JeffSG Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 Greetings! Three weeks ago we got a 2 yr old BC that had not been trained at all. This is our first BC and we just love him. He is very easy to train with one exception, I can't get him to bring the ball to me while playing fetch. First of all, he doesn't want to run after it so I have been giving it to him and backing up. The problem is when I call him he drops the ball and then comes to me. How do I train him to bring me the ball? I used the search feature to try to find the answer but was unable to locate one with this particular problem. Thanks in advance for your responses. Jeff and Sparky (my new BF) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretBC Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 Many/most dogs don't have a natural instinct to fetch and have to be taught. Bonus that your boy is an adult, so he should learn quickly. Sometimes playing with two balls helps, but you may find yourself having to walk to get the ball still for a while yet. You might want to play with toys that you can attach to a rope, so that you can "reel him in" and reinforce bringing the toy back to you. As they start to grow fonder of the game, the light bulb eventually turns on and they figure out the fastest way to get you to throw the object again is to bring it to you. With my girl, she liked to tug -- So to entice her to bring the frisbee back to me, I would play a short game of tug with her before throwing it again. Eventually she started to get so high off the game of frisbee that we didn't need to tug anymore. You can certainly shape/teach the skill of fetching, but I find they eventually figure it out if you keep playing with them. As I re-read your post, I see you are having a problem just getting him to chase the ball, even? You might want to experiment with other toys. I had a foster that had apparently never played in his life -- He had no idea what balls were. But he thought squeaky things were super fun, so his "learn to fetch" toy was a squeaky Wubba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffSG Posted October 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 That's some great advice. I'll give it a try. Many thanks! Jeff Many/most dogs don't have a natural instinct to fetch and have to be taught. Bonus that your boy is an adult, so he should learn quickly. Sometimes playing with two balls helps, but you may find yourself having to walk to get the ball still for a while yet. You might want to play with toys that you can attach to a rope, so that you can "reel him in" and reinforce bringing the toy back to you. As they start to grow fonder of the game, the light bulb eventually turns on and they figure out the fastest way to get you to throw the object again is to bring it to you. With my girl, she liked to tug -- So to entice her to bring the frisbee back to me, I would play a short game of tug with her before throwing it again. Eventually she started to get so high off the game of frisbee that we didn't need to tug anymore. You can certainly shape/teach the skill of fetching, but I find they eventually figure it out if you keep playing with them. As I re-read your post, I see you are having a problem just getting him to chase the ball, even? You might want to experiment with other toys. I had a foster that had apparently never played in his life -- He had no idea what balls were. But he thought squeaky things were super fun, so his "learn to fetch" toy was a squeaky Wubba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 easy, fool-proof method, has worked every time for me with a variety of dogs: http://flyballdogs.com/training.html#easy_retrieve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 You have been given good advice so far. It is always good to know different strategies for training a behavior since dogs (just like humans) may learn in different ways. Use the one that you think works best for your dog or combine facets from more than one strategy to make one work for you and your dog. I like the idea of trying different toys to see which toy has the highest value to your dog. Squeaky toys generally seem to be the ones that dogs respond to most, and once you get him interested in one toy, you should be able to begin to transfer that excitement to other toys (but there will always be one type of toy that is the favorite). Think about making the fetch exercise easier, i.e. don't throw the ball 50 feet and expect the dog to bring it back. Once my dog loved his toy, I would 'throw' it 6-12 inches - just enough to let him move his feet and pick up the toy. A baby fetch. He got lots of rewards for that. Gradually increase the distance while keeping the dog's excitement high and happy for this game. And yes, you have the right idea to run away from your dog to make him come back to you, but you have to build some fundamentals first. Jovi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmsgyay Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 Also have you tried playing fetch with a few balls? I've found with some dogs when they have the ball in their mouth, showing them another ball (especially a squeaky one) they come running for the new ball with the other ball still in their mouth. Also have you tried keeping the dog on a longish lead? Like 20 ft? throw not further than 20 ft and when the dog has the ball in his mouth, pull him towards you, I'm not sure if he would drop the ball in this situation will coming towards you? You don't need to say come or anything, just pull him your way. When he does come with the ball in his mouth, lots of treats and praise and loving! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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