# Plays fetch... just doesn't bring the ball back!



## jodes (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi all,

This is my first post, I hope someone can help! I have a border-collie, female, 9 years old. Still a quick learner, and obedient but I can't for the world make her bring the ball back when I throw it, although she'll always run for it and grab it, but then loses interest. I think the main problem is when I get her to come, she drops the ball first. When I offer a treat, again she just drops the ball first.

Part of this might stem from her pure cheekyness! She's not dumb: to give herself more of a head start, out of principle, since a puppy, she never dropped the ball right at my feet, in case I throw it before she has a chance to scuttle away and lay on the ground, prepared, able to watch me intensely!

I've spent hours sitting with her with treats, racking my brain for ways to do it. I'd love to get this sorted as I can give her more of a physical work out without forcing the same upon myself! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Jody


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## Betty (Apr 15, 2007)

We're getting our Tanner to fetch by using a toy she likes to wrestle and play tug-o-war with us. And she loves tug-of-war.  So we're using stuffed rabbits and knotted rope toys.

So in the middle of playing, we toss the toy. She still wants to play tug-of-war with it, so she runs to it and brings it back to us. Now we're going to associate a word with it like "fetch," so she'll hopefuly learn to bring anything back to us that we toss.


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## skelaki (Nov 9, 2006)

One of my collies had a Chessie as his best friend. When we'd play fetch, he'd run after the ball / toy but always let the retriever do the actual fetching. If you'd try to get him to fetch, he'd look at you as if he was asking you to show him where fetching objects in his mouth was part of his job description.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I had a retriever who would only retrieve stuff if you threw it in the lake.

My Plott hound will retrieve tennis balls on land or sea and I can't for the life of me imagine why a bear-hunting dog would retrieve tennis balls. I didn't teach her. But it's been what she lives for since the day we brought her home from the shelter. That picture in my avatar? That's Esther waiting for me to throw the ball. That's her permanent expression.

I have no idea how to teach, or unteach, a dog to fetch. If you do a search for 'fetch' on these forums, you'll find volumes of info and opinions.

My own opinion is: Be careful what you wish for.


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

Bodeus - The Clicker Retrieve

I'm sure if I search hard enough Grandpaw RonE I could find a link for The Clicker No-retrieve.

But then again, I would hate to see Esther's face of being denied.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

Curbside Prophet said:


> But then again, I would hate to see Esther's face of being denied.












A month after we got that lab, we vacationed for a couple of weeks at a small, fortunately not-very-formal resort in northern Wisconsin. I got permission to bring Cubby along and we spent a lot of time playing fetch at the lake. He didn't care about tennis balls. He liked the $15 floating Kong with the yellow rope.

The little beach was right in front of the resort bar/restaurant and people would sit in there and watch Cubby bring that Kong back maybe 50 times. They'd also watch on the 51st throw when he'd lose interest and just look at me. "Why did you throw it again THAT time? I was done."

I can afford to lose a few tennis balls, but not too many floating Kongs, so I'd go down to the end of the dock, get in the boat (and Cubby would jump in right behind me) and we'd go out and retrieve the Kong.

The usually happened a couple times each day, because I'd lose count I guess, and I can't tell you how many smart*** bar flies felt compelled to come out and tell me what a fine job my lab had done of training me to retrieve.


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## Betty (Apr 15, 2007)

Well, I was in the process of associating the word "fetch" every time I would toss Tanner's tug-o-war toy and she would go get it and bring it back...

So I was saying, "Fetch, Tenner! Fetch!" and she would bring it back. And then I made the huge mistake of saying too many words: "Fetch, Tanner! Go get it! Go get it!"

That immediately confused Tanner, because I say "Go get him!" when my husband comes home. When I see his car pull up, I look out the window and point and then look at Tanner and say, "Who's that? Whoooo's that! Go get him! Go get him, Tanner!" And Tanner will run up to the window, look up, see my husband, and then run downstairs to the front door and greet him.

So as soon as I said, "Go get it!" during the Fetch training, Tanner immediately associated it with my husband coming come. She ran past the tug toy, went straight up to the window with her tail-a-wagging, looked out, and then ran downstairs to look out the window there. And then she ran back up, looked at me, and cocked her head, confused. I tried to play tug-o-war and fetch again, but she wouldn't. I had confused her too much because hse believed her daddy was coming home.

Silly human needs training.


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## suzukigirl (Apr 9, 2007)

My dog does the same. He would go fetch the stick or toy or whatever I throw, grab it, plop down and chew it lol


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## MagicToller (Jan 4, 2007)

-dies of laughter at Ron's picture-

...


LOL

...

Okay, anyway - some rescue dogs that I've brought home exhibit the exact behaviour. Some guys just don't think it's as fun as it is for us, but it's easily trained.. you just have to build some foundation first. After about two to three weeks with me, most of the foster dogs are complete ball whores.

Before anything, I make the ball THE BEST THING. Ever. If you're an avid clicker trainer, click and reward the dog when she's got the ball in her mouth. The crate can also be a great tool to build focus on something, particularly toys. I open the door of their crate, and start stepping and revin' up my voice and saying " Reeadddyy..... readdyyyy.. BREAK!" and refocus their energy on the ball. Exercises like these take a little time and patience, but if you really work them - they can build incredible ball drive.

Her recall should be really solid too - also have her used to running after you if you take off - I use this to motivate the return of the Tennis Ball. When they see you dashing off away from them, they get interested and take the ball with them to see what the hell you are running for - this is when you praise like a mad baboon.

"Game Dog" by Richard A. Wolters has some good tips to build retriever drive - you may want to check it out of your library or pick it up at your bookstore. Hunting birds may not be your game, but the book has some great routines for puppies and older dogs who's owners would like them to retrieve.

[Edit] I'd also like to add, that finding a friend or neighbor with a well-mannered dog who does have a good ball drive can also spark interest in her. If they see other dogs dashing madly for balls, they often try to join in on the fun.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I'm still chuckling over the statement, "Plays fetch... just doesn't bring the ball back!"

Isn't that like, "Plays baseball, just doesn't throw, catch or hit the ball." 

Position available with the Kansas City Royals.


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## DallasMavs (Feb 7, 2007)

Betty said:


> We're getting our Tanner to fetch by using a toy she likes to wrestle and play tug-o-war with us. And she loves tug-of-war.  So we're using stuffed rabbits and knotted rope toys.
> 
> So in the middle of playing, we toss the toy. She still wants to play tug-of-war with it, so she runs to it and brings it back to us. Now we're going to associate a word with it like "fetch," so she'll hopefuly learn to bring anything back to us that we toss.


I do the same with my 3 month old lab, he understands the tennis ball is for fetch only because he can't chew it. However with the retrieving dummy I got him he likes to chew the string on the end so I'll tug on it with him a little bit in between tosses into the pull, repeating "return" every time i toss it into the water.


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