Having a good dumb bell that fits your dog’s mouth correctly can make the difference for how well your dog picks up, holds and delivers. Sometimes your current dumb bell will fit your next dog and that is great! But a change in breed or the same breed but opposite sex or just the smaller or larger size of the dog will require a different size of dumb bell. My golden retriever sized dumb bell was not going to do for my cocker spaniel so a new dumb bell was required. I did some research and am sharing what I found. I ended up buying three different types of dumb bell so that I could try each kind. I will post dumb bells as an item for the All Things Dog Room Store.
A plastic dumb bell is most common and is useful for dogs that like to chew. The wood dumb bell is lighter and tends not to bounce as much when thrown. The combination dumb bell is well, good for dogs that chew and has less bounce.
Dumbbell Sizing:
The ends should be big enough so that it is flush with the end of your dog’s nose. This will prevent your dog from bumping his nose when retrieving it.
The bar length should be short enough so that your dog cannot throw it to the back of their mouth. This will help prevent chewing. One way to measure bit length is to place a dowel in your dog’s mouth just behind the canines and mark on either side where your dog’s lips touch the dowel. Measure between the lines.
The bar diameter should be small enough so that your dog’s mouth can close comfortably, but large enough that it will not spin when your dog picks it up.