Oh yes, prawn flavour is definitely appreciated here, too - although the older dogs actually prefer plain
I got my rabbit skin ball yesterday! My husband things I mad, I am a vegetarian and he is constantly laughing at how 'dead animally' I am now, all for Indie...! But I am not sure if I should use it as a retrieve object like her canvas dummy, or purely as a reward (i.e. throwing it and letting her run in after it as a reward for a stop or recall)? Or a mixture? I played with it myself today, got her excited then hid it in a drawer - now she's got her snout pressed up against the drawer sniffing ...so she definitely wants it!
I'm currently listening to the audio book 'How to be your dog's superhero'. The author uses the expression 'Kryptonite'. Loving the book but it is not for those easily offended by bad language.
I've wondered the same thing actually. I kept it purely as a retrieve object BUT since Jess would rather bury things under a bush than bring them back I don't give her any toys or dummies when we're out now. And actually, given how exciting she finds the rabbit fur I should probably just use canvas dummies with her while I try to train the clicker retrieve - the more pleased she is to possess a particular object, the more she wants to bury it. But I still have (faint) hopes of using Jess as a gundog one day, so I'm a little bit careful about giving her toys that will teach her the wrong habits ... though *cough* she does now have a fluffy duck AND a fluffy pheasant, which were not part of the gundog training game plan! If it wasn't for that, I would probably just use the rabbit fur ball as a reward, because she really does love it and it would be a genuine reward, which isn't the case for her other toys.
Yeah, I am slightly worried she'll run off with it and try to pluck the fur off, I've not tested it yet! And she's got a nice retrieve with her canvas dummy, but only because she sees it as a means to get a food reward rather than it being intrinsically rewarding I think. So perhaps I will just use it as a reward although I still want her to retrieve it, otherwise I will do a lot of running...!
I remember very well throwing Charlie a rabbit fur dummy for a retrieve, crikey he took off like a rocket, hid in the trees in our garden, it took me about 30 minutes to get that dummy back it's now in a box and never coming out The rabbit ball however he will retrieve and give to me, he will retrieve it for another go in preference to food but only in our garden!
haha and when you finally got it back, did it have any fur left on it?? I just gave indie the ball for the first time this evening, just in our house, and she scampered off with it and threw it around for herself before settling down to 'peel' it, but brought it back when I asked her to which I was pleased with! So its back in the special stinky rabbit drawer now and will be used as a reward for extra good stops and recalls its good just to have a range of rewards that aren't all food.
Surprisingly, yes it did have all the fur on it, he just didn't want to give it up as it was far too exciting for his little brain Good girl Indie for bringing the ball back even partially peeled x
