Holding a dumbbell

How can I get Harley to hold a dumbbell properly?

He has the concept of hold in a very loose fashion. I can throw an object out, tell him to hold, he will pick it up, and come back to me, but when he gets to me he drops it (I've made this worse IMO as when I play ball, he has to drop before it gets thrown again, so he'll drop it on his way in to me for the other ball). I can't seem to get him to hold anything when he's still.

He will carry his tennis ball back from the park, so when he does this I constantly praise (and sound like a broken record) for the hold, but then when we get to a road, he has to sit, and when his bum goes down, his mouth tends to open. I've tried when we're approaching the road saying "hold", and instead of asking for a sit, just putting my hand on him bum to make him sit whilst still saying hold, and sometimes (but rarely), this will work and he will still be holding the ball when he's in a sit.

I've tried getting the clicker out (he doesn't seem to respond to the clicker...), and as soon as his teeth touch the dumbbell, click and treat, but he's really hard to have his mouth open as when I've got a treat, he keeps his mouth shut for some reason whilst he's waiting. I managed to get a couple of click and treats for the teeth, but I can feel through the dumbbell that he isn't actually putting pressue on the article.

I've tried turning it into a toy and kicking it round a bit until he picks it up and clicking and treating when he does whilst saying hold, but then he doesn't get that he's to come to front with it.

I've tried when he's got it in his mouth, running with him on the lead in a circle saying hold.

But no... I know he's not the sharpest tool in the box, and doesn't really enjoy learning things, but I'd like him to learn this for training.

Help anyone. Any advice would be much appreciated please.

A lot of patience and the clicker has done me with the last 5 dogs I have taught to hold. At the moment Fizz is learning, he will take it and he gets a click, he hasn't realised yet what the click is for, it is taking him far longer than the others---but it took Tassles dog Zeff over a year so I am not despairing yet!

Playing with toys is different, I never mix the two up.

rune

I agree. With Jess, I haven't needed to as she's grasped the hold, but with HArley, I'm trying to get him to hold in any way possible lol. He's a simple soul bless him.

Do you think it's worth carrying on with the clicker with him even though I don't think he understands what the click mean?

What else have you taught him using the clicker ?

The way I was taught was to make the play with the retrieved object the reward for the retrieve. Obviously this is easiest with a tuggy so you might have to go back to that for a while.
Anything else means the dog has to let go of the object to get the reward.
Throw the tuggy, when it returns - even if he plonks it down, pick it up and have a play with the dog. Repeat till he gets the message. Then teach a Give separately, put the two together and Bob`s your auntie`s husband!

Nothing as he doesn't seem interested in it. I've even tried the whole click, treat for commands that I know he knows and performs fine to get it that he realises that he's doing right when I click. I'm probably doing something wrong though, and I know it's not his fault he won't hold, I just haven't found the way to teach him in a way he understands.

Harley won't tug. He's got an incredibly soft hold (especially for a GSD - he can play retrieve with one of those horrible cheapo tennis balls, and has never cracked one?! whereas Jess breaks it on first retrieve), and doesn't seem to like to keep hold of things.

I like the Bob's your Auntie's Hubby by the way lol - I've only heard the alternative Robert's your father's brother

I think part of my problem is that I'm used to Jess, who likes to work and is really intelligent, whereas Harley is more of a dimwit and chilled out character.

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php...light=retrieve

Thank you Will have a read of that later when little man has gone to bed