| Basically, I agree with Orville on this in that I don't believe the dog really cares. After all, they pick up a frizbee lying flat on the ground, bring in my newspaper, so touching the ground with their precious noses should hardly cause them a problem. (they also stick that nose in the dirt to make divits) The only thing I would say is that if you have a dog that tends to play/mouth the dumbell, a heavy one discourages that as it must be gripped more firmly.
As far a learning to throw, yes practice, but more than that, if your retrieve is strong, that dog should get the dumbell and bring it back no matter where it might bounce. If it is an over the jump retrieve, same thing applies. Train for off side landings as well as training yourself to throw. Hide the dang thing now and then so they have to hunt for it. Put your hand over their eyes and throw it then give your fetch command. Make it a game if you wish. I do use an "over" command for the over the jump retrieve instead of my on the flat "take it" command so I expect them to jump even if they see the dumbell somewhat offside from the jump. The other rule I have is, until you reach Utility, don't ever look at me from the other side of the jump unless you have something in your mouth to bring back. This eliminates the "gosh, I couldn't find it right under my nose, so I'll just return over the jump anyway" routine. Needless to say, I do not teach a return to me over the jump until I have a retrieve so the picture in the dog's mind is always that when returning to the handler over the jump you're going to be carrying something (preferably a dumbell).  |