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gharner
Middletown, PA
MH
Posts:512
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| 03/02/2010 7:11 AM |
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So, Dax isnt a huge fan of fetch....I don't know if its just cause he's a puppy, or because hes teething or what. Outside he will chase a ball, but he won't pick it up. He'll run after it and let it lay there, but will not pick it up. Inside, hes a little better, he'll actually pick it up, and then play keep away (I won't give in to that game...I distract him with something else till he drops the ball. I don't want to make keep away a game). Anyway, I see so many shorthairs that love tennis balls and fetch. I was hoping to find some tips to make him (almost) ball obsesive. It seems like a good way to wear em out.  |
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TessaGA
Georgia
MH
Posts:2378
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| 03/02/2010 7:19 AM |
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| How old is he? |
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To live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness. [Thomas McGuane]
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Splat
Illinois (Northern)
MH
Posts:2439
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| 03/02/2010 7:22 AM |
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| I know it took Blitz a while to want to play fetch....but I could not tell you how old he was when he got interested. My parents have a blue healer that loves fetch so I think just from watching he he finally got it, thought for a while his goal was to block her from returning the ball...Blitz is now 8 months old and he was playing fetch in the fall... |
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http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=2553
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/4genview.php?id=2554 |
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everbell
Kanata, ON
MH
Posts:2737
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| 03/02/2010 7:24 AM |
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| We use orange street hockey balls -- they are cheap, light and squishy. Bo never played fetch until he saw a friend's, and now whenever he sees them, he gets all excited. He'll play for hours! (Just remember to put them away when not actively playing fetch, because it doesn't take much to destroy them...) |
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Joce and Rich
Bogart and Shiraz (GSPs)
Roxane (RIP: 1995-2009) and Tiger Lily (Cats)
The Everbell Adventures |
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easyedwin
Birmingham, AL
MH
Posts:128
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| 03/02/2010 7:57 AM |
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| We got a sqwawking baseball from petco. We sqwawk the thing to get Queen interested and then toss it. She goes after it every time, retreives it, and runs back to us (sometimes running past us). Then we call her to hand it over. |
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Why do real estate developers ruin so many landscapes? |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:6748
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| 03/02/2010 7:58 AM |
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| I start mine out with a ball that squeaks and is softer than a tennis ball. Clean Run has some great squeaky balls that hold up to the wear and tear of a shorthair (just google them). If he doesn't get excited about the squeaky ball right away, you can play with the squeaky ball and him by just squeaking it allot and trying to keep it away from him. Make it a game, but don't throw it until he is really revved about the ball. If that doesn't work, try another kind of toy. When you throw the ball get really excited when he goes to get the ball. If he picks it up get more excited and call him to you in an excited way. If he brings it to you or even most of the way to you get excited and praise. If he does anything else (doesn't pick it up, grabs it and runs away, etc) end the game. Or you can just stay (standing or sitting) right where you are and ignore him. If you choose to ignore him and he still doesn't bring the ball after a few minutes end the game. Eventually he will start bringing the ball to you so the game can continue. He will get to where he will bring the ball and put it in you hand just to keep the game going. Good luck! |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
     
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:6748
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| 03/02/2010 8:02 AM |
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| I just re-read you post about his behavior in the house with fetch. If he won't bring the ball to you in the house do not distract him with something else as that will become a game too. Same as outside, if he doesn't bring the toy to you, game over. Do trade off toys with him, do not move toward him more than a step to get the toy he is supposed to bring you. He really will get it. My favorite thing to do in the spring when I have a dog I am teaching fetch is to get a lawn chair and a good book. I throw the toy and sit and read while I wait for the dog to eventually bring the toy back. Within a very short time I don't need the bood anymore. |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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dieterthegsp
Cape Breton, NS, Canada
MH
Posts:559
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| 03/02/2010 8:15 AM |
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| also be sure to use a pet tennis ball. the fibers on a real tennis ball are bad for their teeth |
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Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend.
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Gatormom
St Paul, MN
MH
Posts:193
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| 03/02/2010 8:57 AM |
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| I have a picture that I cut out of Dog Fancy, that is simply a tennis ball on a carpeted floor, near a table leg with the wording, "Best invention ever". In short, this sums up Gator's attitude towards life.
I don't know how old he was, when he started to play fetch with it, maybe 4 or 5 months old, but he was just a natural with it. I guess his mouth had to be just big enough to carry it. I believe that he also had to have had been to the point where he was developig good mouth/eye coordination. So it was more luck, rather than learning a skill.
Just one caveat here, be careful what you wish for, as you will have a tennis ball fiend on your hands. He would play 24/7 if you let him.
When he goes outside, he has a tennis ball in his mouth. In the summer, when I hang out laundry, as soon as he sees me pick up a basket of wet laundry, he grabs a ball. I hang one piece of clothes, throw the ball, hang another piece of laundry, he brings the ball back, places it in the basket with the wet clothes, I throw the ball, and hand another piece of laundry, and again throw the ball, and so it goes. Inside, whle we are watching tv, he brings the ball to me or my husband, and he plays fetch at close range. Sometimes, he'll quietly sneak the ball and place it on one of our laps, and then backup and sit and just stare at us. Then you take a look at him, and he is just patiently sitting there, waiting. Outside, if I can catch him not concentating, or if he's losing interest, I throw it where he doesn't see it, then he goes on a mission of circling the yard, smelling in the air, and finally retrieving it.
He seems to like the feel of the ball, in fact he will just sit there, and gently bite down on the ball almost like it is a pacifier. He can smell tennis balls, for example, if I have some, in the tube, in a cupboard, he can smell them, and will ask for them.
He catches most throws in midair, and you can hear a big "smack" and then you see a big smile on his face, he loves the texture and feel of a tennis ball.
When Kaiser was a pup, he learned retrieve, bring, give at obedience school using a piece of wooden dowel. However, for Gator, tennis balls were the way he learned retrieve, bring, give, using these words to reinforce his behavior. He always retrieves them, but sometimes sets them on the ground, or on the picnic table if we're sitting at it. If I say "place it in my hand nicely", he will pick it up, and put it ever so gently in my hand.
Racquet balls are just a bit more expensive than tennis balls, they are slightly smaller. They are a little more squishy, and they sort of squek in his mouth. Racquet balls don't hold up like a tennis ball, and do break after a few days of heavy play. They may be more suitable for a puppy. Also, racquet balls don't soak up dog slobber, like the tennis balls do. It helps to wear gloves, to soak up the slobber.
Tennis balls are different. The ones sold in a petstore aren't as durable, they crack and break after only a few plays. Buy them in a sporting goods store, their more durable. I buy a sleeve of 3 once every 2 months or so, and give these to Gator as birthday and Christmas gifts.
Last summer, I happened upon a garage sale where a woman was selling tubes of tennis balls for $.50 a piece, she had cases and cases of them. I bought like $5.00 worth, and wish I would have bought more. She asked me "are you buying these for tennis, or for a dog". She is affiliated with a tennis club,and evidently they can only use the balls once. I hope she has another garage sale this summer.
For me, there is a benefit of arm exercises. I do switch off arms, and throw both over and under hand. I always say that I won't develop saggy skin on my upper arms since I get so much exercise. But maybe throwing tennis balls constantly is the reason that I had to have bilateral hand surgery last year for trigger fingers |
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Barbara
Kaiser (1996-2010)
Gator
I am simply thankful that least dogs exist, and I'm humbly aware of how much less a person I'd be - how less human, if they did not exist - Rick Bass |
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