Obsession

[Lou G]

Caillie (wcs) is just about 8 months now and is doing really well, albeit full of mischief when the mood takes her [emoji4]
She gets a mix of on and off-lead walks, is well-socialised and has a lovely temperament, and on the couple of days when we don't work from home, she is out with our dog-walker and a small group of other dogs.
At the weekends, we take her to some nearby playing fields where we spend half an hour throwing her tennis ball for her, which she just loves. However, she is really single-minded about it - she gets so excited to the point of crying/whining when she knows we're going out to play, and whenever we have the ball/thrower, she pays no attention to anything else going on around her, be that other dogs that come over to say hello, passers-by etc - she just wants to chase the ball,  bring it back, and repeat! I just wanted to check if there's anything to worry about with this kind of behaviour??

[elaine.e]

I'm not a huge fan of lots of ball throwing for dogs. It's a fairly common cause of short term injuries and long term problems because of the sudden acceleration, leaping, mid air twisting and falls that typically happen. I know most dogs will have the occasional trip or fall and that we shouldn't wrap them up in cotton wool, but frequent ball chasing increases the risk of injuries, especially if they don't have warm up and cool down periods before and after. Dogs can also become obsessive about it and I don't think that's good for them because they can be so overstimulated that even if physically tired afterwards they're likely to be mentally overstimulated and find relaxation difficult.

I occasionally use a ball thrower for my younger Cocker when I walk my dogs with my friend and her very elderly Golden Retriever. The Retriever enjoys her walks abut can't walk far or fast nowadays, so using the ball thrower a few times helps keep Louis entertained. But I make sure it's just a small part of his walk and that he has time before and afterwards to run about, stop and sniff and just mooch about and be a dog. We play other games, such as hiding tiny treats in fallen trees (we're in the New Forest so there's plenty of those) or scattering them on the ground, and encouraging all three dogs to use their noses and find the treats. They love it and it's a good way to get them to use their brains and to focus on a task.

Could you try breaking the cycle of continuous ball throwing by not taking the ball thrower with you at all for a few weeks and encouraging her to relax and mooch about and sniff, say hello to other dogs, learn some scent games or do other training for part of the walks? Once you're confident that she's happy with doing other things reintroduce ball throwing but limit it to the middle part of the walk only.

[Murphys Law]

I completely agree with elaine. Dogs can become so obsessive with balls that nothing else matters. My SIL's springer is like that and every walk just consists of chasing a ball and nothing else. I also know somebody's springer who used to be obsessed with a ball but because it developed bad joints it now is not allowed one. Within a week it had completely changed and started to act like a normal spaniel again, sniffing at everything. The owner said that walks are far more enjoyable now without the ball.

Personally, I always take a ball on my walks but use it sparingly.

[lescef]

I too, agree with what's been said. Bramble is obsessed with her ball and we find it useful to diffuse a difficult situation when other dogs bound over. Our trainer gave us the following tips: don't just throw it -make her work for it -a few steps of heel or put her in a  'wait',  throw (not very far) then release. That has taken alot of self control work! Hide the ball in bushes and send to find it.
Never give in to her demanding - put the ball in your pocket and show your hands -we say 'all gone' and don't get it out until they've forgotten about it. We also never throw it more than three times in a row. Hope this helps!

[Fluff]

Daisy is very ball focused, so we have ball walks and non ball walks. We also use it a lot in our training as a reward  it's the biggest motivator for her, even more than treats. We used it when we did some agility to great effect.

Tbh I quite like the fact that I can take her to the park with her ball and I know she'll ignore every dog and person there - it's much more relaxing than having to constantly watch her in case she wants to go and say hi to dogs or people as she's not allowed just to run up to either.

As long as you get a balance and she gets time to do other doggie things on other walks, then I wouldn't be too worried. See if you can use it in her training when out - I often ask Daisy to do chains of behaviours that's rewarded with a ball throw,

[Lou G]

Thank you for all the advice, it's confirmed that niggling suspicion we've had! She does get 'non-ball' walks as well so I know she can act 'normally' when she's out, I think the work we have to do is definitely as suggested - not giving in to her demands and getting more of a balance and mixing in some of her training when we do take the ball out. Having a break from the ball for a few weeks is a good idea too...although explaining these new rules to her will be much easier said than done...[emoji6]

[daw]

Hmm...we had a working cocker that really did get OCD over ball retrieving. When we got our next we didn't make the same mistake and he had a quieter and more enjoyable 'rounded' life I think though we did need to lengthen the walks. Every cocker teaches you something...

[Millipede]

Millie sounds very similar,  so we also make sure some of her walks are 'non ball' walks. We have also taught her the command 'game over' when we are playing with the ball, which has really helped, as she then know she can go back to her sniffing as the ball has gone!

[JeffD]

Rather than fetch the ball try hiding it in cover and encourage search for the ball, this take the chase away.