20 Lis Throwing the dumbbell made easy

Throwing the dumbbell is one of the most dreaded parts of obedience trials for many handlers. Sweaty hands, nervous shakes, the fear of disturbing your dog, and perhaps some other dog’s residual slippery spittle on the dumbbell are not helping you throw it correctly. 

Even when thrown successfully, it bounces off the ground and flies in the opposite direction, almost hitting the judge. At this point, you are faced with the difficult decision to either send your dog to retrieve the dumbbell from an unfavorable position or redo the throw, potentially throwing your dog off his game even more. 

Sounds familiar? Fear not, I have some great tips for you on how to deal with this problem that can teach you to throw the dumbbell exactly where your dog needs it.

Where should the dumbbell land?

First things first – where exactly is the best spot to throw the dumbbell? Where should it end up? You might think it’s directly ahead of you, but you are mistaken. Almost every dog will turn the same way when picking up the dumbbell. Some of them turn right, some of them left but regardless most of them will always choose the same direction. There are rare exceptions, and encountering one at a recent seminar actually inspired me to write this blog post.

This means that, for almost all dogs,  the best spot for the dumbbell to land is slightly to the right if your dog turns left, and slightly to the left if your dog turns right. That way, after picking up the dumbbell and turning, your dog will be facing you straight on, and he won’t have to adjust his angle, making it much easier for him to perform a straight front sit correctly. 

How to deal with bouncing and rolling

“This sounds really great” you might say, but “how do I deal with the dumbbell bouncing from the ground or rolling and ending up somewhere where I did not intend to throw it?” 

I have a solution for this problem too, although of course, there is always a little bit of luck involved and the dumbbell can always bounce back on you. 

You can effectively reduce this unfortunate bouncing tendency if you rotate the dumbbell backward towards you when you throw it. Some people prefer to hold it underhand, some overhand. I suggest you try both ways and decide for yourself. The deciding factor should be which way, when you throw it, puts more backward spin on the dumbbell. 

You will see that the more backwards rotation on the throw, the higher the chance the dumbbell won’t roll or bounce away and will just land wherever you throw it (making it much easier for you to place it exactly where you want). This is, of course, easier to do with the smaller dumbbells, but even throwing the two-kilogram IGP dumbbell can be done (at least to a degree) if you practice. 

Throwing the dumbbell over obstacles

These tips will help you when doing the retrieve on the flat, but the real challenge is performing a retrieve over obstacles like the hurdle and the A-frame. The danger of hitting an obstacle is very real, and even if you don’t hit it, the dumbbell might land too close to the hurdle for the dog to be able to jump properly.  It could also roll next to the obstacle, leading your dog to retrieve the dumbbell directly, without actually going over the obstacle.

If any of that happens, you have to ask the judge’s permission, let your dog sit on the spot, go pick up the dumbbell yourself, and start over. This will throw you off and interrupt your rhythm. It may also make your dog unsure or uneasy. Overall, it is generally not a pleasant thing to happen at a trial. 

So how can you make this easier on yourself and reduce the chance of having to throw a second time? Usually, when handlers are throwing the dumbbell over an obstacle, they try to aim for a spot on the ground where they would like it to land. They either find a spot behind the hurdle or try to imagine one on the ground behind the A-frame. They then throw the dumbbell with the intention of hitting that spot exactly. 

This strategy doesn’t work that well and you will usually find your aim way off. What’s actually much easier to do is to imagine a target above the hurdle. Just imagine any type of target, either a classic red and white striped circle or perhaps the face of someone you don’t like so much floating above the hurdle or the A-frame. 

Now just take your dumbbell, put a backward spin on it, and hit that sucker right in the nose. You will find it is much easier to hit the right spot, you just have to figure out where exactly you should mentally place your target. Like with the retrieve on the flat, it should be slightly off-center, to the right, or to the left depending on which way your dog turns. 

In the beginning, it might be helpful to actually put something in the right spot for you to hit. I usually just use a stick and have my clients try to hit the end of the stick positioned above the obstacle. This will help you dial in and later on, you can imagine the target in the way I described above.

Practice makes perfect

I strongly recommend you spend a significant amount of time practicing how to throw the dumbbell without your dog. Take a friend and just throw the dumbbell to each other. Stand on two sides of the hurdle or A-frame and throw it over the hurdle. 

Please be safe! Watch out and don’t hit each other. But practice. It will help your performance anxiety at the trial immensely when you know you can rely on yourself to throw the dumbbell correctly every time. Practice makes perfect. 

Usually, we train our dogs to perfection to make sure they really perform at the top of their abilities. Do the same for yourself. Give your dog a perfectly placed dumbbell for him to show off his amazing retrieve (which you taught him over all the late night and early morning training sessions.)

Good luck at your trial! Let me know how it went. Be mindful and everything will work out.