Just can't quite get him to fetch it back.

[Golden Sidney]

We have been trying for a while to get Sid interested in chasing something anyway doing realy well and he is now happy with chasing a golf ball however we cannot get him to fetch it right back to us.  He just drops randomly so at the mokment we take two and we go fetch the dropped one whilst he is searching for the one thrown.  I have tried rewarding with food for return but then he just seems more interested in the food.

So help anyone any suggestions?

Thanks

Ann

[elaine.e]

Hi Ann

Personally I wouldn't use a golf ball because I'd be worried that it would be small enough to be swallowed, either accidentally or even deliberately if Sydney thought that was part of the fun. If swallowed it could cause a blockage and major problems.

When teaching Louis to retrieve I used a tennis ball. He wasn't allowed to play with it at other times so it became a high value, especially interesting toy, just for retrieves. I started him off in the house, throwing a short distance, and rewarding him with praise and a treat when he brought it back to me. It's worked well and I use it on walks for a few minutes sometimes, but I always stop the game before he looks like he's getting bored.

I'm sure some of the people who work their Cockers will have much better advice than mine about teaching a retrieve, but the other thing that I'll mention is that if you use 2 balls and you fetch the dropped one you're teaching him that it's OK for him to drop it, especially when you then throw the other ball for him

[MaggieR]

Can't really offer any advise about the fetching back part as Maggies pretty hit and miss with a single ball unless there's a treat involved  but... can I just offer up a word of caution about golf balls.... I know of a lady at the park who's dog managed to swallow one    Luckily he was ok, but only after an operation to remove it. Would hate something to happen to your lad and feel I hadn't said anything  

Am sure someone with a better trained doglet than mine will be along soon with advise about the fetching  

ETA Posted same time as Elaine... knew someone would come along who knows what they're doing! 

[praia]

First off, stop giving your dog golf balls to play with as you're risking having it choke to death.

If you're not asking for a formal retrieve to hand a fun way to get a dog to retrieve try playing the game with two balls and run away with one as the pup is running towards you with the other. This encourages the dog to chase after you instead of mucking about chewing on the ball or surrounding grass.  Only throw the other ball once the dog has brought back the first ball and delivered it to you to hand or at your feet. If a pup doesn't return a ball back to me I stop the game and they soon learn that if they want the game to continue you have to play by my rules.

If the dog lacks a strong retrieving drive hiding away a specific toy and using it only for retrieving games is a good way to get him excited about the game and to increase the value of the toy. 

[curly_locks]

I accidentally taught Sonny to fetch (just a fun retrieve, nothing formal) he has a singing parrot soft toy and he can't get it to make the noise himself so I squeeze it to make the noise, throw it for him, and he brings it straight back so that I squeeze it again, we did the same thing with some squeaky kong tennis balls. I started off not throwing too far and then being really excited when he brought it back (using treats seemed to distract him), it was a while before he could do it in the park because there was always something interesting to smell so he'd drop the ball half way back to me and stop for a sniff. He's so keen on playing fetch now that he carries his ball to the park, although he won't even consider carrying it home afterwards

[supergirl]

To teach my lot to retrieve I did the following:
(1) wave ball around in front of dog to get his attention (can be helpful if you use a squeaky toy or ball) and then place it on the floor in front of dog. Hopefully he will be interested enough to pick it up, when he does immediately offer him a treat which will get him to drop the ball into your hand.  Do this a few times so that he knows he needs to drop the ball into your hand to get a treat.
(2) when he's doing the above reliably throw or roll the ball a very short distance (only about a 1ft away), with any luck he will pick it up and bring it that short distance to get his treat.  Again keep repeating at a very small distance and also start adding a key word like "fetch" and when the dog drops the ball into my hand I use the word "dead".
(3) when he's reliably doing a very short distance retrieve, start to gradually increase the distance.

Usually I start off indoors and then move it outdoors when the retrieve is becoming more reliable - have just taught Lexi who is 2.5 years old to retrieve so that she can start flyball.

Would echo what others have said about the golf ball - if you need a small ball, there are the kong squeeky tennis balls that are about the size of a golf ball.

[Carol09]

I wish my two would play with a ball, they are hopeless    Jay will run after one, pick it up and drop it but gets sooo bored after one throw.  Duggie just doesn't careless about a ball, he's more interested in chasing Jay and grabbing his ears  .  I have tried soooo many times but have given up.