Root Beer Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 I never have to reach down to the floor to pick up a tennis ball again! For YEARS Speedy has been dropping tennis balls at my feet! Sometimes I was diligent enough to wait him out so he would actually drop it on the furniture by me, but often I ended up reaching. It became a habit. Dean brings the ball right to my hand and holds it until I remove it. Now Speedy goes to get the ball and drops it on the ground. Dean picks it up and hands it to me. Dean is too good to be true!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyoBC Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 Sounds great. I have to take the ball from Black Jack most of the time, but at least he gives it to me I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenCollie Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 how cute! My BC is only around 16 weeks old now so she still drops it.. But my Labrador does gundog training so he delivers beautifully to hand.. Although of course being a retriever, this comes much more naturally to him than it does a BC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted March 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 When I taught Speedy to retrieve, I had no idea what I was doing. I was trying to find a way to keep my Border Collie puppy busy in the house in the wintertime. He quickly found that keep-away was just as much fun as going to get the ball and him playing keep-away with it after bringing it to me got really ingrained. I've never actually bothered to train him to give it back. But I was determined that I would teach Dean to give it back. I almost didn't need to, though. He just naturally gave it to me the first time he brought it. I put it on the cue "give" and used throwing the ball for him to chase as reinforcement and now he brings it to me to give. He even brings me other things from time to time. He brought me a glove that I had carelessly left on the floor earlier. It was very nice of him to remind me that I shouldn't leave things like that on the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Oop Posted March 9, 2007 Report Share Posted March 9, 2007 What a team! Allie tried the keep-way routine for a while as a puppy, but now will always bring it to hand. One quirk, however, is that if I try to pick up the ball with the "Chuck-It" she will not let go and will wrestle me for it every time (my Chuck-it is very battle-scarred and chewed up). I usually just take my "dogspit" gloves with me to the park in the winter and handi-wipes in the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbies_mumma Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 LOL! Abbie won't even bring it back. She will drop it if I say 'give' but other wise she just runs off and chews it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SincereArtisan Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 It took FOREVER to teach Rune toretrieve. And even now, she gets SO goofy about it....she prances up, front paws dancing in the air, and instead of setting the ball down, she flicks it so it will bounce andshe can get a few 'swats' at it in before she turns around and prepares for my next throw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickeyDogs Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Hee! Jill retrieves the ball - Oscar steals it from Jill and gives it to me! Teamwork 101 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcdawg Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Same thing here! Ash drops the ball and Casey picks it up and hands it to me, also he picks up anything on the floor that shouldnt be there, like paper, pens, he is just way too smart, when spelling O-U-T doesnt work anymore, its time to write it down i guess!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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