Fetch and scratching behavior

[Pwright]

I can’t work out what’s going on with my 6 month old  (Lottie), whilst trying to teach fetch with a ball. In the house I throw her ball and she immediately goes to fetch it but instead of retrieving it to me she takes it to her bed and starts scratching as if to make her bed. If I try the same thing in the garden she goes behind the conifers and starts scratching the ground.

Has anyone else experienced this type of behavior or any ides what she could be thinking?

[ips]

I can’t work out what’s going on with my 6 month old  (Lottie), whilst trying to teach fetch with a ball. In the house I throw her ball and she immediately goes to fetch it but instead of retrieving it to me she takes it to her bed and starts scratching as if to make her bed. If I try the same thing in the garden she goes behind the conifers and starts scratching the ground.

Has anyone else experienced this type of behavior or any ides what she could be thinking?

Does she know she is supposed to bring it to you 🙄 what do you do to encourage the retrieve to hand

[Pwright]

When we first start the training game I have to go through this funny behavior although I have treats plus clicker. After a while if I manage to get her to realise that if she gives me the ball she gets a treat then she’s perfect.

From this point onwards she will retrieve the ball and hand it to me perfectly and sit by my left side waiting for me to toss it again. The next time I introduce the game she reverts back to taking the ball to her bed and scratching.

I’m struggling to work out what this behavior is all about.

[bizzylizzy]

My dog loves balls but I‘ve always had a similar problem so I gave up and concentrated on retrieving with dummies instead, - I don’t throw them, he has to stay while I place them and then send him off to fetch them - its more walking for me unfortunately  but less frustrating. I think maybe the chase and catch possibly appeals more to the natural instinct and no wild dog would happily give up its prey, infact they might even  bury it, which is maybe what the scratching is all about?
I‘ve seen training videos using two or three balls, - throwing the second ball is the reward for retrieving the first, but timing is the essence and although it worked a couple of times, I never managed to crack it. Its SO frustrating, I could exercise my first dog, a German Shepherd, for hours with a ball but cockers have a completely different mindset set.
Hope someone else can come up with more advice, sorry not to be of more help!   

[sophie.ivy]

It sounds like she's trying to bury the ball as she sees it as very high value and doesn't want you to take it from her. My 7 month old does this with her yak cheese chew as we don't give it to her that often so she must hide it from us (often forgetting where she put it and hiding it from herself too )

Have you got a narrow corridor/hallway you can use to go back to basics? If you sit at one end and block the exit then you can stop pup running past and give lots of praise and fuss for her bringing it back to you (even if it wasn't exactly her intention...!) Or you could create a run using netting in the garden that narrows at the opening so you can physically stop pup running past you.

I'm sure you will have gone through all this or similar when pup was really young, but I'm finding that now my girl is in her adolescence we're having to go right back to her earlier training as she's starting to 'forgot' things we already taught her or is just pushing the boundaries.

Another ball hidden in a pocket is also a great way to get her back to you and drop the one she has in her mouth. I've been using a rabbit fur ball to get her to 'dead' a tennis ball if she refuses first time. Just show it to her and waggle it a bit, and if she drops 'good dead/drop, good girl' then back in your pocket quickly whilst you grab the dropped tennis ball. Our gundog trainer told us not to give her the rabbit ball or ever exchange a ball for something else as that makes the tennis ball even more valuable to her.

I never normally do more than 3 solid retrieves in one session as you want to end on a high, and I've found that any more than this and she starts monkeying me around! The joys of a teenage puppy!