How do I teach my dog to chase/retrieve balls or sticks?

[flowbe202]

Originally Posted by Townandcountrygal

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He doesn't respond to any toys. Guess he figures at his age, toys are for puppies? The only thing he'll go after is food--bone, treats, etc. He watches the cat chase and retrieve balls, yawns, and goes to sleep. So what does Hobbs like to do other than eat? Sleep on the couch or in our laps, watch basketball on TV, chase lizards and cicadas (eating the latter). I'm just used to having purebred labs who love to play ball and fetch sticks--maybe I need to let Hobbs be Hobbs.

FOOD! Food can be a toy! I've done ALL these things to keep his mind busy...

Kibble-hunting in the lawn...spread a few pieces of his dinner in the lawn or at the park and teach him to "find it".

You can do science together -- say "science" and then put different treats under a plastic cup and see which one he goes to.

I would hide a piece of kibble under a cup and do the shell game... Telling him to watch it and then find it.

Put kibble in a paper roll and fold the ends over... Toss and run up and down with the treat filled roll and let him rip it up in the end.

Living in the city, I would have him carry baguettes, paper bags filled with cookies, or boxes home from the corner store or coffeeshop...of course, you have to share afterwards!

I'll find some old pics for you to show you how much fun it can be...

[Dashdog]

Get yourself a soft toy that will hold food or make one like this ; It closes with velcrow


Put some small treats that he likes in it and wave it around his nose when he sniffs it open it and let him take a teat from it keep doing this and soon stop rewarding for sniffing it and change it to mouthing it gets a reward. next drop it and reward his sniff it if that is all he does or if he picks it up reward ;but do let him take the reward from the toy after you open it instead of you taking it and handing it to him..if he does not pick it up just build up like you did when you were holding it. Once he is picking it up start start tossing it a short distance and reward when he goes to it and picks it up ( if not but he sniffs it once again do the baby steps) eventually you should be able to toss it some distance and have him get it and reward then start asking for him to bring it back...it is all baby steps that build upon each other. sometimes once they start enjoy playing with it you can get them to start fetching other things but some dogs will only go after the toy you use as they want the treat. But you can use this method to get dogs that do not play to play , tug is another fun game you can teach using this method. I know some people do not like tug but all my dogs have enjoyed great games of tug. Chaos is great at playing tug with her dog friends too.

Being a sight hound Dazzle thinks fetching a ball is the silliest game around but he does like tug so thanks to the above method he learned to fetch the treat bag in the photo and he would rather play tug with it then have the treat but in the beginning he wanted the treat and now he will fetch most plush toys then bring them back for tug.However if you toss a ball, frizbee, stick he looks at you like " well I guess you had better go get that because I have no plans too"

[flowbe202]

^^^^^ Fun times!!!!

[Cleonidas]

Originally Posted by Dashdog

Get yourself a soft toy that will hold food or make one like this ; It closes with velcrow


Put some small treats that he likes in it and wave it around his nose when he sniffs it open it and let him take a teat from it keep doing this and soon stop rewarding for sniffing it and change it to mouthing it gets a reward. next drop it and reward his sniff it if that is all he does or if he picks it up reward ;but do let him take the reward from the toy after you open it instead of you taking it and handing it to him..if he does not pick it up just build up like you did when you were holding it. Once he is picking it up start start tossing it a short distance and reward when he goes to it and picks it up ( if not but he sniffs it once again do the baby steps) eventually you should be able to toss it some distance and have him get it and reward then start asking for him to bring it back...it is all baby steps that build upon each other. sometimes once they start enjoy playing with it you can get them to start fetching other things but some dogs will only go after the toy you use as they want the treat. But you can use this method to get dogs that do not play to play , tug is another fun game you can teach using this method. I know some people do not like tug but all my dogs have enjoyed great games of tug. Chaos is great at playing tug with her dog friends too.

Being a sight hound Dazzle thinks fetching a ball is the silliest game around but he does like tug so thanks to the above method he learned to fetch the treat bag in the photo and he would rather play tug with it then have the treat but in the beginning he wanted the treat and now he will fetch most plush toys then bring them back for tug.However if you toss a ball, frizbee, stick he looks at you like " well I guess you had better go get that because I have no plans too"

Here's a pretty good video on the "tug" subject. Even if it isn't of direct help to the OP, then it may give her some ideas.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWnL4VWZNg