ball - Page 2

You may be able to do things to stimulate the prey drive in the puppy as others have suggested. However, having to do so is a strong indication of weak prey drive. You must know a dog is born with the amount of prey drive they will have genetically. You can do conditioning exercise that will help but the dog will never poses any more prey drive than he was born with genetically.

Now, Now don't make the person disapointed in his/her pup just yet! Dogs aren't born playing with the ball, you always have to stimulate it in the beginning. Perhaps the owner is just now getting around to showing the pup the ball. I have had to show the game to all my GSDs and we are talking high drive dogs.

my female is ball crazy and i thought my male just wasn't interested at all. if they're together, she goes after the ball and he goes after her. no interest in the ball. however, if i play with him alone, he loves to play ball. he's MUCH slower than our female, but he enjoys it anyway. make sure he doesn't have alot of competition or distractions and experiment w/different types of balls. he'll probably find one that interests him. i like the idea of a ball with string; it should engage his interest quickly.

I have one girl who is hooked on coconuts, and one who loves sticks. Maybe tie him to a post and wiggle a rag around. That looks more prey like than a ball, and I found that tieing makes them want it more.

watsongsd - coconuts?

Sue is so very correct. My pup was not very interested in the ball when we got him at 9 weeks and I was a bit dissapointed. I had to make it fun and interesting at first to build that drive and now he is a wild man for the ball. My trainer even somewhat "forced" him to play ball in the hallway, he had to bring it back and couldn't get distracted or wander off. He has more ball drive than food drive now and will drive you crazy until you throw the damn thing. Sometimes they just need some guidance to how the game works or how fun it can be.

Yeah, she's nuts for em. She's either barking at a neighbor, chewing a coconut, or running after one. They're floating in all the water buckets. For some reason she won't play with anything but a coconut.

xmanx, Some good feedback here. I start them off in an isolated area where there is no compitition for his attention. I use my hall way with the door shut and only me and him there. As animules said I love the squeeky balls, they often get excited at the squeek and it is good for later work in putting it in your pocket and squeeking it to alert them to you. If you can take him outside and let him chase the hose water as you shoot it on the ground. Just don't hit him with the water, make it a fun game of chase. Always put the ball or toy up. Never let them have it after you are done. He will become excited when he sees the ball if your time is cut short, maybe 10 minutes or so. Be patient with him, give him a little time. I like to keep this time as a special time between US so he looks forward to it. I also like to keep it at about the same time every day in the begining. I like to put them in the crate for awhile prior, then he starts associating coming out with playing with you and the ball. Make it a big deal when he does respond to the ball. Always praise him when he shows an interrest in prey type behavior. Give him some time, keep it short, and he will do fine.

xmanx, Hate to bring this thread to the top again but last night I was thinking about this and I remembered something that I used to do with pups. When they are interrested in interacting with me, wanting to do something fun, playfull I used to sit down on the carpet with them in front of me a few feet. I then put my hand down on the carpet palm down. I made my hand like a claw and dragged it rapidly back and forth, all around in front of the pup. As they watched and heard this "thing" moving around on the carpet rapidly I would periodically go after the pup, always retreating as I made some type of light contact. The point was to engage the pup into attacking this "thing", my hand. It is just a little game to engage the pup and will also help you build confidence. This is a good starting point at reading him as well. I am sure most on here play this game, it is not a big deal, but it is also a good place to encourage him to chase something. Though I have never had a pup that did not play fetch, I think this would be a good place to bring out that drive. You could then switch from hand to ball, doing the same thing. Then, in a tight area you could start letting the ball go from your hand. If he gets the game, he should be able to make the transition to the ball. Just small steps in the beginning with the transition to the ball. Hope this makes sense and helps.