Tennis Balls

[PSmitty]

Julie, just speaking for me, I wasn't offended by your post. If all that stuff had happened to my dogs over the years, I might not be playing fetch, either!

[Root Beer]

I don't like the tennis ball style chuck it balls... mostly because they are heavy, easy to chew the fuzz off of, and they are 2 halves of a rubber ball glued together. They fall apart very easily. I'd like to find the solid ones. We have tennis balls fall victim to the lawn mower now and then too..so it's hard at first look to know if it is dog mangled or mower mangled.

 

I found the nice solid orange chuck it balls on Amazon.

[Brad]

Me three! That was well said!

 

 

Me as well!

[Lenajo]

Julie, just speaking for me, I wasn't offended by your post. If all that stuff had happened to my dogs over the years, I might not be playing fetch, either!

 

As I said before, that list of injuries Julie experienced is commen with ball playing. I've done, and have done, a ton of different activites with my dogs. Obviously injuries can occur anywhere, but by far in my experience I've know of more serious, costly, and often career ending (for sports, work), injuries during ball play than any of them.

 

Whether or not you like the activity, or your dog does, has nothing to do with this.

[Shetlander]

Can a dog get hurt? Sure, but anyone can get hurt pretty much doing anything. Do us humans need to be mindful and make it an interactive sort of thing? Sure again, but where is that not true in any intelligent animal's world?

 

Well said.

 

This morning, not wanting Quinn's paws to get burned from all the salt on the pavement outside my office, I decided to carry the dogs in. As I was attempting to negotiate the door, I lost my grip on him and nearly dropped him on his head. Fortunately, he is quite agile, managed to land on at least some of his feet and seems to have avoided injury despite my "good intentions." Sheesh. I better go dig out his booties and let him walk in on his own steam from now on.

[juliepoudrier]

Oh Liz, isn't that just one of those cases of good deeds being punished? I'm glad both you and Quinn are okay!

 

J.

[Soda-pop]

Anyone ever see Ghost World? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162346/

 

"I guess I just like Don Knotts"

 

I guess I just like fetch.

 

ETA: Since I'm in a movie quote kind of mood--Here's one for the opposing fetch side, courtesy of Mean Girls.

 

"Gretchen: That is so fetch!

Regina: Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen! It's not going to happen!"

 

STOP TRYING TO MAKE FETCH HAPPEN!

 

lolol

[Samantha J]

Julie, just speaking for me, I wasn't offended by your post. If all that stuff had happened to my dogs over the years, I might not be playing fetch, either!

 

 

I agree, i wasn't offended by your post either.

 

 

To be honest there were a few other comments on here that did offend me though, then i went out played with my dogs and realised it doesn't matter really what anyone thinks of what i do. I am as safety careful as i can be and both myself and my dogs enjoy it a lot.

 

Liz: i am glad Quinn is ok, things do sometimes just happen no matter how careful we are.

[Rave]

Hi my name is Laura and I play fetch with my dogs.

 

 

(ha! couldn't resist) :-)

[jeff77]

I play fetch and frisbee with my dogs all the time. I even use the ball to train weaves, sit, stay and downs. My dogs play fetch in groups also. Never had them run into each other. It also helps my bc to be around other dogs. She never try to get the ball from the other dog just follows them around until they drop it and then brings it back to me.

 

 

[SoloRiver]

Man, I hate to do this but...

 

Jeff, the photo of a red dog flying through the air on a concrete tennis court looks so familiar to me. That's what I used to do with Solo, and he has terrible arthritis now. He may have ended up with arthritis anyway, but knowing what I know now I never would have had him doing aerials on anything but grass or dirt. Actually, I don't like that kind of jumping anyway, but it's especially terrible for their joints to make them jump like that on concrete.

[jeff77]

Man, I hate to do this but...

 

Jeff, the photo of a red dog flying through the air on a concrete tennis court looks so familiar to me. That's what I used to do with Solo, and he has terrible arthritis now. He may have ended up with arthritis anyway, but knowing what I know now I never would have had him doing aerials on anything but grass or dirt. Actually, I don't like that kind of jumping anyway, but it's especially terrible for their joints to make them jump like that on concrete.

 

that was a one time thing I only have her play on grass now unless we are at flyball of agility

[juliepoudrier]

My dogs play fetch in groups also. Never had them run into each other. It also helps my bc to be around other dogs. She never try to get the ball from the other dog just follows them around until they drop it and then brings it back to me.

And this is why she doesn't get hurt in group play. Get a group of dogs together all who want very badly to get the ball for themselves and--voila!--you'll have dogs running into one another.

 

J.

[jeff77]

And this is why she doesn't get hurt in group play. Get a group of dogs together all who want very badly to get the ball for themselves and--voila!--you'll have dogs running into one another.

 

J.

 

dogs will be dogs let them have some fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[juliepoudrier]

My dogs have plenty of fun, just not in groups chasing a ball. To each his/her own.

 

J.

[jeff77]

My dogs have plenty of fun, just not in groups chasing a ball. To each his/her own.

 

J.

 

Just wondering what you think of flyball!!!!!!!!

[Rave]

Just wondering what you think of flyball!!!!!!!!

 

Flyball doesn't involve groups of dogs chasing balls.

[Shetlander]

Flyball doesn't involve groups of dogs chasing balls.

 

Not trying to be controversial. I totally get how a group of dogs all running after a ball could result in injuries. I never thought of it much before this discussion because the group of Border Collies that Quinn plays with have always played fetch together and the only issue has been a couple of dogs are ball/Frisbee hogs. The dogs all seem to have good awareness of where others are as they compete for the toy. In fact, the "hogs" will regularly intimidate the less assertive into giving up the catch. Also, we usually have a few balls or Frisbees in play so some dogs will hang back for the next throw. I guess they just play well together and as a pup enters the group picks up the rules?

[juliepoudrier]

Just wondering what you think of flyball!!!!!!!!

Can't stand it, but that's because I can't stand one barking dog, let alone a gazillion hyped up barking dogs all in one small area. Not my cup of tea. If it were a sport that could be achieved without all the noise, then I might find it entertaining.

 

J.

[jeff77]

Can't stand it, but that's because I can't stand one barking dog, let alone a gazillion hyped up barking dogs all in one small area. Not my cup of tea. If it were a sport that could be achieved without all the noise, then I might find it entertaining.

 

J.

 

dogs like to talk or sing

[juliepoudrier]

In fact, the "hogs" will regularly intimidate the less assertive into giving up the catch.

I think this is probably the key. If you've got several dogs who aren't about to give up, then you could run into problems. Like I said I have one dog who isn't interested in the game of fetch itself, but who tries to cut off whichever dog might be running after a pine cone--in this case a collision waiting to happen, unless the dog who is actually fetching is paying close attention to the "blocker" as well as the item being fetched or I can fake him out and start him off in one direction while I throw in the other for the dog doing the fetching.

 

It sounds to me that a lot of folks have had good luck playing fetch with their dogs, alone or in groups. I have not, and my experiences dictate how I do things with my dogs now. If you've never had a bad experience with fetch, then I can see why you (the general you) wouldn't want to be told "fetch is bad." In my situation, I'd rather err on the side of caution. That's not to say I never play fetch with the dogs, but as I noted, even very recently I had a dog end up with a minor injury chasing a pine cone all by herself. Not a bad injury by any standard, but enough to keep her out of a sheepdog trial a week later, whose entry fees I would have forfeited if I hadn't had a youngster I could toss in over his head and run in her place. Again, I establish my play rules based on past experiences, and unfortunately fetch has caused quite a few injuries for my dogs, so we just don't do it much anymore. YMMV.

 

J.

[juliepoudrier]

dogs like to talk or sing

Here on the farm I want a dog to bark only if there's a valid reason to do so (i.e., strange humans or dogs or other predators coming on to the property). Mindless barking serves no purpose and is annoying. The only dog here who gets a pass on a lot of barking is the Maremma, but then it's her job to warn predators away with her bark, and her bark serves the purpose of protecting my sheep. Dogs who make noise just "for fun" aren't well tolerated here. I don't mind some barking when we're out on our walks or when dogs are playing together, but barking, barking, barking isn't happening here. I don't require absolute silence, and my dogs "talk" to me, but it's nothing like what one hears at a flyball tournament, thank doG.

 

In principle, I think flyball is a great idea. That is, until people had to start breeding mutts specifically for flyball, and whoever thought a dog needed to bark its head off to be keen to run was nuts, IMO.

 

J.

[Ooky]

Can't stand it, but that's because I can't stand one barking dog, let alone a gazillion hyped up barking dogs all in one small area. Not my cup of tea. If it were a sport that could be achieved without all the noise, then I might find it entertaining.

 

^^my thoughts exactly, although it looks fun if you were into it and I certainly don't begrudge anyone's preferred sport.

 

As for dogs playing fetch together being dangerous, I could certainly see how that could be. (Actually, I can see how any fetch could be dangerous, but again, my feeling is in moderation and with precautions, the risks are worth it.) Odin is a ball-junkie but he's also pretty non-confrontational, so if another dog acts like it really wants the ball, he's the one who fades back. I don't throw the ball anymore in these situations at a park, though, because other people's dogs tend to lack drop-it commands or else the owner thinks nothing of their dog stealing our nice chuckit ball!

 

But as for the multiple dog thing, my coworker's dog just lost some teeth jumping for a ball at the same time as another dog - actually, they both lost teeth - ouch!! Just happened last week, poor guy.

[jeff77]

^^my thoughts exactly, although it looks fun if you were into it and I certainly don't begrudge anyone's preferred sport.

 

As for dogs playing fetch together being dangerous, I could certainly see how that could be. (Actually, I can see how any fetch could be dangerous, but again, my feeling is in moderation and with precautions, the risks are worth it.) Odin is a ball-junkie but he's also pretty non-confrontational, so if another dog acts like it really wants the ball, he's the one who fades back. I don't throw the ball anymore in these situations at a park, though, because other people's dogs tend to lack drop-it commands or else the owner thinks nothing of their dog stealing our nice chuckit ball!

 

But as for the multiple dog thing, my coworker's dog just lost some teeth jumping for a ball at the same time as another dog - actually, they both lost teeth - ouch!! Just happened last week, poor guy.

 

my dog is a ball hog just have to make sure she is faster of knows how to get a head start

[geonni banner]

Here on the farm I want a dog to bark only if there's a valid reason to do so (i.e., strange humans or dogs or other predators coming on to the property). Mindless barking serves no purpose and is annoying. The only dog here who gets a pass on a lot of barking is the Maremma, but then it's her job to warn predators away with her bark, and her bark serves the purpose of protecting my sheep. Dogs who make noise just "for fun" aren't well tolerated here. I don't mind some barking when we're out on our walks or when dogs are playing together, but barking, barking, barking isn't happening here. I don't require absolute silence, and my dogs "talk" to me, but it's nothing like what one hears at a flyball tournament, thank doG.

 

In principle, I think flyball is a great idea. That is, until people had to start breeding mutts specifically for flyball, and whoever thought a dog needed to bark its head off to be keen to run was nuts, IMO.

 

J.

 

Hear, hear! I'm with you on the barking thing! Barking dogs - AAAAAAAAAACK! Where I live there are a lot of canine police units, and the dogs - mostly GSDs, Dutch Shepherds and Malinois bark CONTINUOUSLY while the officer is driving around. I would have a stroke and/or kill the dog... What' UP with that? I once had a friend who was a pet-sitter who actually taught someone's apartment-dwelling BC to bark! (Another imminent death - her - not the dog.) And then there's the dogs that scream and foam and claw continuously if you are within 30 feet of a parked vehicle containing one. I get a perverse grin watching them destroying the interior of an SUV that I'm walking past with one of these nutballs in it.

 

I don't tolerate more that a woof or two from mine when somebody comes to the door, and the occasional bark when she's playing with other dogs. I decided against getting into flyball after watching a few you-tube videos of the sport. Yikes! They should call it Yap-ball! EEEEESH!

 

I've really been careful with Sugar while playing fetch after reading this and the related recent thread. I'm not gonna stop - it's too much fun, we do it every day. But I am being much more mindful of surfaces, the dog's excitement level and the danger of overheating.