Comment by gwbas1c
> As in I'm obligated to throw the damn ball.
As opposed to my Newfoundland that will tease me with the ball and then I'm obligated to chase her until she wears out, I catch her, or I bribe her with a treat.
> As in I'm obligated to throw the damn ball.
As opposed to my Newfoundland that will tease me with the ball and then I'm obligated to chase her until she wears out, I catch her, or I bribe her with a treat.
Yea the "No take, only throw" game seems more endemic to Mastiff descendants, as opposed to the true "retrieval" behavior described in the top comments about Retrievers. My boxer/bulldog mix loves to chase the ball, but will fight like hell to not give it up. Like you, I rely on bribery or manipulating the properties of the ball to make it more easily relinquished.
My trick with my previous dog was to just always have two toys for the fetch session. She'd usually drop the one she was holding when I wound up to throw the next one. Kinda like juggling.
Sorry - my 9 year old golden doodle still doesn't get the concept of fetch. He's an expert at keep-away though. Throw the toy or ball, he'll chase it gleefully, then come back to just out of reach, drop the toy, and hover over it waiting for me to make a move at it. He'll lunge for the toy, back up a bit, drop it, and the cycle continues.
I spend an hour in a field with my golden doodle, refusing to chase her. She had to bring the ball back to me and drop it. I threw the ball twice in that hour. The rest of the time she spent running past me trying to coax me into chasing her.
The least food motivated dog I've ever owned. Nothing brought her back, not even cheese.
Have fun turkey99!
It can be trained, at least in some cases.
When attention/reward/engagement cease when the ball is not returned and dropped - literally turn around and walk away dejectedly - but a successful return results in praise, treats, and MORE FETCH, my dog quickly learned to bring it back.
For my sister's dog, the key is to have a second ball alluringly held ready to throw - the one that's already in the mouth is forgotten about except as a means to get the second ball thrown. The dog has to bring it "all the way!" (point at the ball that was dropped halfway back) before the second ball is thrown.
It's definitely a tough one to solve, though, especially when the act of running around with the ball in the mouth is the rewarding behavior...
Our kids have a Rottweiler that loves to chase a ball, Bring it back and then dare us to try to take it away from her. She can drop if convinced. Or I have a second ball that is more interesting, causing her to drop the other ball. She can hold two balls in her mouth so I have to wait for her to drop the first ball before I throw.
She also has a large (about 1 food diameter) ball that can't possibly fit in her mouth and I can kick that at which point she'll drop the little ball and try to get the big one in her mouth.