Kristen Cabe said:
I thought this was some pretty good info, and offers an alternative to the forced retrieve. It has pictures, so I can't copy and paste it here, but here is the link:
http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/retrieve4p.html
I liked some of the things in this article a lot. It's focused on clicker work, but it doesn't matter at all, IMHO, whether or not you're using a clicker as a marker to follow this set of motivational instructions.
I noted that something Bob Scott has mentioned a couple of times (and which I had overlooked until he did) is stressed here, and that's to mark the first attention the dog pays to the dumbbell, including being fully present when s/he first sees it.
Marker timing is stressed, too, and in my experience, a lot of new (and not so new) handlers become lot better when they understand the importance of timing.
The language in the step titles is awfully cutesy and there sure are a lot of words....... but there's some good stuff here.
JMO.