Since she was just a little pup Harley has had very little interest in retrieving. She will happily fetch a toy we toss in the house and she LOVES bringing random objects (mostly shoes and toys) to us, but when we take her out and throw a toy or ball for her she will fetch it once or twice and then she loses interest. She LOVES play but she doesnt get excited for fetching. We praise her, treat her and cheer her on but still, she looks like she does it to make us happy so she does her duty a few times and then she wants to play something else. I really didn't want to encourage her to be fixated on a ball or wanting us to throw for her all the time but we have also played fetch with her since she was a little pup. I thought her interest would increase over time. Sometimes she stops mid fetch and comes back to play or be with us. She is a very confident young dog, she doesn't have separation anxiety and she happily explores off lead and her recall is decent so it isn't that she is afraid to be away from us. The only reason I ask is because it is a great game for us to use along with her walks, for exercise. Her favourite play is rough and tumble with DH including tug games, brain games like training and finding treats in the house. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can improve her interest in retrieving? Or are some labs just a C- on retrieving and A+ on other things?
It is definitely something that can be taught, it's just a case of rewarding the fetch of a ball with something hugely valuable to her - which sounds like playing with your DH. Don't overdo it, as you always want to stop playing before she gets bored, so if that limit is two throws, just do one for now, but with a hugely entertaining game when she brings it back. In time, the enthusiasm she has for the game will "rub off" on the ball and she'll become more motivated by it. You can also maybe mix up the games you play with the ball - get one of those balls on a rope, so that in itself is the tugger - I made one out of an old ball and a piece of strong rope just yesterday. Other ideas are puller rings, the Air Kong on a rope etc; anything that can be thrown and tugged. You could also try some puppy switch retrieve, which is where you have two identical objects, which can be anything from balls to toys. You throw one in one direction, and as she starts coming back to you, you jiggle the second one, to encourage her to drop the first. When she does, you throw that one in the opposite direction (so you're throwing to 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock, with you in the middle). Repeat a few times. This is normally far more engaging than a simple throw of a ball.
I'm only just catching up on 2 weeks of forum time so this is very late, but how about a bit of soccer? Xena's not a great retriever (which doesn't bother me), so a couple of months ago I dug out my kid's old soccer ball and kicked it for her. OH EM GEE. She LOVES dog soccer, and even retrieves it back to me...most of the time. It's good enough for me, and I'm stoked to have finally found Xena's "thing". 15 minutes per day is a nice little workout for her, and it's fun for me too.
Finn is so similar, he gets bored fetching on land. He likes it in the house, but it's just too small in here so we don't do it very often. Water is his thing and he will do water retrieves allllll dayyyy. However we are moving to a house with a big yard (garden) and I'm excited to see if the familiarity of the yard will encourage him to fetch.
Obi is like Finn and loves retrieving from water. For Flyball (which is basically competitive team retrieving) I had to start from scratch and shape him using a clicker and food to look at a ball, then touch the ball, then hold the ball... Took a while but we got there and now he'll do that all day too.
@Xena Dog Princess we bought Harley a soccer ball and she did love it but unfortuately she punctured it quickly. So I bought her the big bouncy Kong toy today and so far so good.
