I have a 20 month old Lab whose ball obsessed. She fetches the ball for me to throw and will drop it when I throw a second ball but when its time to end the game she will skirt around me and not come back. If I take the tennis balls away she will dive at me and snatch them back if she can. Any ideas on how to calm this obsession down?
I'm sure more experienced forum members will have the right advice for you. But what I've seen in our local park with ball-obsessed dogs is that the recommended treatment is cold turkey! Like treating a drug addiction. Snowie loves his ball but isn't ball obsessed. But he would bark for it at particular places where we always played with it. Then he developed a back problem so no ball retrieves allowed. I thought he'd get very frustrated. No. Took a couple of days of no ball and then he stopped asking for it. I was amazed how easily he adapted. He also stopped stealing other dogs' balls. Instead he started sniffing his surroundings more. We play occasional gentle ball games now but he's nowhere near as insistent on ball games as he was when we played a lot with it. I must add though that he finds a lost ball at least once a week on our walks!!! Incredible. He can sniff them out. And he's very proud of the ball when he finds it. But I don't throw it, just let him carry it.
H became ball crazy with him jumping along next to me with his nose in my pocket. Not knowing better at the time I'd let him carry a tennis ball around on all his walks. Then I noticed that his teeth were wearing down, this was most likely a combination of tennis balls or antler chews. He now has his ball at certain times and places on our walks. He will still sniff one out or find a plastic bottle to play with but he's not as obsessed as he was. Funnily, he'll drop his found ball or bottle at a strangers feet to engage them in play as he knows I won't pick up a grotty ball covered in mud and slobber.
Yes, I've read tennis balls act like sandpaper on teeth. We invested (we bought a LOT they were that good!) in rubber balls. We lost the first one on our first outing hence why we bought out the shop the next time! So we have a lifetime supply cos we hardly use them anymore cos we restrict Snowie's thrown ball retrieves out and about.
Zaba is ball obsessed, so - like Jes - we have certain places where he swims for the ball (better for joints if they can swim rather than run and have to put the brakes on). He gets very excited as we near these places. When the ball goes away we put it in a bag and show him two empty hands. No more ball until we decide. You'll need to be very determined if you use this method, it'll take a week or two for her to stop pestering - but she will.
I do exactly the same , and use the words Ball Gone . It mustn't become their decision , it has to be ours , they will accept it eventually , good luck x
My Lab is ball obsessed, but has learnt that when I put it in my pocket he must leave me and go off. I have inadvertantly taught him, "there is a person or dog, come back for the ball and now he is often diving back to me". I say 'ball gone' and he now understands. Just be firm and consistent, the more he barks for the ball, the less likely he is to get it!
If your girl is ball obsessed it may be better to go cold turkey and simply stop playing with balls with her and try some other games like tug or scent or find it games. After a period of time you can reintroduce a ball but make her sit and wait while you through the ball and then send her to retrieve it and bring it back but you decide when, where and how many throws she gets and as others have said have a clear signal that ball play has finished - something you should have for all play with your dog anyway
Cold Turkey worked for me! I never take a ball out on walks now, and just use dummies or toys. If I reintroduce a ball on our walks she very quickly becomes obsessed with them again, and not just hers, anyone else's that she sees playing ball too!
Thanks everyone, I'll try taking the ball away again. We do have periods of 2 or 3 weeks where we ban the ball to try and solve the problem but it doesnt seem to make any difference. If we meet another dog out thats got a ball she will try and steal it and just wont give it up. Just recently I let her have a ball in the house for a very short amount of time and told her to leave it which she did most of the time but when we're out she just doesnt listen and does her own thing.
Indeed. The term 'ball obsessed' is used far too lightly by people that just have Labradors very, very keen on balls. Ball obsession really isn't at all funny, and luckily is far rarer than the number of people who say they have ball obsessed dogs. If your dog really is ball obsessed, that's pretty much the worst thing you can do. Cycles of access to balls then being deprived of balls feeds an obsession in a way that makes it build and build. This does not sound like an obsession to me - it sounds like you are making a few training mistakes and need to train impulse control a fair bit more. That's a very good thing. You need to fade out the second ball. You are using it as a bribe so it's the cue to drop the ball. You need to fade it out and train your dog to drop the ball without having to show a bribe in advance.
