# Fetch help



## chrisrosy (5 mo ago)

I'm at the end of my rope in trying to teach Rosy how to fetch. She's a little over 2 years old, and I swear I've tried everything. I've mainly been working with her outside, which I know is a bad place to start, but so be it. Everything I describe below I've also attempted to do inside my house.

She rarely returns the ball to me. Sometimes she'll come back to a point that's 5 to 10 feet away from me and will drop the ball at that location, so I walk over to her, pick up the ball, walk back 5 or 10 feet, and start all over. I realize this is probably a bad habit, but I'm not sure what to do. At other times, she'll run and get the ball, then will start running in my general direction but with a wide berth, and often times runs past me. Although her recall is good when we're not playing fetch or with any other toy, she hardly obeys my commands to come to me when she has a ball in her mouth. To get her to stop running away, I have to yell "NO!" She then stops and drops the ball. Again, it's probably a bad habit I've created, but I don't know how else to stop her.

I've tried two-ball and that does not help at all. She goes after the first ball and wants nothing to do with the second ball. The remainder of the two-ball game is like what I've described above.

I've attempted to train her on a lead both in my yard and inside my house by throwing the ball short distances. She will attempt to stop about 5 to 10 feet away from me as typical, then I practically have to drag her back to me. Not even food motivates her to bring it to me. When we're inside she mostly stares at the ball, so I stop playing, and she sits and moans at me.

Outside, I've attempted to get her to chase me while I have the ball, to no avail.

Anytime she has a ball in her mouth she chews obsessively and nods her head up and down as if she's trying to keep the ball from escaping, much like the way she keeps adjusting her bite to take better hold of a rope when we play tug. Her chewing is so obsessive that she sometimes drops the ball because she loses grip on it, ironically. At that point she just stands over the ball and stares at me.

Thanks for your thoughts.


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## Buckelke (Sep 4, 2019)

German Shepherds are HERD dogs. Once they have 'herded' the ball they have done their job. Most of them will look at you with that, 'you had it and you threw it away, now you expect me to go get if for you? Dumb Human. " look. I recommend you get a retriever. Or something for your dog to herd.


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## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

My dog's a senior now. He was good at fetch as a youngster, now he lays on the floor whining, wanting me to go get the ball so I can throw it, so he can chase it.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

Part of this is the obedience needs work before the ball play can progress. Work her on a long line. Recall her to you and make sure she complies. You need to work on an 'out' command.


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## jarn (Jul 18, 2007)

If it makes you feel better, your attempts at teaching fetch are better than how I did with Luc - where I threw the ball, he looked at me, after some unsuccessful pointing I ran to the ball with him following me, pointed at the ball, he looked at me again, I picked up the ball, threw it, repeat...


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## Apex1 (May 19, 2017)

Your dog probably loves a game of chase! If you don't have some control keep away can be a a not so good thing. Funny how dogs are one of mine would drop the ball away from me. He was a resuce - now if I didn't know better - walking to the ball then throwing I would have reinforced through reward (throwing the ball) him dropping the ball away from me. 
I know you say you've tried but your trying may have not been for long enough nor clear enough for the dog. You have to start over stay consistent! Put the dog back on the leash. It may not be that fun at first and it might be at times frustrating for weeks. Keep at it. What you'll gain over time is how to play with your dog in a way your dog likes, you both will develop rules to the game and most of all its fun. 

Starter ideas: Put the ball on a rope. Chuck it balls with holes work great get some rope at the hardware store. Put the dog on a leash. I wouldn't go for a super long line 6' works or so. 

You have to be consistent you have to play this way (with a ball) everytime until the dog understands the rules. 

I have a dog that didn't tug so this took a while. Tease your dog with the toy a little hopefully he really wants it grabs it play a little few seconds let him win do what he does for a few seconds or so. Take a few BACKWARDS steps guiding the dog to you with the leash. Be interesting playful movements. You want the dog to learn that it's about playing with you with the toy is the most fun. After a minute stop the game and be done. You can do this many times a day. You can start tosses remember the dog is in leash so the tosses don't go far. Have the dog miss small swings like 1 at first then he gets it you play a little then let him win. Take the BACKWARDS steps after the win guiding him to you. As time goes on he should really be enjoying this game and the duration of the game will increase. Then those tosses have him rushing to you wanting to play which is basically fetch. 
Then you can teach an out - work that at. The game should be fun so hopefully no possession issues and it goes smoothly. When you decide to teach the out. The dog must immediately be rewarded with the ball for outing. Out - command - mark YES - dog releases - you must teach the dog the marker and of course out 

I'm sure I left some stuff out but that is a start


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Does she WANT to play fetch? It sounds like possessing the ball is of higher value to her than bringing it back so you can throw it again.

There are several parts to a game of fetch:

1) Chasing the ball after you throw it
2) Bringing it back
3) Dropping the ball or releasing it to you so you can throw it again

Per your description, she’ll do the first one (consistently?) but not the second or third. Is that accurate? If so, stop throwing the ball, she already knows that part and it’s doing nothing to teach her to bring it back and give it up once she has it. Work on the other two parts, preferably in reverse order - this is called backchaining, where you train the end of a behavior and work back towards the beginning.


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## Old Frog (2 mo ago)

It's boring but you might try just ignoring her if she doesn't bring it back. Put the ball in your pocket and do something else for a little while then try again. Hopefully she'll figure out that in order to get to chase the ball she has to bring it to you before you throw it again.


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## RosiesPaw (8 mo ago)

My Rosie often doesn't engage in "fetch" for more than a few rounds. What helped get her started was a reward upon returning the ball. Get really stoked up when she gets it, back track a little like someone else said, and reward her she gets back. 

This was hit or miss though, what works best for us is a toy that can be thrown and tugged. Ruffwear Huck A Cone has been the # hit. look it up. they're $10 on the ruffwear site right now... 

this might not work if your dog doesn't like tug, but it's been good for us


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## Jorski (Jan 11, 2019)

There are components to a complete fetch.
1) chase the the ball
2) pick up the ball/hold the ball
3) bring the ball
4) give the ball

Chase the ball...every dog will do this. Don't worry about this component for now
Teach the other components seperately:

Pick up the ball:
Put the ball on the floor. Tell the dog to fetch. will he grab the ball?
If he does great. Reward him. he will drop the ball for the treat. (you have just done a pick up and an out)
If he doesn't move the ball back and forth to entice him. A ball on a rope is great for this. Movement should get him interested.
From there, start doing repetitions of pick it up; hold, give/out, etc
If the dog can successfully do the components dependably, start rolling the ball a few feet away. Tell him to fetch, now he should know to give you the ball for the reward. You can shape the fine points as you do repetitions.
Slowly increase the length of the throw.
Over time, the next throw will become the reward.
If the dog knows the components, you can communicate what you want when the dog makes a mistake. If the dog doesn't bring all the way back, you can tell him to pick up the ball, and tell him to come. He doesn't get the next throw until he presents the ball as you desire.


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## Hopps (Dec 5, 2021)

jarn said:


> If it makes you feel better, your attempts at teaching fetch are better than how I did with Luc - where I threw the ball, he looked at me, after some unsuccessful pointing I ran to the ball with him following me, pointed at the ball, he looked at me again, I picked up the ball, threw it, repeat...


I'm just imagining Luc's dialogue in his head "Yep boss, that's a ball. Yep I see it, it's on the ground. Glad we found it. For Christ's sake why would you throw it away only to find it again!!!" 

When I threw the ball for Fern she would walk over to it and stare at me. Repeat the process. At some point she stared at me like "wow you really don't like this ball"


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## jarn (Jul 18, 2007)

Hopps said:


> I'm just imagining Luc's dialogue in his head "Yep boss, that's a ball. Yep I see it, it's on the ground. Glad we found it. For Christ's sake why would you throw it away only to find it again!!!"
> 
> When I threw the ball for Fern she would walk over to it and stare at me. Repeat the process. At some point she stared at me like "wow you really don't like this ball"


At least she walked over to it! Luc was like “staying with you, lady” lol


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

GSDs are excellent retrievers. You got very good advice above. If your dog chases the ball and grabs it already do this: pick the ball, have him away from you then show the ball, tell him your command (mine is ‘get it’ ) and throw the ball in the air a little in front of you. Your dog will run towards you, grabs the ball, you back up a little to allow for inertia and he will land in front of you. Praise a lot. Then work on out.

ps. I wish my dog actually would take his ball and go and chew it somewhere. He just keeps pushing his ball into me and dropping it at my feet. So be careful, you may create a monster!


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

My gal only fetches to reset the chance of me throwing so that she can chase again. When she comes back I have trouble with the out if it is a tug toy. She loves testing her strength against mine. When she brought me pine-cones, there was no tugging and out was never a problem. Sometimes we have to try and get into our dog's mind and motivation. We can't even do that with other humans but thankfully dogs are a simple thinkers. 

I think Jorski has an interesting idea of breaking down the components and teaching them individually. I taught my dogs to go Find Laundry and then Bring Laundry on wash days. They loved that. I used a variable reward after they learned the concept. Somehow they decided that if they brought a bigger mouthful of clothes they'd get more reward.


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## chrisrosy (5 mo ago)

Apex1 said:


> Your dog probably loves a game of chase! If you don't have some control keep away can be a a not so good thing. Funny how dogs are one of mine would drop the ball away from me. He was a resuce - now if I didn't know better - walking to the ball then throwing I would have reinforced through reward (throwing the ball) him dropping the ball away from me.
> I know you say you've tried but your trying may have not been for long enough nor clear enough for the dog. You have to start over stay consistent! Put the dog back on the leash. It may not be that fun at first and it might be at times frustrating for weeks. Keep at it. What you'll gain over time is how to play with your dog in a way your dog likes, you both will develop rules to the game and most of all its fun.
> 
> Starter ideas: Put the ball on a rope. Chuck it balls with holes work great get some rope at the hardware store. Put the dog on a leash. I wouldn't go for a super long line 6' works or so.
> ...


Thanks, Apex1. I'll give this a shot.


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## chrisrosy (5 mo ago)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Does she WANT to play fetch? It sounds like possessing the ball is of higher value to her than bringing it back so you can throw it again.
> 
> There are several parts to a game of fetch:
> 
> ...


Yes, chasing the ball is not a problem at all. You're correct - she's not consistent with 2 or 3. I'll look up some videos on backchaining.


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## chrisrosy (5 mo ago)

Old Frog said:


> It's boring but you might try just ignoring her if she doesn't bring it back. Put the ball in your pocket and do something else for a little while then try again. Hopefully she'll figure out that in order to get to chase the ball she has to bring it to you before you throw it again.


If we're outside and I ignore her, she just finds something else to do, like stand in a pile of leaves. Her favorite thing to do is to chase after leaves when I kick them in the air. It's tiring for me, and I have some injuries that are aggravated by kicking. That's one reason I'm trying to transition us to fetch.


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## chrisrosy (5 mo ago)

RosiesPaw said:


> My Rosie often doesn't engage in "fetch" for more than a few rounds. What helped get her started was a reward upon returning the ball. Get really stoked up when she gets it, back track a little like someone else said, and reward her she gets back.
> 
> This was hit or miss though, what works best for us is a toy that can be thrown and tugged. Ruffwear Huck A Cone has been the # hit. look it up. they're $10 on the ruffwear site right now...
> 
> this might not work if your dog doesn't like tug, but it's been good for us


She likes to play tug. The ball we have has handles, so I'll try attaching it to a rope and doing the backtrack.


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## Old Frog (2 mo ago)

chrisrosy said:


> If we're outside and I ignore her, she just finds something else to do, like stand in a pile of leaves. Her favorite thing to do is to chase after leaves when I kick them in the air. It's tiring for me, and I have some injuries that are aggravated by kicking. That's one reason I'm trying to transition us to fetch.


So maybe she's really not very interested in chasing a ball let alone playing fetch? If she'd rather chase leaves maybe that's her thing. I was lucky. My pup loved retrieving a ball from day one (3 months old) and she figured out really quickly she has to bring it to me to throw in order for her to be able to fetch it. Sometimes she drops it immediately, other times she makes me tug on it while it's in her mouth. Like so many puppy issues, another work in progress.


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## RosiesPaw (8 mo ago)

chrisrosy said:


> She likes to play tug. The ball we have has handles, so I'll try attaching it to a rope and doing the backtrack.


yes. i might try using the toy as a tug for a bit before trying to do fetch/tug. 

play tug with it for a few days, nothing else with that toy. Maybe work on the drop it command while your there, get her excited about the toy, then toss it and see what happens. you may have to retrieve it yourself for a while, but it worked for us =)


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## chrisrosy (5 mo ago)

Jorski said:


> There are components to a complete fetch.
> 1) chase the the ball
> 2) pick up the ball/hold the ball
> 3) bring the ball
> ...


Thanks for your ideas. I started this today. I tied a rope to the ball and threw it about 6 feet. She grabbed it and I reeled her to me, so I guess she must think it's a game of tug. I gave her the "let go" command and she released the ball. We did that about a dozen times, then she seemed to have gotten bored because she stopped chasing the ball.

I'm happy that she held onto the ball while I was reeling her back to me. She still chewed on the ball and shook her head up and down, almost as if she were trying to kill a small animal. I'm sure this is normal, but I'm afraid that behavior will detract her from learning this new way of playing fetch. Time will tell.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

chrisrosy said:


> Yes, chasing the ball is not a problem at all. You're correct - she's not consistent with 2 or 3. I'll look up some videos on backchaining.


You really don't need a video, you just simply teach the end of the behavior first - hand her a ball and have her release it back to you with you standing in one spot, mark it (Yes!) and give her a treat, something high value. Small bits of jerky treats are good because they're soft and quickly eaten. Use whatever cue you want - out, give, drop it, etc., but be consistent. Repeat, repeat, repeat. 

Once she's reliably taking the ball and giving it back on cue (you can have her drop it on the ground or release it to your hand, up to you what criteria you want to use), give her the ball and take a step back, encouraging her to bring it to you, cue her to release it, mark and reward. When she's doing that reliably, take several steps back before cuing her to give you the ball, mark and reward. Then and only then, you can have her go to the ball and bring it, but start by dropping it a couple feet away, don't chuck it across the yard. You can add a cue if you want, like "get it", and move backwards a couple of steps. Continue marking and rewarding the correct behavior. 

Take your time. Don't move onto a more advanced step until she's consistently succeeding with the prior step.


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## Galathiel (Nov 30, 2012)

I replied earlier, but meant to say when I first saw the title I thought we were all going to learn how to "Fetch Help!" as in 'I've fallen down and can't get up, go get grandpa!'


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## Rich M. (7 mo ago)

My last Shepherd had no interest in catching or chasing after a ball.

In the snow, I would make snowballs and throw them to her. She would jump for them before I even released the snow. The snowball would go by her untouched.

Not all Shepherds are interested in catch/chase.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

Scarlet won’t play fetch (that’s Nora’s game) but she will bring me a wubba toy so she can play catch. If I throw it across the room, she looks at me like I’m an idiot. She wants me to toss it to her so she can catch it. She’ll hand it right over so I can toss it again. She’s such a weirdo, lol.


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## Confused (Dec 1, 2010)

None of my five GSDs have ever given balls back after fetching. They want you to work at it like they did. At best they drop a few feet away so you have to beat them to it and then bend over to get it. One of them would give it to you if you ignored her but that was only after she rolled the muddy ball all over your pants leg. Our current five-year-old, Delphi, can crack and destroy a tennis ball within seconds of throwing it to her. We found a heavier, slightly-larger rubber ball that has lasted a few years. She likes to drop it in the the toilet where it sinks. She then stands there with her tail wagging and looks at you as if to say "Now, you fetch!"


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## dojoson41 (Oct 14, 2018)

my dogs do not and will never fetch-it is below them


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## GSD Friend (May 16, 2021)

My 3-year-old (at the time) rescue dog learned fetch quickly, but he mainly wants to hoard the ball and chew it or play "Keep Away" so that I chase him. He has destroyed every ball I bought within minutes with his powerful, scissor-like teeth, so the only way I can get him to bring it to me is with an extremely high-value treat: rotisserie chicken.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

With a pup I start with tug to give him the idea that the fun is with me. Once they are good at release after tug, I drop the toy. He will return to your hand for more tug. That was the first fetch. Build it up from there with distance and duration. Small steps. Has always worked, even with my Whippets whose specialty is chasing.


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

Some dogs fetch to hand from the get go, some need some motivation.

I would start from the beginning and back chain everything using markers. 

With pups I start in a hall and make it fun fun fun. I think you are probably past that and need to work with a baby step approach.


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