Introducing Hero to a dumbell. Foundations for Hold, Retrieve, Drop, plus clever cooperative care techniques, watch this space!
Notice how Hero explores with his mouth but hadn’t yet placed himself where I want so I demonstrate with the “do as I do” modelling training method. Copying plays a big part in how dogs learn.
When he chose solo play with the dumbbell I allowed this, shared his joy without encouraging, then instead of grabbing the tool and triggering possessive behaviour, I shift his mindset back to connection and cooperation by offering a brief targeting game that I know he loves.
Once he is feeling a sense of achievement from a well-practiced cued behaviour, we continue with the dumbbell. Not being sure of the rules easily leads to frustration or disconnection, so keeping the session brief and fluid allows for better learning.
Have you been using dumbbells? Id love ideas for more uses!
