Just been out with Plum, 9 months, to the local rec and it was dispiriting and so unpleasurable. I had her on the lead because she's been a bit off-colour today so I was trying to keep her away from eating what she shouldn't. Well, whenever she sees a ball, foot or tennis, she goes crazy. If she's off lead and someone is using a ball slinger she outruns any dog to get to it. If a kid is playing football then 'watch out kid.' If people are playing tennis she gets transfixed. She was jerking my arm left, right and centre to try and chase balls and pulling so hard she almost somersaults. It's like she gets transported to another zone and I can't distract her. I don't want to avoid the local rec but I feel a bit hopeless I'll ever be able to train her out of this. I don't mind keeping her on a lead but I worry for myself and her with all her pulling! If anyone has found some workable solutions I'd be pleased to hear them. Would showing her a tennis ball to distract her defeat the object?
You are too close to the distraction. You need to put enough space between Plum and the balls such that she can still see them, but manage to look away. Play "Look At That". He looks, you click (or mark) & treat. Soon she will look then turn for you for the treat - you can move the click to that point where she looks at you. Then Gradually move closer to the distraction. It would help if you can have a stooge with a ball to assist you. I have tried to help Coco with his distraction - other dogs - using this method with some success. It's much harder without a stooge. There's lot's of threads mentioning it. Or the book Control Unleashed. Good luck, you can do this, but it might mean avoiding the rec for the time being if there's not enough space there.
This was (and sometimes still is) my life. Quinn is mental for a ball, especially a ball thrower. She beats out 99% of dogs for their balls and will sit in front of someone waiting for a throw if she thinks they might have a ball. She even watches sports with balls on TV, transfixed. If she is laying down, and hears a ball bounce, she is up in an instant. 9 months was a really bad age for us, and after a few instances of her running rampage through a baseball game, I bought a long line and started working through total recall. I also remember we tried walking by a tennis court around this time and I thought my hands were bleeding from leash burn she was such a lunatic. For her recall away from balls, I found I needed more help around balls than I could do on my own, so I signed up for a recall specific class and told them our main problem was balls. It was 5 weeks long, and it really really helped. We built up towards scenarios with balls and by the end we had made a lot of progress. Her overall recall is SO much better, but I am able to call her away from other balls (though sometimes I have to ask other owners to stop playing with her - generally if I walk away without her, she will run after me). I use her own ball as a reward. I keep one on me on all walks on or off leash. The other thing I did on my own, is walk around the perimeter of sports fields with games going on as well as locations where other dogs were playing with balls. I kept her far back and on leash and rewarded for looking at me. I say her name, and she is clicked and rewarded. Every time she pulled, we stopped and I would ask her to sit before walking on. We built up to "watching" a few minutes of soccer and baseball games and she had to sit or settle and I treat streamed. She is so much better overall now, though I still have her look at me to walk by certain ball situations. She does not lunge or try to get to the ball. Her eyes are on the ball, but she doesn't try to go to it and sometimes she doesn't even notice.
Thank you so much @QuinnM15 , you have given me hope. I am doing a gundog workshop with her at the moment so I will also ask the trainer for tips and whether she can do any of the classes on this issue. It may be a teenager thing at this age as it has definitely got worse.
I've no helpful advice as this is one thing Cassie doesn't do, although the Look at that would be useful for near other dogs for her, but just to say chin up and you can do it I'm sure . I know that dispirited feeling very well! When it happens I try and count up what is going well. I sympathsize too with worrying about the pulling, do you have a harness?
Good suggestions above. Another thing you can try alongside these is to teach steadiness. You can do this by popping her in a sit, walking a way away from her with a ball and then putting it down on the floor. If she moves towards it, pick it up and try again, but try making it easier (you'll have to judge if this is by moving faster, slower, farther away etc). If she doesn't move towards it, pick it up and have a party, give her brilliant treats. In time, you can make the way you put it down more exciting, so start dropping it the last couple of inches, then dropping it from your hand, then tossing it a little. Always try to make it so she can't self-reward if you think your next step is challenging. A helper can be useful, to pick the ball up if you're throwing it away from yourself. You can also stand by her side and toss balls away from you, requiring her to stay in a sit. You'd start this by putting your arm across her chest so she can't move, or having her on lead. Eventually working towards dropping the lead and then not having to have it connected at all. Sometimes, you can send her after the ball as a reward for steadiness, but make sure she's getting more where she doesn't get to have it (but gets an amazing different reward instead) than the number of times she does. There's a lot you can do along these lines - requiring her to give a different behaviour before getting the ball, walking away from it etc. The more gams you can do where she has to concentrate in the presence of balls, the more chance you'll have of her not losing her mind out and about.
Thanks @selina27, yes, I have a harness and I'm so pleased I put that on her because goodness knows what she might have done to herself in a collar! You're right to count the blessings. I'm thinking she's a teenager at the moment because she is a bit wayward, plus, she's gone bonkers for chewing!
Thanks so much @snowbunny, I really appreciate your suggestions, going to start practising tomorrow! Also, I realise, when she starts her first season I've got lots of games to keep her occupied in the garden!
Does Plum play tug with you? It was the best thing I did with Molly when she was at this difficult age, getting her really keen on playing tug with me. I found it was a way of making Molly see me, rather than other dogs /people etc, as the source of excitement and fun. I still almost always carry a tuggable toy with me. You can also play tug even in a confined space , even on lead if necessary. It might help to overcome the desire to run after balls.
