Blue Wolf Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 My BC puppy is fast approaching five months of age and she still doesn't get the game of "fetch". If a ball is thrown, she will run after it.. which I will verbally reward. Once she gets to the ball, she will stop, sniff it, then walk away. It never even dawns on her to bring the ball back. Now, I remember how I had to teach my male BC the game of fetch as a puppy, but he was prone to actually attempt to bring the ball back. My girl wont even pick the ball up. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to help my girl understand that bringing the toy back is a good thing and the right thing to do? I am generally a correctional trainer with heavy verbal praise, but I do use treats occasionally. along with shaping and luring. So, I am open to whatever works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silhouettestable Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 My BC puppy is fast approaching five months of age and she still doesn't get the game of "fetch". If a ball is thrown, she will run after it.. which I will verbally reward. Once she gets to the ball, she will stop, sniff it, then walk away. It never even dawns on her to bring the ball back. Now, I remember how I had to teach my male BC the game of fetch as a puppy, but he was prone to actually attempt to bring the ball back. My girl wont even pick the ball up. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to help my girl understand that bringing the toy back is a good thing and the right thing to do? I am generally a correctional trainer with heavy verbal praise, but I do use treats occasionally. along with shaping and luring. So, I am open to whatever works. Try looking up some flyball sites and flyball training. I really can't remember what site it was on, but a while ago I was looking up some box training tips and I remember reading about training dogs to bring the ball back without dropping it. They had some ideas on how to teach the dogs to hold onto the ball. If I come across it again I'll post it here. ETA: I found the site again. There is a whole list of flyball training tips, the two you might want to read are "easy retrieve" and "holding the ball" Hope this helps. Flyball dogs - training Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Wolf Posted April 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Thanks for the advice I'll definitely browse through some flyball instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Hello! I had the same trouble, but Samson would not even run after the ball. What I did to remedy the situation was I made a slit into a tennis ball so that you coul squeeze the ball to get a treat into it, but then when you released the pressure of the ball the hole closed and the treat would stay in the ball and when you threw it. Put one of her favorite treats in the ball and close it up - make sure she smells the treat in the ball and get her excited about it before you throw it. When you do throw it, she'll be more inclined to pick it up since there's goodies in there and then praise her to come back to you. Do this a couple of times and even reward her with a treat the 1st couple of times she brings it back to you. After she gets the hang of it you won't have to use treats and you'll have a fun and simple way to tire your BC out. I was very suprised how short of a time it took Samson to fetch and return the ball to me. It took him about an hour to learn fetch wtih this technique. Good luck! Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Wolf Posted April 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 That is a really awesome idea, Brian. I'm definitely giving that a shot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmy4ever Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Yeah, my Aussie has a simular problem. She'll go get the ball, grab it, but she won't come back. She just wants to play keep a way and tag, haha. Maybe you can try teaching her to fetch with a leash. You'll need two people. Have one person throw the ball, and have the other person leash your dog. When your dog chases the ball, the person with the leash will follow. When she is close to the ball, put it in her mouth and then walk her back to the person who through the ball with your leash. I did a bad job explaining, but...try it. I don't know if it'll work, but I'm just guessing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninso Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 You may just want to try something besides a ball. When I adopted my two-year-old I tried for weeks to get him to play with a ball. He would occasionally run after it, once or twice he even picked it up, but most of the time, it was as though it didn't even exist. He would pounce on sticks and chew on them sometimes, so with much verbal praise and encouragement I got him to pick them up and run around with them in his mouth. This just kind of transformed into fetch. Sticks can get dangerous, so I transfered to a rope toy, which he would fetch, but not tug. Then we tried a frisbee and he loved it! So he is now a frisbee-fetching machine . . . yet, to this day, balls of any kind are basically invisible to him. He's an odd one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afrancis Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 My BC puppy is fast approaching five months of age and she still doesn't get the game of "fetch". Be careful what you wish for! See attached avatar. And be careful associating balls with food attached or inside. It could mean you'll be dealing with eaten tennis balls, which can be bad for the wallet, esp. if you're not home. Ailsa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyler Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 I think the biggest error is throwing the ball at this point. You need to get her excited about the ball and keep everything very close. Does she play tug? If so, this will make it easier. Try getting her fired up with waving the ball around her face and feet (if you dont think shell take off a finger ) and see if you can get her excited that way. Getting her to mouth the ball is the first step not the second one (mouth THEN chase). If you can get her in that mode then find a place indoors where there are lots of walls you can bounce the ball off of so the ball is extra crazy. The added stimulation will increase the drive to chase it and mouth it. You may also find some good resources around disc dog sites. This one is my favorite and you should have no trouble finding the info you need here as well K9 Disc.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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