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Afraid of Frizbee


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Hi Everyone,

 

I'm trying to get Sheila (1 1/2 yr BC mix) interested in the frizbee, but she acts afraid of it. I throw it (not at her, of course) and she ducks and shuffles away. I've tried scooting it along the ground (a suggestion I read on this board) but she ducks and runs at that, too.

 

I know that time and persistence (on my part) will help with this, but I want to get off on the right track so she doesn't stay afraid of it since she likes to fetch other things. Frizbee catching would be a great thing to add to her growing repertoire.

 

Any suggestions?

 

IMM

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Try getting her to eat treats out of it. If she won't, start by putting it as close to the treat as possible then moving closer. She may have had a frizbee thrown at her in a mean way, or she may have chewed a younguns frizbee and was punished for it. She may never get over that fear if punishment was the issue.

 

Good luck!

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Yeah, I tried doing tug-of-war with it. She slinks up to it and sniffs (which gives me hope), but then slinks away as soon as I move.

 

It's possible that she did have a bad experience with things being thrown at her. We just got her about 6 weeks ago so who really knows what happened before then.

 

I like the idea of putting treats in it. I'll give that a try.

 

Thanks,

 

IMM

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Do you know any dogs who fetch Frisbees? Maybe if she sees a dog chasing, catching, returning and tugging with a Frisbee, she'll get the idea. Years ago, I bought a stiff tug toy (the Riot Stick) and one of my dogs had no idea what to do with it. He hated retrieving to begin with and didn't like the texture of the new toy, so throwing it didn't help. So I started tugging with one of my other dogs in front of him and you could see the lightbulb go on over his head. It never became a favorite toy for him, but he knew what to do with it and had fun tugging.

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Will Sheila pick up a Ball in her mouth? Or any other toys for that matter.

 

I've got a lot of experience with this, my First BC Roxy, has competed in Frisbee events for 5 years. She's a natural and obsesses over the sport. I adopted Monty at about 18 months old. Along with his many other quirks, he will not pick up any toys at all. Seriously, the only thing that goes in this dog's mouth is food and water, and the fur on Roxy's Neck:), Yes they fight a little, all in play of course. Monty is a very athletic dog, but will not play with toys.

It's very funny, about once every 6 months, he will pick something up, and run into another room in the house, usually a sock or something, but on occasion he grabbed a ball, and once we actually saw him pick up a frisbee. That's once in 4 years.

 

As for him seeing the other dog do it and maybe he will catch on, never worked at my house, and he sees it all the time. Monty does play defense while I'm trying to play with Roxy, at least he entertains himself.

 

Anyway, just to keep you trying, here's a pic of Roxy in an event 3 weeks ago in Red Bank NJ. Click on the link below for a whole bunch of pics from the event. There's some nice ones in there.

 

47b6ce31b3127cce98548c4a752000000017109AbsWblm2ao

 

Other Photos

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Mark, you could try playing catch with another human, making it seem like Christmas Day mixed with Halloween and the last day of school! If you have a lot of fun with it, she may show some interest.

 

Try rolling it along the ground, or drill a small hole in one edge, tie a light line to the frisbee and tease her with it, jerking it along the ground erratically just as she might get close to it.

 

Good luck - let us know if anything works.

 

Ruth n the BC3

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Some dogs just do not do frisbee or ball. Allie loves them, but two of her best BC BC/Mix friends will not play with them at all! Usually, we end up with Allie chasing the ball/frisbee and Sadie and Gus chasing Allie. :rolleyes:

 

It sounds like you are progressing the right way, but don't be too disappointed if your pup just doesn't want to play with a frisbee.

 

You might also trying a different kind of disc -- Allie prefers the nylon ones to the hard plastic ones. Rubber ones work well, too.

 

Good luck!

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Hi there,

 

I wouldn't be too concerned about your dog's fear of a frisbee. I think this is common for many BCs that have not experienced a lot of toy play as puppies. After all, the breed is hard wired to be sensitive and responsive to a shepherd raising a crook from 200+ yards away. So it's not unusual for them to duck and run if something is thrown in their direction.

 

To teach your dog to love toys, check out this article: Creating a Motivating Toy .

 

Another thing I would recommend if you haven't done it already is to start with a fabric frisbee rather than a hard plastic one.

 

TY0001.jpg

 

Most of my dogs have not been interested in plastic toys until they have months of experience playing tug games with stuffed toys and cloth frisbees.

 

Good luck!

 

Columbia, MO

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So what I'm hearing here is that with time and patience these kinds of things will come. I've got a lot of both when it comes to Sheila. And maybe she's the type to never get into frizbee's. That'll be fine. She's doing well in other areas.

 

She now goes through a little A-frame I've set up. She does this on command: "Go Through". Really cool. I've also set up a ramp and she's doing well if she's on the leash with this. This'll take a little more time. She also jumps over a pet gate (on command: "Jump Over") we set up at night so the dogs don't do their business in our living room. Plus, she seems to be enjoying her walks.

 

Now all we need to do is re-integrate her into the pack. This will come with time, too. It's very sad to have her separate from everyone.

 

Thanks for all the great suggestions, folks.

 

IMM

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