Tennis Balls!

[GoldenCollie]

Hi there,

 

sorry to post again so soon, but i'm very new to the world of Border Collies! :-)

 

When my BC bitch is old enough, she's enrolled to start Flyball classes! (I think i'm more excited about them than she is! lol)

 

She is currently only 15 weeks old, so still to young to be doing the jumps etc that Flyball involves, however, i was hoping to get her interest in tennis balls around about now, as obviously an interest in balls in a must for an activity such as Flyball.

 

However, when we are out, she normally just wants to sniff about the grass or bushes or play with twigs instead of chasing the tennis ball or interacting with it in any sort of fashion. Even indoors, she will watch it roll across the floor, but pritty much just wander off as if to say "there much more interesting stuff than that ball!" lol

 

My Labrador takes great pleasure in retrieving! (Of course, it comes naturally, being a retriever! ) He loves his tennis ball. I take her outside with him, to let her see how much fun he has with the ball, and hope she tries to join in etc... But nope.. She just gives me that collie look of "booooorrrrinnngg, what next" lol. She absolutely LOVES to try and chase cars, which is really difficult just now, so thats another reason i wanted to also try and divert her chasing attention and energy on something practical and safe!

 

Is this pritty typical at this age? When did your BC spark an interest for balls etc? Also, one more question, is there any way of stopping her trying to chase cars? She is always on the lead whenever we are near roads, but she really goes for them when they pass! Almost to the point where shes coughing because shes pulling so much to try and 'get to them'.

 

Thanks again... - So many questions from a newbie BC owner! Hope yous all don't mind

[WyoBC]

Well about the balls, there's another topic about that in the companion part, http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=5502

 

But about chasing cars I'm not really sure how to help. I'm sure someone on here has chasing help. Good luck, I hope she starts playing and stops chasing.

[Anda]

You need to stop her from her attempts to chase cars. My puppy had shown a tendency towards that when he was a few months old. You start with saying NO each time you see her lounging at the cars, then you anticipate her reactions, and tell her NO as soon as you see she's eying a car. Get her to sit each time a car passes by closely and praise her immediatly after she doesn't lounge. I think it took us a few good weeks until he decided cars are not fun and he ignored them.

[PSmitty]

There's some good stuff in the thread that AJ linked.

 

For flyball, they need to do a dead ball retrieve, so even if she's not chasing after the ball now, you can still teach a retrieve, with anything, even, doesn't have to be a ball.

 

You know, though, for flyball, the dog doesn't *have* to ball obsessed. In fact, it might be better if they're not. Lots of ball obsessed dogs will fly down for the ball, but slow down coming back.