Joined
·
3,995 Posts
Vito is a horrible retriever. He never had much an interest in tennis balls (he never saw one until almost 1, due to being in the guide dog program). He will retrieve his flying squirrel, but gets EASILY distracted. He LOVES tug though, and will play in extremely an extremely high distraction environment. I want to use this to my advantage.
We have this awesome field next to us where a lot of people play fetch with their dogs. I have a dream, of an enthusiastic Vito chasing a tennis ball from a chuck it. Right now, he just chases the other dogs that are playing fetch, LOL.
So, today I start the journey to make Vito a retriever.
In the house, I took a ball out and made that the best toy EVER. He retrieved in the house for a bit and we had fun. Every time he brought it back we played tug with it for a few minutes (is this okay?), and then I let him chew on it.
Eventually, he would drop the ball and grab a different toy. I ignored the other toy and went straight for the tennis ball, playing with it on my own. This grabbed his interest back in the ball for the most part.
So this is where we stand. Any techniques or help to get him reliably retrieving a ball would be great!
OH, and something else we need help with. Vito will drop the ball when I ask, but he thinks it's some kind of game. When I go to grab the ball, he will pick it up really quick! That booger! How can I get him to drop it and not pick it back up immediately? lol.
We have this awesome field next to us where a lot of people play fetch with their dogs. I have a dream, of an enthusiastic Vito chasing a tennis ball from a chuck it. Right now, he just chases the other dogs that are playing fetch, LOL.
So, today I start the journey to make Vito a retriever.
Eventually, he would drop the ball and grab a different toy. I ignored the other toy and went straight for the tennis ball, playing with it on my own. This grabbed his interest back in the ball for the most part.
So this is where we stand. Any techniques or help to get him reliably retrieving a ball would be great!
OH, and something else we need help with. Vito will drop the ball when I ask, but he thinks it's some kind of game. When I go to grab the ball, he will pick it up really quick! That booger! How can I get him to drop it and not pick it back up immediately? lol.