# problem with my puppy's drive



## pwillow (Jun 2, 2011)

Hi everyone, I have a 3 month old puppy and I am trying to get her interested in the ball as a reward. I got her a gapay ball which I attach to a leash and have her chase. 

The only problem is that she loves to go after grasshoppers.
While I try to redirect her, She only cares about sniffing at grasshoppers till they jump and then pouncing on them.
I think she might be eating them sometimes too.

I am trying to ignore the grasshopper thing but shes so obsessed with them...maybe I'm just too boring. Any advice?


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Part of it's the age. At 12 weeks or thereabouts, her attention span is about the same as a goldfish's.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Stop training in an environment with grasshoppers until you develop proper focus...


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## pwillow (Jun 2, 2011)

willy thanks for the simple advice, It seems like common sense I guess I just didn't even think of it because I do so much running around I have been doing it in the back yard..but now I will definitely switch things up to get my goldfish to leave all the little insects alone. lol


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## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

I completely agree with wildo and emoore but also you are boring in comparison to the grasshoppers. You need to find a toy that is the coolest thing in the world! The ball on a leash isn't cutting it. Move to a less distracting place and be patient because she is young and has the attention span of a goldfish.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

She might just be too young to care about the ball...mine didn't retrieve the ball until he was about 5 months old. He did love it though and would chew on it all day. She might also just not have the ball drive in her, its not really something you can teach. Find something she really really loves and it might distract her from the grasshoppers, but at this point it might just be her young age.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Don't know if you know who Susan Garrett is (she's a world famous dog trainer and agility star) but I recently subscribed to a year long, online training "thing" with her. One technique that she uses for puppies is to train in her bathroom. It's about the most boring environment she could possibly think of, not to mention it's pretty small so there isn't a lot of "exploration" space. This allows the pup to not be distracted by the environment. As the dog gains focus, confidence, and skill- she will move to more distracting environments. If the dog fails in that environment- it's back to the bathroom.

You're right- seems totally obvious. But I wouldn't have thought of it either unless I had seen her do it...

Glad I could help! I think you will find success with such an environment switch...


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## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

I think we expect too much out of our little German Shepherds also. I know I expected mine to do anything I said at 6 months. Reality is a B*** lol


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

IT may be too that at thate age a softer squishier toy is in order.


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## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

I agree jocoyn.

Somthing you can fling around that has movement that will invoke her prey drive.









These fleece toys are great









I have one of these and Sonar loves it, it has squeakys in it and I can fling it around and he will chase it.


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## JulieBays (Jun 26, 2011)

I hate to bring this up. Really I do, but grasshoppers taste really good!! They have a high protein content. Is she eating well? Does she like her food? What are you feeding her? To me, a pup is going to think of food first and foremost and toys later (unless food is involved). It's their survival instinct.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Grasshoppers are fun!! Get that stupid ball out of my face!

Wildo gave great advice. Find a venue that has no distractions where the ball 
is all there is.
SuzyQ says it all in that we expect too much from our baby GSDs, which they are for
at least 6 months, even though they might weigh 60 pounds.


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

also some puppies are late bloomers with toy/ball drive...........i remember i was worried about my female when she was a pup, i bought a pup that was supposed to have high drive and she could have cared less about a ball or anything, i was starting to think there was something wrong with her health,,,,,,,,,,i did start playing with her with a flirt pole dragging things around, but things really didn't kick in until after 6 months or more...............then all **** broke loose she's a crazy nut now, will chase anything ball, toy, anything! just keep working with it and as said a puppies attention span is not there, give it time..........


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## tracyaesaert (Aug 23, 2011)

LOL... our pup is now nearly a year old and could not care less about a ball, frisbee or toy... Horrible to find something to help us train her, only thing that helps us train is food, food and more food (preferable cooked chicken or hotdogs )


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## Hillary_Plog (Apr 3, 2011)

I agree with the others. Take the pup to a place that has few distractions first, then as she progress you can start slowly introducing training in more distracting places, step by step. If you see that she is becoming overly stimulated or distracted, you have gone past her threshold and you know she is not ready for that yet.

Also, as the others mentioned, it is better to try and hone in on a pups food drive at this age when you are trying to train with them. Some pups are food hounds and gobble everything...if you puppy is like this, you will have much success in training...if your pup is more picky, you will have to do hot dogs or chicken or lunch meat. 

I use food for a pups training throughout most of their first year...if they are a toy or prey driven pup, I can easily make a transition to a toy around 6 - 9 months for their positive reinforcement if I want to. 

Also, make sure that if you are going to transition to the toy being the positive reinforcement, make sure the toys aren't always lying around the house. The toy has to be a novelty. They have to have an intense desire for it. After training is done, the toy get's put up. 

Good luck!


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## MicheleMarie (Mar 29, 2011)

have you tried a flirt pole?


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Backtie her and tease her up, with whatever toy/flirtpole you decide to use....the more she can't have something the more excited she'll be to get it. Let her win it and prance her around, repeat it, before you know it she'll be possessing it!


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