Excessive Chewing, rolling on the dumbbell retrieve.....HELP - Page 2

foundation in dowel work. teach dog implications of losing dowel and reward of holding on hard. teach dog on Lance Collins come apart dumbell with string attached. teach dog implication of losing dumbell while on retrieve...(each dog has different threshhold, of course) add conflict (line work) to bring power to work. Secure calm presentation. Do it 10000 x. I have seen a dog in our club that came from Germany that would literally, take a hardwood dowel and make it into toothpicks. No exaggeration. Completely spinter and broken in two. It was crazy. dog was 2 or 3 yrs old with bad habit, obviously. The director of our club took the dog RIGHT back to - pay attention - on the table. neck secured. no option. very controlled. Then when calm, to the metal dowel, on table. baby steps all the way. this took 6 months of solid brilliant work. result is that it now does a calm retrieve with solid presentation. Incredibly detailed work. It was wonderful to see the progression in those months. amazing, really.

the object of the retrieve is to see the dog go out and come back with enthusiasm...wanting to retrieve...the whole no mouthing thing is point oriented...I was just having a discussion concerning this issue with some people who just returned from the BSP....judges are judging on mouthing instead of joy of work....training and titling have taken over the joy of the German Shepherd working for it's handler....sad IMNSHO:-)

I like all the methods mentioned - weight dumbbell (or just always use a SchH3 dumbbell), back up and re-train the take and hold as a separate exercise, and get the dog focused on some other reward.  I find when I have a ball under my chin there is *no* chewing, the dogs clamp down and are focused on that toy.  After a while it just becomes habit to hold firm and calm.  When I am training the hold separately I do a lot of pressing, tapping, and pulling on the sides of the dumbbell to reinforce a firm hold.  If the dog is not holding firmly and the dumbbell fallst out because I press on it then they get some pressure.  Other than that, I don't train a forced hold or forced retrieve but I am picky about the hold and don't like chewing or the dog rolling the dumbbell back into his mouth.

I agree a lot of it is just points but I've seen some dogs that hold it so "loose" they've accidentally thrown the dumbell (like the dog sort of swoops in for the pick up and tosses the head back to roll the dumbbell back) or dropped it, even dropped it on the handlers feet.  Does it really matter?  Probably not, but it's not impossible to fix either.