Dog makes a fool of me

baords dyslexic

Anyone know how I can play ball on a walk with a GSD x without the dog making all the rules?

It might be because we are on a walk as what happens is I throw the ball the dog runs after it catches it then drops it wherever he wants then goes off a distance and watches the ball untill I get there and pick it up and throw it again. If I throw the ball and don't move he'll do exactly the same but after a few minutes he'll sit and look at the ball and eventually if I give it long enough he'll lay down and watch the ball, I had some hopes that he might break before I did but no chance :rolleyes:

I'm not expecting a perfect retrieve, drop and sit to heel just a little more effort to get the ball back to me.

The ball throwing part of the walk btw is normally across a couple of miles of flat sandy beach (+back) and timed for low tide so there's a good expanse of sand (walking the rocks and pebbles is a pain) and I keep it up with the ball whenever there are flocks of birds on the shore line as it stops him chasing them. Treats don't work in this "ball hunting" situation and I'm not sure the dog isn't acting as if he's "herding" the ball only the ball won't move on its own.

Back in the garden I can get some degree of dog + ball recall, but then the problem is that ownership of the ball is more fun than chasing it. A second ball works but leaves the first dropped anywhere but near me.

Delancey

You think you're the only one with that problem ? :rolleyes:

Graces7

.. and when you do finally get it it is soaking with dog spit...

Dirk Gently

my german X thinks fetch is actually a game of chasing. Gets the ball, comes all the way back, stops 5 feet short and then wants me to come get it off him. He'll drop it to encourage me to go for it. walk up, drop it closer to me and back off encouraging me to go for it, come up and paw my hand encouraging me to go for it but will never drop it without making it a duel.

Got a lab recently who does come back and drop it. Hoping the german will start playing ball now so to speak. re-call, sit, paw, stay have all improved since I got the lab because my German wants to out do it. Dog jealousy is a wonderful thing when training a playful German. He wants to prove he can do everything the lab is doing :-)

baords dyslexic

Well I'm glad its not just me, I know that we don't really have a bulls notion how a dogs mind works but as they like chasing the ball so much you'd think that they had the brains to work out that you having the ball is what starts a chase :rolleyes:

We've mostly had lurchers and terriors before, never expected ball retireval and never got it but I'd hoped that something with a bit of GSD in it might have made more of an effort?

I know collie in a seaside tourist town that spends all day at the gate of his very small garden with a ball. Whenever a likely looking tourist passes he drops the ball and it rolls under the gate and off down the road, most of the time he can get a "fool" to fetch it for him and throw it back. Why can't I have a dog with "brains" like that - Hmmmm maybe I have

anniehoo

I mind 2 collies, dog 1 is the "retriever" and dog 2 is the "herder". Dog no.1 is so unbeliveably smart that the game is only played on her terms. Dog 2 is faster than her, so she initiates the chase to get him running so she only has to do half the work.Dog no.2 drops it halfway back and she gladly picks it up and trots back with it,already preempting that he'd do most of the running for it. Dog 2 ends up knackered way before her as a result

If she decides the game is over she will not let go of the ball for love nor money.So i bring a second ball. That only works for a short time. I dont know how she does it but at the end of every single walk, she manages to have both balls in her mouth and Dog 2 is completely banjaxed. Genius!

baords dyslexic

Graces7 wrote: »

.. and when you do finally get it it is soaking with dog spit...

Thats an easy one - use one of those tennis ball thrower thingies which you can also use to pick up the ball. OK so it can only work with tennis balls but if you buy them in a sports shop and not a "pound" shop or pet shop they are about the cheapest balls you can get. The genuine tennis balls also seem to last longer, I pay about 7euro for 4 and they last for ages, the more expensive "pound" shop "tennis" balls often don't last the day as they are made of harder rubber and are easily chomped through.