Ball 🎾 obsessed

[Atemas]

Red just loves those Kong squeaky balls . Yesterday on our walk she loved having the ball thrown and bringing it back to me. Today, we had barely got into the wood - the second I took her lead off she was at my right hand side nudging the pocket the ball was in. She was SO excited. We did virtually the whole walk either me throwing the ball or the ball in her mouth. She had one treat at the end of the walk when I put the ball in my pocket and put her lead on. I just love seeing her so excited and so totally focussed on me ‘cos I am the source of excitement. Wonderful walk

 

[Shaz82]

It is so lovely when you are in tune like that on a walk, she sounds like she is back to normal now thankfully.
Someone I walk with gives her spaniel a squeaky ball as a recall treat but Maisy tries to get there first, she doesn't want a ball if I have it but this one she jumped up and pinched just as my friend was putting it in her pocket. Little devil.

 

[Cath]

Glad you and Red had a lovely walk together. It makes you feel so good

 

[Stacia]

@Atemas, this is what drives me mad about Rourke! He is always bouncing around me 'give me the ball, give me the ball'! So now I don't play his game until we are returning home from walking up the lane!

 

[Atemas]

this is what drives me mad about Rourke

Yes I suspect the novelty will wear off for me but not Red

 

[Candy]

I tend to ration Joy's ball time as given the choice she would chase and fetch all day, so we do a bit, then move on to something else. She had done a lot of running and fetching a ball from another dog walker's Chuckit the day before her limp started and I think that may be what caused the problem.

 

[Atemas]

I think I will ration and I know F won’t do it when he takes his camera with him. I just loved seeing her so happy

 

[kateincornwall]

Reuben adores his ball , but like others , I ration it otherwise he would become a ball pest

 

[Candy]

I think I will ration and I know F won’t do it when he takes his camera with him. I just loved seeing her so happy

Yes, I feel the same with Joy which is why I let her carry on for so long with that Chuckit the other day. A little voice in my head was asking if maybe she was overdoing it a bit, but she was just enjoying herself SO much. I did discuss it with the vet and he agreed that could have caused it and said that it would be less likely to happen with repeated throwing of a ball by hand. It's the rapid acceleration and deceleration of a dog chasing a ball from a Chuckit that can cause problems apparently.

 

[Charlie]

It's lovely that you have found something for Red to focus on but could you maybe do some controlled dummy retrieving to reduce the impact on her joints. I only say because I saw a neighbour of mine when we were back in Hampshire. She told me her Cocker Spaniel has ruptured his cruciate ligament and needs surgery. This vet thinks this is due to continuous ball throwing with a chucker over years. I have seen her dogs and others wanting nothing else but ball throwing which is a little sad to me as I want my dog to be with me not a ball. I only use a ball for water retrieving as no impact on the joints and the odd throw as a reward. xxxa

 

[Atemas]

Yes I know about the problems with a Chuckit @Candy and have never used one (there are 2 sat in the garage - bought and never used). I must say I had the little voice going in my head too. I think I am just going to get the ball out on the dyke bit as we have done in the past. My hand throwing is pretty pathetic distance wise but I reckon I’d end up with one very toned arm doing a lot of that

Yes, I understand what you are saying @Charlie. It’s not going to happen often as F normally does those walks and he doesn’t take a ball. He generally has his camera and Red is used to him stopping and taking photos. We have just had a chat about it so won’t be a problem

 

[edzbird]

@Atemas, this is what drives me mad about Rourke! He is always bouncing around me 'give me the ball, give me the ball'!

This is Meg too. I do other games like "find it" - break up the ball play.

 

[Stacia]

This is Meg too. I do other games like "find it" - break up the ball play.

Yes, I do as well, when he isn't looking and I am walking down the lane, I throw a couple of tennis balls and a snipe dummy as I walk and then when we come back, I ask him to hunt the hedgerow and grass verges, he loves it.

 

[Atemas]

I successfully curbed the obsession today, restricting the ball throwing/catching/fetching to just the dyke bank. She stuck close to me the whole walk but got the message and stopped for the odd sniff

 

[Selina27]

I successfully curbed the obsession today, restricting the ball throwing/catching/fetching to just the dyke bank. She stuck close to me the whole walk but got the message and stopped for the odd sniff

Sounds good!

I sometimes envy those of you with ball obsessed dogs, as it must be great to have that at your disposal as a reward for training purposes. I wouldn't these days want to stop Cassie exploring her environment, it gives her such pleasure and me too. But I still need something to "trump" distractions such as other dogs and people, although those are not a problem if she's hunting. The A/B game is currently such a success (I call it "this way") that I plan to make it in to some sort of game. She does like tuggy these days, and she loves rabbit skin, so I am about to equip ourselves with a rabbit skin ball dummy on a toggle that I can take in my pocket. Sausage may be involved!

Wish me luck!!

 

[Atemas]

Sounds like you have a few ‘tools in the toolbox’ @Selina27 which is the most important thing for dealing with distractions and that the most important thing - whatever works for you and Cassie

 

[Ashley]

I sometimes envy those of you with ball obsessed dogs

Until your dog joins another family because they have a ball that might be (*definitely is) better that yours

 

[MellowYellow]

Every now and again I take a couple of tennis balls or mini dummies out with me and the dogs, and we play games. They really have to concentrate, as I will for instance throw the balls in two different directions, then we walk on a bit, then I send them one at a time. So they have to watch where the balls land, walk to heel, listen for which dog I am sending for which ball, AND find the ball from a different starting point! Another simple game we play is where I place the balls on the path, about ten meters apart, then we walk for a bit, and then I send first one dog back, and then the other. Recently we invented a grand new game whereby I dropped the balls into a little stream, and the dogs had to hunt for the balls as they were carried downstream by the water. They love these games, and they are not too hard on the joints. But more often we just go for ordinary walks, as I don’t want them to get too obsessed.

 

[Selina27]

the dogs had to hunt for the balls as they were carried downstream by the water

Haha, yes I do a similar thing with Cassie, if I have some sort of floating treat!

 

[Selina27]

‘tools in the toolbox’

Haha yes, it's just a question of bringing the right one out at the right time