Old Dummies, New Dummies

Some girls collect shoes or purses, I collect dog "stuff". Since water training is my absolute favorite thing to do with the dogs, it stands to reason that a great deal of the training gear I have is related to retrieving and water training. I have a sizeable collection of retrieving dummies.

Some of my stash of old dummies is in the first photo. The closed cell foam canvas dummies with the orange throwing ropes (Winchester brand) are among Chili and Decker's favorites, but they both like to play tug with them and "pop" the foam with their teeth. The dummies look the worse for wear pretty quickly. A friend died a batch of these purple for me, because this is a color dogs are supposed to be able to see well in most light conditions. The black/white striped dummies have been favorites for years. These are old style Katies Bumpers dummies. Their newer style dummies are riddled with holes after one throw for Decker, but I think you can still request the old style dummies. They hold up well even against Decker's abusive jaws and are heavy enough to throw accurately and far. The striped pattern makes them easy for the dogs to locate. Less enthusiastic retrievers that don't like retrieving hard dummies often don't care for these dummies initially, although they can learn to like them with lots of positive reinforcement.

A friend of mine recently turned me on to a new supplier for dummies and with their amazing prices, I was compelled to place an immediate order! The camo puppy dummy at the left (on sale for $1.99 each) and firehouse dummy in the center (3.95 each) should be perfect smaller dummies for Ecko as she gains confidence in the water and I am hoping the B/W dummies ($3.99 each) may be tough enough to hold up to Decker. The camo dummy came with a throwing rope and I ordered ropes (75 cents each) for the other dummies.

Here is where I placed my recent order (thanks Janet for turning me on to this place!):
Lion Country Supply Inc

And here are some other neat water websites:

Katies Bumpers - Check out the article on canine color vision about half-way down the homepage on the right.

Canine Water Sports - Check out the "splash and learn" section for good articles etc.