After at least a year of working on it, I have finally persuaded Hetty to pick a dumbbell off the floor! I am so chuffed with my little girl. Her mother learned a proper retrieve in about 4 or 6 weeks, but it was much much harder for this one for some reason. Even after I persuaded her that it was a nice thing to have a dumbbell in the mouth and got her to hold it for me, she seemed to have actual physical trouble picking it off the floor. I just couldn't believe it was that hard as her mother has no trouble at all picking it up, but was all ready to look round at Crufts and find something even lighter or something with a larger end so it was higher off the floor. But it looks like she has finally cracked it!! Now, shall I be really bold and try her at South Eastern Toydog's obedience show..... :-D

Awww!  Well done you for patience and perseverance.  :-)  :-)

Big kiss for Hetty.  :-)

Out of interest how did you get her to do it ? Can't get my fcr to deliver to hand for live no moey grrrr

Out of interest how did you get her to do it ? Can't get my fcr to deliver to hand for live no moey grrrr

Go for it and enter the obedience at Southern counties toy dog!

I have decided to take the plunge and have entered Harry in the obedience at uk toy.Not sure if there will be any more chins entered,as mostly it's cavs,papillons and pugs.

Just hope he doesn't do a down in the breed ring!!

Well I am going with my tricolour, but the problem if I enter Hetty too is doing stays together - could be fun!!

I gently put the dumbbell in her mouth (not forced, not clamped mouth shut, not keeping it in), just popped in and straight out again, then moved to her being happy for it to stay in for a second, then she started gripping it for a split second, then holding properly. Then I moved the dumbbell slightly away so she had to reach for it, then slowly moved it nearer and nearer the floor till she was picking it up. Took her mother about a month or so, the hardest part with her was persuading her that she could walk with a dumbbell in her mouth! Hetty learned that very easily, it was the picking up that took forever! :-)

ETA: even more proud of her now as I forgot the bumbag at training and only had the spare I keep in the car, which is a different colour AND with string wrapped round, which she didn't used to like, the one she picked up last night had vet wrap round it to be even softer. But with a little work beforehand, she picked up the new dumbbell beautifully!

Have you tried a clicker ? We had a demonstration at our Club some years ago by a trainer, my Springer Spaniel would not pick up a dumbbell and with the help of the trainer and some tasy treats she picked it up in one night !!
The trainer did the click and I gave the treats, it is a matter of getting the timing right, which I was finding difficult at first, to many things to hold, treats, dumbbell and clicker. It can be very effective, have also seen it used for send aways and touch exercises very successfuly.
It seems to stick well as once my girl had learned the excercise, she never forgot, and even now at over 12 she still loves doing it.

I did try the clicker with my girl, we got her looking at and nudging the dumbbell but she wouldn't pick it up. The trainers told me to leave it on the floor and wait for her to show some interest, but what worked for us was going against their advice and jiggling it around, almost lifting it into her mouth with my fingers, and gradually reducing the amount of lifting assistance until she found she could pick it up herself. :-)

Well done to Hetty and you for your perseverance !

That's the thing though, my bitch will retrieve anything bu spits it t my feet grrr. I've thrive clicker, back chaining , ignoring etc etc, se seems to be showing signs of a breakthrough bless her .

One of mine used to do that and I cured it by a combination of moving backwards (to keep her coming) and turning away as she approached so she kept holding her retrieve till I turned and asked her for it.

Mine aren't natural retrievers so I started with a separate hold command before I started with having them run out to get it. My older girl has such a good hold that if I tug gently with ONE hand, she will not release, she waits until I say 'give' and bring BOTH hands down.

Good one Lucy, I know how hard it can be to get a dog that isn't a natural retriever to do a retrieve. Never managed at all with some of mine.

Thanks! And she got the maximum 3 points on the 'collect an article from floor' movement in the Heelwork to Music test we did this morning. Not that you'd have a dog fetch a dumbbell in HTM, but I doubt we'll ever compete, and if we did I'd teach her to fetch something else. Her mum fetched a little basket and looked very cute. :-D