KB Water Dummy | 200g | Land & Water Training | Grey, Red or Black

A canvas dummy in water is a liability.

It absorbs. It gets cold and heavy. The dog that retrieved it cleanly on land is now carrying something waterlogged and unpleasant - and that's before you factor in what repeated soaking does to the dummy itself over a season of water work.

Water training needs a water dummy. This is it.

The Kirkbourne Water Dummy is 200g, hard buoyant plastic with a knobbled grip surface, a strong nylon throwing cord, and an unsinkable design. Available in grey, red or black. Built for river, lake and pond work - and robust enough to take onto land between water sessions without any fuss.

Why the knobbles matter

The ridged surface isn't cosmetic. A wet, smooth plastic dummy is genuinely harder for a dog to grip cleanly than a dry canvas one. Those knobbles are what the dog's mouth works against in the water and on the retrieve back. They build grip strength and mouth discipline in conditions that canvas training simply doesn't replicate. A dog that's carried this dummy wet through a cold river session in February is a dog with a more reliable carry than one that's only ever trained on land.

Colour and visibility - for you or for the dog

Here's something worth knowing before you pick a colour. Dogs can't see red. They're dichromats - their colour vision works across blue and yellow wavelengths, which means red reads as a muddy brown against grass, reeds or dark water. The dog isn't tracking a red dummy visually. It's using its nose and its memory of where it landed.

Grey and black are the working choices if you want the dog to be marking the dummy visually - both sit in a range it can actually distinguish against water. Better marks, cleaner retrieves, a dog that's doing the job properly rather than guessing.

Red is useful for the handler. High contrast against dark water, easy to spot from a distance, good for keeping track of where the dummy is sitting in moving water or reeds. If you're doing blind retrieve work and the dog's job is to get out and hunt - red keeps you in control of the picture without giving the dog a visual target to cheat off.

Pick grey or black when the dog's marking matters. Pick red when yours does.

200g and the range

At 200g, this is a lightweight, throwable, genuinely buoyant dummy. It's not trying to replicate game weight - that's what the dead bird mallard or the canvas 1lb are for. This is the tool for introducing water work cleanly, building swim confidence, and drilling water retrieves without the complications of a waterlogged canvas dummy or the expense of a bird-shaped replica going into a fast river. For water training with a realistic retrieve weight, the Baby Mallard is the next step up.

What one Kirkbourne member said

"Water dummies are great. Just been down to the river using them." - Christine Charnock, Kirkbourne member

Simple. That's what it's for.

The details:

• Weight: 200g
• Material: Hard buoyant plastic with knobbled grip surface
• Cord: Strong nylon throwing cord
• Colours: Grey | Red | Black
• Buoyancy: Unsinkable in normal use
• Use: Water retrieve introduction, swim confidence, grip and carry conditioning, river and lake sessions, all-season water work
• Suitable for: All breeds - essential for any dog being introduced to water work or any handler running regular water training sessions
• Important: Not a chew toy. Do not leave unattended with your dog.
• Price: £8.95

Stocked at Kirkbourne because water work is its own discipline - and it starts with having the right kit. Canvas gets waterlogged. This doesn't. £8.95, three colours, built for the river.