Ball Stealing / Bolting with Ball

[Millipede]

Wondered if anyone might be able to help with some advice. Millie loves tennis balls and enjoys playing fetch. As I don't want her to become too obsessed with balls on her walks, we usually only play with the ball on walks at weekends when my husband accompanies me - (Daddy playtime  ).
She does have a habit of 'stealing' other dogs balls on walks when we come across them and it can be quite difficult to get it back off her. I try to keep calm, attempt to swap for a treat and return in a low key fashion to the owner. This took quite a different turn recently, when she picked up a ball and instead of swapping for a treat decided to run back home (across a busy road), completely ignoring my recall, which is usually very reliable. I am presuming that she realised I was going to take it off her and thought that she would be better off taking it home to play with.  I am now super paranoid anytime we go near a dog with a ball as I think the same might happen. I now carry a ball to try and distract / swap with but would appreciate any other tips / advice as it really was heart in the mouth time when she bolted 

[Sula]

That must have been scary and I am glad she was ok after crossing the road 

I am not going to offer advice though, as I would not want to say the wrong thing and someone will be along soon who can offer the correct advice xx

[*MaryG*]

We have had major problems with this, have been to a trainer but it

[*MaryG*]

sorry, sent post too soon. as i started to say we have had major problems with this. the trainer said that when we play ball with pepper we must always dictate the rules. we throw he returns to my feet and then gets a treat. we decide when the game starts and finishes. we are not meant to leave ball around, all balls are ours.he suggested not taking balls out as pepper was meant to learn that all balls out there belong to someone else. we did this for a while but i have changed this as he was just mad for other dog'd balls. so i take oue now. it was hard at first as he didn't want to return it, his instinct is to hide it . so to begin with i just threw it a little way, lots of treats for returning.as he is ball obsessed he will keep asking to play ball but i chosse and if i put my hand up he knows we are not going to play. if i seea nother dog witha ball i throw his and he is happy to stay with his. i am slightly worried by this in case the other dog comes and he gets grumpy gaurding his ball. so far it has been ok, though to be honest it is probably easier to just put him on the lead. it does mean that i can distract him from a ball ahead if he is off lead. it is the one things he will come back for.
i do hope you get it sorted i know how embarrassing and potentially dangerous this can be. i did find a one to one with a trainer a help, it helps to have someone watch and work out what their real motivations. obviously work on leave it and things but to be honest when they get this possessive you're lucky if that works. good luck

[Miadanu]

The other thing you can try as well as the above is only taking out different throw toys and playing wtih those instead.  We only let Merlin have a ball as a rare reward when we get in from a walk sometimes rather than letting him have it outside.  Also, whilst training the give of the ball back to you it's worth having a special high value treat that they love that they ONLY get for giving a ball back.  The side effect of that is that he has a tendency to find balls in the undergrowth and bring those to use but I'd rather that than the alternative!  Takes awhile and if someone throws a ball nearby and he is faster than their dog he'll still go for it most of the time but at least he gives it up now so we can return it!

Good luck!

[Millipede]

Sorry been caught up with niece and nephew visiting this week. Millie has had constant attention and is now catching up on her sleep 
Thanks for the advice, we have spoken with our dog trainer, he has advised downplaying the 'importance' of a stolen ball - ie ignoring giving a replacement to the owner and getting back at a later stage. Not quite sure about this approach, intuitively feel swapping for a high value treat or toy makes more sense...

[Archie bean]

Sorry been caught up with niece and nephew visiting this week. Millie has had constant attention and is now catching up on her sleep 
Thanks for the advice, we have spoken with our dog trainer, he has advised downplaying the 'importance' of a stolen ball - ie ignoring giving a replacement to the owner and getting back at a later stage. Not quite sure about this approach, intuitively feel swapping for a high value treat or toy makes more sense...

I have this problem with Archie. No matter what I try - ans I've tried all the suggestions above - I simply cannot get him to give up a ball stolen from another dog. He was prepared to give up his own ball but only if I had a second one to throw. He's now decided that even that is not as much fun as running off and lying down on the ball.  He will never give a ball (or any toy) back to me anywhere but inside the house. There is absolutely no treat or toy that is higher value to him. I have used the approach your trainer has suggested and it works to a point. The difficulty can be that some owners can be really nasty. They almost seem more possessive of their own ball than their dog. I can understand it but yelling obscenities at me is hardly going to help the situation. One particularly nasty couple kicked up a massive fuss despite the fact that I had asked them not to throw the ball until Archie was on the lead. They threw it straight to him and laughed when he ran off. They then called me all the names under the sun when I explained I couldnt get it back. They refused my offer of a replacement i sisting their dog wanted his own special ball. When Archie eventually lost interest I went over to them to return the ball but they just said they didn't want it now. 
I no longer take him anywhere public where people throw balls. It's not worth the trauma. If I do see a dog with a ball or a person with a chukkit then I immediately put him on the lead.
I'll be interested if you find a solution. Hope you manage to crack it.

[*MaryG*]

you have my sympathy. the number of times i have asked people to wait untill i put pepper on the lead before they throw a ball , they then throw it and get cross i can't retrieve it! people also get very possessive about the scruffiest of balls and do not want a replacement.
the only thing that has worked for me is to take a ball out and as soon as i see a dig with a ball i throw pepper's for him. he will not leave this to run after another dog's ball. sorry this is not the answer if he already has another dog's ball.

[Karma]

Downplaying the importance and not swapping for anything really helped reduce Honey's possessiveness of balls.
One tactic I find helps if you absolutely need to get the ball back is to throw a handful of treats down and walk away... Honey sometimes ignores the treats, but if I repeat often enough she puts the ball down to eat them.  I then tell her to pick the ball up and repeat several times... the combination of sniffing for treats (sniffing is a stress-reducer) and me making no attempt to get the ball makes her much less possessive of it and she will venture further away from the ball for the treats, enabling me to pick the ball up.
I pester Honey repeatedly to pick up her ball, if I am getting her to retrieve to hand and she is reluctant, I back away and make her come closer and closer... if she isn't releasing her hold on the ball, I again back off and make her come closer again...

It doesn't always work, but reducing the importance of balls has definately helped a lot... 

[Millipede]

Thanks for all the comments, glad to know she is not the only kleptomaniac spaniel!  She managed to pick up another ball today, but I chickened out of just ignoring and tried distracting her with her ball. It did work, but I was just paranoid she would run home again if she decided the stolen ball was more exciting. I will try throwing a handful of treats around and trying not to attach importance to the ball, but don't think it's going to be easy. I'll keep posted on progress 

[Miadanu]

Quick note to add - we had a phase where Merlin wouldn't give up a stone and sticks (which we don't like him playing with).  Trainer advised ignoring the behaviour for awhile before going back to treat exchange and it worked! Very stressful for me for a couple of weeks but worth it in the end once Merlin realised 'oh, she's not falling for my teasing game - bored now' and drops things on his own before asked sometimes.

[Millipede]

Thanks thats interesting and ties in with 'devaluing' the importance of the ball. Still training myself to get the response right  - she found one this morning near to the tennis courts where we walk, so I ignored her for a bit, tried fetch (she ran off into the bushes  ). I walked on ignoring her then after 5 minutes or so got her ball out. She then dropped the other ball, I swiped it without her looking, she decided her own ball was boring and started looking for the other one. Not sure if any of that was right, but reinforces at the moment her fetch will not work with a contraband ball. 

[bluemoonrose]

We have no end of problem with Ollie and tennis balls, whereas Maisie is very good and will retrieve and give back. It means now she has to have separate ball playing time, otherwise Ollie will retrieve it and start shredding/eating the fuzz off the ball. If you go anywhere near him he growls, clamps it in his jaws, and runs off. It's so embarrassing if he picks up someone else's ball when we're out because he won't come to you and has to be grabbed and ball prized from his jaws. Not something we want to do, but there is no way he's prepared to give it back.  We've tried the high value treat swap, but nothing is as high value to him. Ignoring and walking away seems to reinforce "its ok, i'm allowed to have this" in Ollie's case - you can almost see a look of smug satisfaction! We've now taken to keeping a spare ball with us to give to the other people in the event Ollie steals theirs and if we spot someone ball throwing in time he gets put back on the lead. I only hope Maisie doesn't pick up his bad habit and ball obsession.

[cdpops]

The only thing that has ever worked with Charlie, is to have something "better" a prized toy in my pocket to swap with, pretend I am not in the least bit interested in the ball he has, but love playing with the "better" toy, I then "accidentally" drop the better ball and he usually grabs that letting the other one go! I know it is not solving the problem but it has got me out of sticky situations on a few occasions.