dog on the grooming table, so they are at your eye level). You should be able to see both eyes in entirety over the bells, no matter what position you rotate the bells to. Someday you will want your dog to jump with this opaque hunk of material in their mouth--it's very important for your dog to be able to SEE the jump! Next most important is looking from the side (dog's profile). Ideally, the bells stick out beyond the dog's nose leather. Why? Because when the dog picks the dumbell off the floor this will insure they don't smoosh their nose on the ground. However! Some dogs have fairly shallow faces and it is physically impossible to have both things (eye clearance and nose clearance). If this is the case, you MUST go with eye clearance. Just remember: most dogs would gladly smooosh their noses on the ground to get a piece of raw liver (let alone a potato chip), so it's not all that aversive. As for diameter of mouthpiece, it's not all that important for most dogs. Dogs that have long slender muzzles (think Greyhounds, think some Border Collies) are often more comfortable with a narrow diameter mouthpiece. Dogs with wider and deeper jaws sometimes have problems with narrow diameter mouthpieces--they can't grip the mouthpiece with their premolars, so they work it back in their mouths to the molars (which encourages mouthing) or the dumbell rotates in their mouth (which can fool a judge into thinking the dog is mouthing). Most dogs are fine with a medium sized mouthpiece. Some dogs are natural spikers--their mouth approaches the dumbell from a near vertical angle. Some dogs are natural scoopers--the dog lowers their head so that their jaw is closer to parallel with the floor. I have known handlers who had a definite prejudice one way or the other and have tried to re-train their dog into the other style-- so far, I've never seen anyone who did so successfully. Spiking and scooping, IMHO, are the results of the dog's front end conformation, so trying to change a dog's natural style is working against their physical limits. Trying too hard to change the dog's natural style might lead to persistant front leg/shoulder lameness problems later on. So, after all this rambling on, I guess I meant to say why not start with the dumbell? If you don't have a dumbell, start with something that is fairly firm and rigid (a canvas or plastic field bumper, a tightly rolled and tied towel, a dowel, whatever). I wouldn't start with anything too soft or floppy. Why? Because most dogs are not very aware of what they are standing on and they sometimes don't realize they are standing on the corner of the towel they are trying to pick up. They are much more likely to notice a big, lumpy, hard object under their foot. The first time most dogs stand on something they are trying to pick up is usually pretty confusing and puzzling for them, so save that little wrinkle for later in their retrieving career. Retrieving is not that difficult. Any dog that can dash across the room and pick a teeny weeny piece of nuked hot dog off the floor already has most of the skills for a retrieve! What you're really teaching them is the other half of the exercise--pick up something you can't swallow and bring it back to me. Eventually, you can have the dog pick up something they CAN swallow and bring it back (anyone remember the Great Hot Dog Challenge? ). M. Shirley Chong The Well Mannered Dog