Hi everyone. i need your help! my wonderful adoptee Satine has brilliant manners knows basic obedience (starts obedience classes soon) but refuses to drop the ball, she's a fairly big dog and usually very submissive she's not dominant over anything (the cat occasionly has a nibble of her food while Satine's eating it etc etc) but as soon as it comes to her ball..thats a whole other story. she wont go out and play with the ball by herself. but as soon as you throw the ball and she gets it she races back, drops it, but when you go to pick it up she'll quickly grab it again and hold it in her mouth, roll on her back and wag her tail like crazy!!! she absolutely loves this game! >.<i dont grab the ball out of her mouth, i ask for the ball..still she rolls around! and as soon as i walk a step away she drops the ball and comes back to my side..but as soon as i show any interest in the ball.. she goes and grabs it!!!!!!
someone please help me get the ball of the ball-hog!
Elise + Moogi & Satine (the anti-sharer.)

Try using two balls :)

Daisy

Wont she take a treat in preference to the ball? Use the command "hand" with your hand under her chin, offer the treat with the other hand, catch ball when she drops it to take the treat. Eventually she'll give the ball to you without seeing the treat and finally without a treat.

Totaly misunderstood the title of this thread - was about to say 'leave it till he is a bit older before thinking about surgery' :)

:D :D @ Jackie!

ha my dog takes forever to drop her ball too,i tried two balls but she kept the same ball in her mouth and kept kicking the other with her paws;) :O funny to watch her do it. now i just say firmly let go! till she does it she looks very reluctant to do it but eventuly she will. and now if i catch her with something she shouldent have in her mouth i say drop it and she will.

lol @ jackie

I'm no expert, but I have had to teach my gundogs to hold and drop retrieves. I do this as a seperate exercise, i.e. get them to hold and praise them whilst they are holding. Then I teach them 'dead' which means they must release whatever they are holding. I would suggest a treat as soon as your dog drops the ball, but you must treat her immediately. Also don't let her have anything to hold, no balls left around at all. Then keep reinforcing the 'hold' and 'dead' command. Good luck :)
Lorna

Gundogs must release on command. Follow lorna's advice and teach a release command. Do not go straight for the ball when your dog comes in to you. Make a fuss of her first and only take the ball when she is beginning to get fed up with holding it. Give your release command and take it, throw it again and repeat as before. You can do all this sitting in your easy chair at home. (I do a lot of my gundog training sitting in my easy chair!)

Best wishes, John

As well as saying 'drop' to Thistle I have to say 'leave' or else she picks the ball up again. So I say 'DROP AND LEAVE' very firmly, just once and wait for her to do it , if she doesn't obey I walk off in disgust and no more playing with the ball until it suits me again, she hardly ever disobeys now
HTH
Jane

And if that fails Jane, a little piece of lead clipped to the left ear usually works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Particulaly if fired by a 12 gauge shotgun! ;)

....from your armchair :D :D :D

I'm a firm believer in taking my training easy. Arm chair and a glass of malt whilst I train! You can't beat it!

J, My vision of you striding through the heather of a misty morn training your dogs is completely shattered now. :-( Dont know whether to reach for the Malt or the Rescue Remedy!!

I don't think John said his armchair was at home :D it might be in the middle of a field ;) with a drinks cabinet in the fence post :D for all we know.
Karen

The arm chair is in the keeper's hut and the drinks are in the filing cabinet (The only place we can lock!)

Seriously though, there is an old saying that "Everything's a training opportunity!" and there is never a truer word. You don't have to make hard work out of it. If you do you will soon get bored and so will your dog.

Best wishes, John

Aha! I'm vindicated! Now lets think how to incorporate gundog training into daily life.........:D

As an example Lorelei, how many times have you spilt something on the kitchen floor and wanted your dog to stop where it is until you have cleared it up? What better place to train a stop at a distance? It's familiar territory, no question of being left, no stress! Once the lesson is learned stopping at a distance anywhere is not stressful because your dog knows what's happening! There is no difference in a dog stopping on command at a range of 4 foot indoors than stopping on command at 400 yds across a field, it’s just a question of degrees!

Best wishes, John

Hi John, thats exactly it! We used to roar at the kids to shut the gate or hold Morse while going in and out the back until I remembered we had a command for it - the wrong one for gundogs as we use stay instead of stop, but he dosent charge out the gate anymore. I use wait for the kitchen thing/roads/No chasee fur thing and hes learning to down when seeing another dog so that translates into a sit before the guy with a gun appears to finish the bird you found. Once I get the book on pointers I'll be better informed on what they really do and then my imagination will kick in. Derry Argue and the Barking Babes both talk about chucking food into a field and getting the dog to hunt out his dinner - BB for mental stimulation and DA to work on their scenting, but its the same thing. Mind you Morse can calculate distance and he knows when he can risk getting up and when not to, so he knows the difference between 4 and 40 feet!:)

Hi, my dog Saffy does this too. What she really wants is to play tug (which is impossible with a ball in her big mouth - you can't get hold of it). She keeps coming up to you nudging you with the ball, until you try to take it and then pulls back. I have tried two balls and treats (even her favourites) and she will let you have it a few times but after a while its almost like she thinks " I don't want to play fetch" and goes off with her ball on her own.

Fiona

haha john take it easy ,what you say if u just sit there and ill drop my gundog off to yours:D u seem to have it sorted. only kiddin ;) , mines a mental thing with too much energy ud end up running around lol:D but hey it would save you some cash you wouldent need to go to the gym.

The whole point is to channel the energy. A few long retrieves, some mental stimulation with blinds, it works wonders!

Best wishes, John