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Refuses to play fetch with her ball


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My BC, Sheena, just turned 1 years old. Before she was spade she was a typical BC - full of energy, she loved to play fetch with the ball, rope, rubber chicken. Now, she no longer wants to play fetch outside. She will play with fetch with her toys in the house but does not want to outside. I will throw whatever outside, she will go to it and sit down or run/walk past it and keep going. Any ideas on how to get her back into wanting to play? I'm really wanting to play with her.

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do not move the toy toward your dog move it away from your dog . Some people try to put the toy in the dogs mouth this just demotivats some dogs.

I tied the toy to a rope 6-8feet long and draged it on the ground or swing it in the air. You can cook a sock in some soup and use it as at toy or lots of dogs love to rip paper bags apart put your dogs favorite treats in the bag and toss it and let het destroy it.

You can get toys that you can put treats in once she goes to the toy open and feed her.

play hide a seek , run with her roll on the ground with her

lol bobh

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Originally posted by border colliez:

Fetch is not a good thing to teach a Border Collie, it's an obsessive behavior. I would find something else to do with my dog, herding or agility, perhaps! Fetching puts them on the same level as you. Just my opinion......

I don't think there's anything wrong with tossing a toy for a dog to let him run off some steam. It's a bit mindless but so is strolling around the neighborhood. I've seen dogs get obsessive about their fetch toys, so I never leave Quinn's out where he can get them on his own (other than the occasional swiped toy). We train daily in agility which I love, but that involves thought and effort on my part that isn't called for when we play fetch.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by being on the same level as the dog. If I'm in charge of the toys, make and enforce the rules and even have a few variations like making him wait or sending him on a go out, how is that being on the same level as him?

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Originally posted by border colliez:

Fetch is not a good thing to teach a Border Collie, it's an obsessive behavior. I would find something else to do with my dog, herding or agility, perhaps! Fetching puts them on the same level as you. Just my opinion......

Wow, that sounds pretty nonsensical to me. Especially because in agility (which you mention) one way to help your dog have more drive or to even try new things is to use fetching their fav toy as a reward. Specifically it's often a technique used when teaching 'go ahead of me'.

 

I think it's a pretty strong bond you can create with your dog (playing with it) and esp. as long as you initiate and end the game on your terms. I have specifically taught my BC 'all done' which means we're done playing whatever it is (frisbee, fetch). And she may approach me with a ball to play, but if I'm not available to do so, I say 'no' and just understands and walks away. No obsessive dog here.

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Northof49,

She runs and plays with her big balls dragging them all around the backyard. Chases the birds, loves to chse the water from the water hose just not play fetch. I have been leaving her fetch toys out. I will put them up and only bring them out when it is time for us to play and see if that helps. Thanks for all the help.

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