On Shadow's walk this morning, I was trying to do a bit of training with him to drop his ball by my feet. He's pretty good at dropping it, but always a way away, and expects me to walk over and get it. So, enforcing the behaviour of him dropping it by me by giving him a treat and then throwing it again. All very straightforward, but when there's a ball in my hand, Shadow has absolutely no interest in treats. I threw him a bit of turkey frankfurter, and this happened.... Apologies for the grainy picture; it was just getting light and my camera phone is rubbish
Love it. Good catch there, Shadow. LOL, are you sure he knows it's there? For us too. Tennis balls are apparently bad for teeth but tennis balls trump hockey balls so I carry one of each.
I am absolutely certain he was completely oblivious to anything but the ball. They only ever get the ball as a high-value treat in training, but I realised I need to do some training around that in itself. They never get to just play with them, because of the damage to teeth. I have two (OK, four) new non-fuzzy balls on their way, which will hopefully be just as appealing, and far better for teeth
Teehee!! Is it tennis balls themselves that are a problem or the grit that gets caught up in them? I try not to use them on the beach because of the sand.
I think it's a bit of both - the green stuff is quite abrasive. I use the Kong ones, which are supposedly better (although not quantifiably so, it seems), but the worst thing is grit getting aught in them. Mine go under the tap and brushed out with a nail brush after every use.
Yes, I've read that too, it's both the fibre the ball is made up and the grit that gets into them. You can buy special tennis balls made for dogs supposedly not made out of the bad, abrasive fibre. Is it fibeglass, the bad stuff? But of course they cost a lot more money (and grit still gets caught) and we would get our real tennis balls for free from a tennis playing friend after the balls went a bit soft. Try ball hockey balls, that's what I buy. Of course I'm in Canada, they are easily available. Just a caution if you try them, they are colour coded for temperature and not every manufacturer follows the same code. Soft balls might freeze in sub zero temperatures and shatter when hit. I don't know if they would shatter in my dogs mouth but I don't intend to find out, I buy the winter ones. They are nice in summer, they float. Well they do until you dog puts too many holes in them. Waterlogged tennis balls sink.
I have the Kong Air balls, which are supposed to be better than normal tennis balls, because they're made of something different. I remember when I first joined the forum, someone wrote to them to ask about how much difference they actually made, but they were very vague about it. I hope the balls I've ordered will be just as high value, in which case I'll ditch the Kong balls completely and stick to them.
Yes that was me...will try and dig out the post. I use a range of balls now..but still have a few kong air balls as the squeak is useful in emergencies to get Bensons attention!
HaHa! That's one focussed dog.... Seriously though, and I have a genuinely ball obsessed dog and this has involved many months of struggle, it is not a good thing if a dog can't eat while looking at a ball. It does not mean they are an ultra keen retriever, it means they are over threshold because a certain article is around. So a desensitisation programme is in order. I know lots of people will be thinking "WHAT?" at this, but think about it - you want the dog to be calm, below threshold but ready for action. Not unable to eat because they see a ball.... Or, chicken frankfurther is just not good enough. I just use rubber balls, I avoid all fabric balls. Including the air kong that has a squeak in it, which I'm sure contributed to Charlie munching up tennis balls.
Wow that's the first I'd heard about tennis balls! You learn something new every day! We have one of those rubber Kong balls (non-squeaky, it's quite solid) as our breeder recommended that we bought one as it's the only ball her girls had never destroyed. While we're on the ball subject... A lady at the park came up to us the other day and said that we shouldn't let Ella chase a ball as it was bad for a dog's legs to run after something. Is this true or was she just a nosey nutter?
Thanks for finding the thread Kate Beanwood Riley rarely plays with tennis balls, Kong style or standard so I don't think I'll worry too much but it's much appreciated especially the effort of contacting Kong
Repeated throws and chases are bad for joints. In that the dog that chases a ball, then slams on the brakes when it gets there, is putting a lot of pressure on its joints. It is much, much better for a dog to sit and wait while you throw the ball and then have to slow down and hunt for it in long grass. That said, loads of dogs to repeated ball throw chasing and seem to come to no harm (immediately, anyway).
He can eat, and does if I offer it to him, but won't move to get food. I tried out some higher value treats yesterday evening (cooked butifarra (very meaty Catalan sausage) and butifarra negra (a bit like black pudding but without all the grains etc)) and he was a lot more interested in them. I have questions about the threshold thing, though, so I'm going to start another thread...
Just 2 things aside from the other points this thread has discussed ... 1. For the second time today I've had a chuckle at Shadow with sausage on his head....sorry! 2. Julie better up the game on Charlie's treats once he hears about the delicatessen menu provided for Shadow and Willow! ......otherwise I predict sulking and reproach on a massive scale.....
Ah, yes, we're in Catalonia. Embotits all the way, here They were having beef fillet for training treats last week!
