# Only Plays with Ball Inside?



## Stellae (May 13, 2011)

My 6.5 month old loves his west paw Huck. I'll put our older dogs away (including the tennis ball OCD cocker spaniel), and throw the Huck for half an hour, through the house. I think he likes that it bounces unpredictably.

I've tried to take him outside with it - even to our backyard, but also the front yard (where he spends little time, but also has fewer "dog bombs" for me to worry about) and the park. In these locations, he can't care less about it. He might perk up as it's flying, but he won't chase it or give it much more than a passing sniff. He'd rather sniff grass and find worms for me to prevent him from eating.

I'm not changing the distance of travel - if anything, I've been throwing it closer. In the house, his engagement with me is great (he is truly velcro). 

Thoughts? Is this just that he needs more engagement work outside? If so, what do I do to be more interesting than smells, worms, sticks, rocks? In addition to commercial treats, I've even tried hot dog to little and limited success, as far as prolonged attention to me.


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## Stellae (May 13, 2011)

*bump* More than 30 views, but no one has any suggestions?


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## SLDNX8 (Apr 14, 2011)

Is he outside in the yard all the time? Seems like hes not used to seeing or smelling whats on the ground? Tank was the same way but he goes out there all the time alone (fence yard) and sniffs around for other animals or chase something and plays in the sand box. I never seen Tank trying to get worms. Tank isnt much of a ball chaser yet, I have a friend that has a GSD and he started playing with ball or frisbee close to a year old.


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## tsteves (Jun 7, 2011)

I'd like to know a little more about this as well. Kona is the same. She LOVES playing fetch inside but outside, not so much. We can get her to become engaged for a moment but then she is off ignoring us and the ball. It is just the other distractions or things she would prefer to do outside?


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

I think it's just a matter of youth and short attention span--when outside, there are always new things to sniff and look at and investigate, which is more interesting than that same ball they just saw yesterday.  If their prey drive isn't super high, it's easy for puppies to get distracted in a new and interesting environment.


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## tsteves (Jun 7, 2011)

I think her prey drive is ok, not very high, she loves to get the cats and chase around other dogs in play but she seems to prefer being chased. She is will grab a toy that other dogs want to play with and just run and as soon as they stop chasing her she goes back to them and shows them the toy and makes them run after her some more. That isn't a bad thing is it? She isn't really a thief with the toys and if the other dog is toy possessive and growls at her when she picks it up she wont take it but other than that she LOVES to be chased.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

tsteves said:


> I think her prey drive is ok, not very high, she loves to get the cats and chase around other dogs in play but she seems to prefer being chased. She is will grab a toy that other dogs want to play with and just run and as soon as they stop chasing her she goes back to them and shows them the toy and makes them run after her some more. That isn't a bad thing is it?


I hope not, because my puppy does the exact same thing! Are they related? 

It's taken us a good while to get Vinca to retrieve, because her idea of a good time is playing "keep-away" and "you-can't-catch-me" with my older dog. So at first when we'd play retrieving games, she'd bring the ball back, stay just out of reach, and wiggle. "C'mon, chase me!"  We just ignored that and waited for her to figure out that the humans don't play keep-away and you-can't-catch-me. Now she is bringing the ball nicely to hand, although with at least one circle around first, just in case we might suddenly want to play you-can't-catch-me.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Freestep said:


> I hope not, because my puppy does the exact same thing! Are they related?
> 
> It's taken us a good while to get Vinca to retrieve, because her idea of a good time is playing "keep-away" and "you-can't-catch-me" with my older dog. So at first when we'd play retrieving games, she'd bring the ball back, stay just out of reach, and wiggle. "C'mon, chase me!"  We just ignored that and waited for her to figure out that the humans don't play keep-away and you-can't-catch-me. Now she is bringing the ball nicely to hand, although with at least one circle around first, just in case we might suddenly want to play you-can't-catch-me.


Indoors, Abby will retrieve to the point where, if we stop, she will push the ball at us to keep going. (She is 2) Outdoors, she will retrieve her frisbee until she drops but will only go after the ball a few times. She does the keep-away thing with the frisbee because she likes the tug-of-war part of it. If she is at the dog park, forget it. She just stands around. Occasionally she will chase a dog that is chasing a ball or try to get another dog to chase her but NO retrieving.


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## Stellae (May 13, 2011)

SLDNX8 said:


> Is he outside in the yard all the time? Seems like hes not used to seeing or smelling whats on the ground? Tank was the same way but he goes out there all the time alone (fence yard) and sniffs around for other animals or chase something and plays in the sand box.


He has semi-free access to the backyard. It is fenced, but he often brings in rocks and leaves to eat, so I've been doing more monitoring of his outside time. However, it's really not like he's unfamiliar with the backyard. We don't spend much time in the front, because it's not fenced. 



tsteves said:


> I think her prey drive is ok, not very high, she loves to get the cats and chase around other dogs in play but she seems to prefer being chased. She is will grab a toy that other dogs want to play with and just run and as soon as they stop chasing her she goes back to them and shows them the toy and makes them run after her some more. That isn't a bad thing is it? She isn't really a thief with the toys and if the other dog is toy possessive and growls at her when she picks it up she wont take it but other than that she LOVES to be chased.





tsteves, yours and mine sound exactly the same. When he and I are outside just us, he'll fetch once or twice, but he'd rather chase moths, gnats, cicadas, etc. When we go play with other dogs, he desperately wants to play chase. He'll grab the toy, and then after a few rounds of them chasing him, he surreptitiously drops it, but the other dogs typically do not notice and keep chasing him.

He's getting pretty close to obsessive with playing with the ball inside the house. I get bored before he does (though I'm still trying to always stop with him wanting more, to build some drive). However, here in St. Louis where it's been above 90F for three weeks, with routine heat index over 100F, it's hard to tell if he's just figured out it's one way to get exercise when we can't play outdoors. Even if he hasn't, _I_ have. It's not great, but it does get him moving and thinking.


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## tsteves (Jun 7, 2011)

Freestep said:


> I hope not, because my puppy does the exact same thing! Are they related?
> 
> It's taken us a good while to get Vinca to retrieve, because her idea of a good time is playing "keep-away" and "you-can't-catch-me" with my older dog. So at first when we'd play retrieving games, she'd bring the ball back, stay just out of reach, and wiggle. "C'mon, chase me!"  We just ignored that and waited for her to figure out that the humans don't play keep-away and you-can't-catch-me. Now she is bringing the ball nicely to hand, although with at least one circle around first, just in case we might suddenly want to play you-can't-catch-me.


Well I am happy that it is normal. Yeah we don't chase her lol. We made that mistake when we first got her and she would grab rocks and run away to get us to chase her now we just stand and wait and are in the process of honing her Leave It and Drop It commands for naughty bad situations. :wild:


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## AugustGSD (Mar 29, 2013)

Stellae said:


> My 6.5 month old loves his west paw Huck. I'll put our older dogs away (including the tennis ball OCD cocker spaniel), and throw the Huck for half an hour, through the house. I think he likes that it bounces unpredictably.
> 
> I've tried to take him outside with it - even to our backyard, but also the front yard (where he spends little time, but also has fewer "dog bombs" for me to worry about) and the park. In these locations, he can't care less about it. He might perk up as it's flying, but he won't chase it or give it much more than a passing sniff. He'd rather sniff grass and find worms for me to prevent him from eating.
> 
> ...


Glad I am not alone here. My 5.5 month old puppy August is a barrel of energy inside, but when I try to let him run around and play in the backyard, he won't. I have noticed he will play when its dark, and I am guessing that is due to fewer distractions. He tends to, during the daytime, get easily distracted and will often whine to go back inside.


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## RiverDan (Mar 22, 2013)

Baron is the same way. He only plays fetch and retrieve inside. Won't go near the tennis ball outside.
But he loves the soccer ball outside. Go figure?


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