My 2 yo lab has the bad habit of jumping at anyone with a ball thrower, either if they are just being carried or if held in the air ready to throw the ball. It's at the stage if I see someone with a ball thrower I don't let Duke off the lead. If I am using a ball thrower he sits and waits for me to throw the ball - no jumping. I have thought of carrying a ball thrower around the house to desensitise him, but I'm not sure if this would help.
Hi sorry to hear the Duke does this, and then to be on a lead that isn't much fun for either of you. I have 6 month old when ever he sees people or dogs he runs straight towards them and jumps up I too have to put him on lead. Maybe keep him on lead for a while to desensitise him and yes maybe carry it round with you or try pet spray or something similar with a leave it command hope this helps?
My girl used to do this when she was younger. I made myself more exciting than anyone else to get her to focus on me rather than other people. To start with we had lots of her running off towards someone with a ball thrower even with me getting mine out. I then changed my behaviour - as soon as she started running away from me I would get really excited about the ball I had and would run away from her being really happy, chirpy and sounding like a weirdo, but it got her attention. I ran in circles, flapping my arms, being loud and throwing the ball up and catching it. Yes, I know I looked weird, but it worked. She now ignores people with ball throwers and is constantly checking on me to see what I'm going to do next. N
Cooper will do this to me, though not to other people. She will occasionally chase a ball that someone else has thrown, but usually not. I have to make her sit before I throw the ball. She will sometimes try to strip the ball from me like a basket ball player. It is a work in progress.
Quinn was a nightmare for chasing other balls and jumping at throwers/balls in hands (not us, usually just strangers). I consider her an easy dog and this was my biggest training challenge. What we did was work super hard on proofing her recall against ball throwers and other dog's balls to prevent her from reaching them in the first place. Basically, similar to @Naya, made myself very exciting and built up the scenarios of recall (followed the book Total Recall), to the hardest one for us, being balls. I always reward her recalling from a ball with her own ball and I would say even now I can only recall her before she gets to the other person 9 times out of 10...the times she cannot resist I don't call her, yell out to the person to stop throwing the ball and go over and get her. To stop the jumping, I spent a lot of time working on her jumping at the thrower (or when she gets very impatient, grabbing the ball out of hands, which is by far worse) by using her "wait" cue, which is what we use when she is waiting to take food, get out of the car, cross the street etc. It basically means, wait until you get your next cue..in this case, we say "ok" when we throw the ball to release her. If she happens to be playing fetch with other people/dogs, I make sure I am close and tell her to "wait" if I can see she is getting impatient. It works, because she is then using self control to not jump to get the ball before she is told she can. She doesn't jump/grab at all anymore. I hope that makes sense. It takes time, good luck.
Hi I use Pet Behaviour Spray company name beaphar contains cintronella which Mason doesn't like. Have had to use a few times and lately I say I will spray it and he stops
Oh dear, I did rather hope you weren't using something like this . All though available in shops and the internet these type sprays are regarded as aversive and a form of positive punishment to the dog and really doesn't have any place in modern training methods. Please don't use it or even threaten Mason with it's use.
They could also cause dogs to become afraid of loud and sudden noises, which is the last thing we want.
T There is also one available which is just an air spray, but just as aversive when pointed at a dog even if no sound or smell
