Leanne
Sniffer Dog
- Location
- Shropshire, UK
Well the unbelievable has happened. Mas just turned down a treat in order to not take his eyes off the ball.
Aha says I... this is brilliant and now I can do all my training with just a tennis ball.
Then I realised the truth. The dog is obsessed. Like he can’t hear me when I have a tennis ball.
He can’t see me, he can’t hear me... all he can see is the ball. It’s like heroin. He’s addicted
So... being the clever bunny I am I think ‘ooh we can do some training on keeping his focus when there is a tennis ball.
Mas... sit..... cue dog staring unblinkingly at the ball.
mas.... SIT.... one slow blink
Mas.... treat? Throw HVT on the floor.... blink with drool. No touching of the food.
3 dogs walked passed during this stale mate. Nothing. I genuinely believe a house could fall down and the only reaction you would get is him leaping to protect the tennis ball,
WTF do they make them with?
My other dog is a collie so I understand ball obsession but this was something else.
20 minutes later we had reached the stage where I could get him to do a touch (followed by a throw of ‘my precious’ and then a sit.
We did a couple of waits for the ball but frankly that felt like cheating... you wouldn’t ask a statue to wait after all.
Very surreal moment. It was literally like his brain just switched off and he actually couldn’t see or hear me.
Aha says I... this is brilliant and now I can do all my training with just a tennis ball.
Then I realised the truth. The dog is obsessed. Like he can’t hear me when I have a tennis ball.
He can’t see me, he can’t hear me... all he can see is the ball. It’s like heroin. He’s addicted
So... being the clever bunny I am I think ‘ooh we can do some training on keeping his focus when there is a tennis ball.
Mas... sit..... cue dog staring unblinkingly at the ball.
mas.... SIT.... one slow blink
Mas.... treat? Throw HVT on the floor.... blink with drool. No touching of the food.
3 dogs walked passed during this stale mate. Nothing. I genuinely believe a house could fall down and the only reaction you would get is him leaping to protect the tennis ball,
WTF do they make them with?
My other dog is a collie so I understand ball obsession but this was something else.
20 minutes later we had reached the stage where I could get him to do a touch (followed by a throw of ‘my precious’ and then a sit.
We did a couple of waits for the ball but frankly that felt like cheating... you wouldn’t ask a statue to wait after all.
Very surreal moment. It was literally like his brain just switched off and he actually couldn’t see or hear me.
