# What are your dog's favorite games?



## Sambuca (Mar 13, 2010)

Hi there,

My 4-month old GSD LOVES playing fetch. It has quickly become his favorite game and he even prefers it over playing with other dogs now! And just recently he's learned to bring the ball back and drop it. But there are also downsides to this...at the dog park he will seek out a ball and try to take it from whatever dog has one. He got attacked by another dog doing this (he was fine and got over it pretty quickly) and it's almost impossible to walk by kids playing street hockey (yes, this is what we do in Canada) without him trying to get to the ball.

Since I don't want him being so obsessed with it, I'm signicantly reducing the amount of time we play fetch. We play probably twice a day because there's a small field right next door. 

So I was wondering what other games do you play with your puppy that gives it a good physical workout?


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

teach your dog "leave it". when he goes
after a ball you can call him back. your dog shouldn't
go after the street hockey ball. hes houldn't go after anything
without your permission. teach your dog "leave it", "no" or
"heel". he shouldn't break from a heel. also teach your dog
not to run in the street. that will help with going after the hockey ball.

i take my dog to the dog park. there's lots of balls there. if my dog
goes after a ball that another dog wants i can say "no", "leave it",
"no, come here".

i never worry about my dog being obsessed with something. do dogs
have that feeling, obsession?

i play fetch, find it (i hide things then send my dog
to find what i hid), tug. we play "find it" indoors and outdoors.


Sambuca said:


> Hi there,
> 
> My 4-month old GSD LOVES playing fetch. It has quickly become his favorite game and he even prefers it over playing with other dogs now! And just recently he's learned to bring the ball back and drop it. But there are also downsides to this...at the dog park he will seek out a ball and try to take it from whatever dog has one. He got attacked by another dog doing this (he was fine and got over it pretty quickly) and it's almost impossible to walk by kids playing street hockey (yes, this is what we do in Canada) without him trying to get to the ball.
> 
> ...


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## ChristenHolden (Jan 16, 2010)

A flirt pole. Bella LOVES LOVES LOVES this game and she is one pooped pup afterwords.


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## chevysmom (Feb 15, 2008)

Chevy loves when someone (anyone!) kicks or throws a ball for him. He'll play forever! 
Shya is strange...she loves lights and chases them, lol.


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## bianca (Mar 28, 2010)

ChristenHolden said:


> A flirt pole. Bella LOVES LOVES LOVES this game and she is one pooped pup afterwords.


Agreed! Molly loves hers and she is so tired afterwards! Ah bliss for me lol!


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## reet (Jan 10, 2011)

He like to play with ball, when someone kicks or throws a ball for him.


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## Whiteshepherds (Aug 21, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> i never worry about my dog being obsessed with something. do dogs
> have that feeling, obsession?


Interesting article here, it's a mental disorder. 
Dog OCD | Symptoms


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

Sinister absolutely loves playing "Find It" we play 2 different forms of it and he has a blast doing it.

He also enjoys playing "Hide N Seek".


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

Tag is one of his favorites, but Fetch definitely tops the list.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Frisbee and tug- both are tiring. And chasing lights...not a good habit to get into. Gsds are prone to OCD behaviors like tail chasing and light chasing.


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## BluePaws (Aug 19, 2010)

I cant get my pup (who turns 12 weeks tomorrow) interested in the tennis ball! When did your pups pick up the habit? I play with it, try playing 'keep away' ... try playing with it with my other dog (who could also care less)... I'd love to be able to throw the ball for him, but he just doesn't care. 

He grabbed an aluminum can out of my recycling bin and LOVED fetching that. Had a FIELD day. Tossed it around, crunched it, would bring it back and drop it ... had to take it away from him once he punctured it and it got sharp edges tho.


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## Veronica1 (Jun 22, 2010)

Panzer loves fetch, though he'll only drop it readily if we have another ready to go in the other hand. He has recently become a big fan of find it. He loves tug and he loves to be chased. We also tell him to go get various toys and he will. His very favorite thing is playing with other dogs so I arrange play dates whenever possible.


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## GSDOWNED (Mar 16, 2010)

Lets see, Mia loves to play with her soccer ball, flirt pole, and frisbee.

She also likes to play a good game of FIND IT. I have two shoe boxes side by side with the lids closed. I place Mia in a sit/stay and then hide her tennis ball in one of the boxes. I then walk back over to her and say, FIND IT! She runs to the boxes flipping the lids up to find her ball. It's quite comical and a fun game to play in dreadful weather.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

All of the above


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## CassandGunnar (Jan 3, 2011)

*Bully shuffle.*

Whenever we give our two dogs a bullystick they each take their stick and go across the living room, lay down, and start chewing. After a few minutes, Gunnar will get up to get a drink or go check out something.
Cassie then does one of two thing: she either leaves her chew and goes over and starts on Gunnar's chew. If that happens, he comes back in the room, sniffs around and goes over and starts chewing the other stick.
Sometimes, Cassie will run over and grab the other chew, bring it back to where she was laying down and then have both chews between her feet.
If that happens, Gunnar will sniff around, walk over to her and lay down and wait. After a bit, Cassie will growl a little bit. Gunnar will stand up and give her a couple of really deep barks at which point she will take one of chews and walk away. Gunnar then takes the other chew and starts in on it. This whole process will go on 3 or 4 times in a row and my wife and I get way more entertainment out of this then we should, but it's so **** funny.
They never fight or become aggressive with each other and I've never been concerned about anything bad starting up, it's just something they do.


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## Konotashi (Jan 11, 2010)

Ozzy's game is definitely fetch. As soon as he hears his ball squeak, whatever he's doing, he'll stop dead in his tracks and look for where that squeak came from. He will do anything for that ball. It was quite a sight for everyone at the dog park to see a little Pom jump in the water after a ball, then come out freezing but STILL want to play, despite the fact that he was shaking like a leaf. Haha. 

One person assumed I bought him a ball expected him to know how to play fetch and told me, "Pomeranians aren't big on retrieving," and I threw it and he was ALL over that ball. Sure showed her!


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## Dejavu (Nov 11, 2010)

My big dogs LOVE playing fetch. They could do it all day.

I had never heard of a flirt pole before, I had to google it, lol. What do you use for it? Could I use a Kong toy?

Also how do you teach them to pay "find it"?


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

My puppy LOVES fetch as well. He doesn't like to give it back but I think I read on this site to have him chase me instead of chasing him which is what I did today. Worked like a charm. He chased me with Frisbee in mouth and I would grab it and throw it again. 
I'd like to try this flirt pole as well. What is it?


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

one word "FRISBEE"  Masi is a frisbee addict, she will chase a ball, a stick, or whatever, but frisbee is what it's all about for her.


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## kleinenHain (Sep 20, 2007)

Enzo loves his ball, the world would come to an end if there were no balls lol
Max loves ball too but show him the Frisbee and he goes nuts. Max also loves find it games and tracking.
Catrina is a frisbee nut too but if theres no frisbee she's ok with her tire
Feebie daughter of Catrina loves the tire too
they all love fetch it games


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## King&Skylar (Jun 3, 2010)

Skylar loves fetch, and her flirt pole. Also tugs is pretty high up there haha, and of course running with her dog friends. I think fetch would be number one.


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## DeuceUno (Dec 21, 2010)

Sambuca said:


> and it's almost impossible to walk by kids playing street hockey (yes, this is what we do in Canada) without him trying to get to the ball.



Hahahaha. It reminded me of something my Rottweiler did once.

I was walking him at the park once and we were playing catch with his football. About 200 yards away there was some black guys playing basketball (he absolutely loved basketballs) in the basketball courts. 

He heard the ball bounced and glanced over at them. I told him not to look in that direction and he didn't bother to look at them for about half an hour.

Just as we were getting ready to finish one of them just chucks the ball at the court real hard (in our direction) and completely missed the back board. 

I glanced at him and he looks at me real quick a boom! He bolts straight for the ball. He was a real agile dog and I'm a real fast dude but no way was I about to catch him. 

They see him run towards them and next thing you know you see about 8 guys just sprint like they have seen a ghost in different directions. 

Once he gets to the ball he just puts his paws around it and sits down. 

When I finally got their a couple of them were pretty pissed. 

Rather than saying the normal "oh he doesn't bite" crap. I just asked them if they wanted to see him rebound the ball and they looked at me with a WTF look. So I just grabbed the ball, he followed and sat next to me waiting for me to shoot it. I shoot a brick and he runs up to it and catches it between his chest with both his front legs and brings it down. 

Next thing you know they run towards their stuff, pull out their phones and ask me to do it again so they can record it. I hella just laughed and did it over and over for about a minute before we left. 

After that day they would just shout out his name every time they saw us playing catch or when I was walking him at the park.


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## SchDDR (Dec 29, 2010)

I'm intrigued that the skin color of the basketball players was relevant.

__


Danke is ball-crazy as well.
She also loves bite the helper, follow the scent, tug, and herd the sheep.


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## kidkhmer (Jul 14, 2010)

My Australian Cattle Dog got* obsessed* with fetch and tennis balls. 

Karma likes a game of fetch but is not fixated.

She likes to play in no particular order ;

Harass the nanny.
Chase the birds.
Throw the watering bowl around.
Sneak a toilet roll out and destroy it.
Harass the nanny some more.
Eat the nannies flip flops.
And her favorite game of all............sleep.


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## sillevisa (Feb 9, 2011)

Its favourite game to catching plates n ball, and moving round and round


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Stark's favorite game goes a little something like this:

Big guy coming at him with a sleeve, Stark barks at said man, said man moves, Stark runs at and leaps at said man, said man gets bitten on the arm with the sleeve, Stark carries said sleeve to his crate tail wagging happily. 


Other than that he LOVES the "find it" game. I hide things, he finds them. Obviously he's a natural tracker and so anything that has to do with sniffn' things out - he's all about.


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## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

SchDDR said:


> I'm intrigued that the skin color of the basketball players was relevant.
> 
> __
> 
> ...


Some people are just specific when telling a story, I'm like that too. I don't see anything wrong with it.


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## donnawhite (Dec 27, 2011)

My dog loves when i throws a ball for him. 
Loves playing with ball.


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## jetscarbie (Feb 29, 2008)

Find it. They go outside and I run around and hide treats everywhere. They come in and find it.

My house is on a hill and all down the hill are woods. There is a small clearing. I stand on top and throw sticks down the hill. The dogs run at full speed up and down the hill to get those prized sticks. Which ever stick I am holding in my hand is the best stick of all.


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