I am by no means a dumbbell expert! But I've been playing around with it, and managed to teach my dog that the dumbbell is a magical object that can be traded for cookies, play, and extravagant praise,
but only if you wait until you are sent, run out straight to pick it up, carry it straight back to Mom, and deliver it to her hands.
I shaped it from the start, using a clicker and with
this article and
these videos as primary guides. Essentially, I broke the exercise down into tiny steps and gradually chained them all together, shaping along the way. We went through several plateaus (including the dreaded "it is physically impossible for me to hold a dumbbell and walk at the same time"), but by breaking it down into smaller/easier pieces, we worked through them. The first and most central lesson for us was that the dumbbell can be traded for amazing rewards
. Puppy party? Jackpot cookies? Chase-and-dance game? These can all be yours, if you just put the dumbbell in Mom's hands
and only in Mom's hands.
Betty loves (
LOVES) her dumbbell, to the point that if I leave it out where she can find it she will pick it up and bring it to me wherever I am in the house and try to shove it into my hands for a cookie.
Now, take all this with a grain of salt, because we have yet to see the inside of a competition ring! But if you want to help your dog love the dumbbell, maybe this will help.
