How to teach my sheltie to fetch ball

K

Kobe

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My 2 years old sheltie Kobe likes to chase balls, stick etc but he doesn't know how to fetch.
Each time I walk him he gets very excited when I show him a stick. He will beg me to throw it so he can chase. However he doesn't know how to fetch.
He will simply stay next to the stick waiting for me to pick and throw it again.
I'd like to get him to fetch ball so I get him to exercise more. He loves to run around.

How do I teach him to fetch a ball?
 
I've heard that some people teach by "trading" the dog the stick for a treat. But I'm not sure if that would work or not. Maybe some others will have better advice!
 
Try and entice him to put the toy in his mouth, pull on it to make it more fun... then praise...
if you do clicker training, click when he gets close to the stick/toy/ball... and then only click if he puts it in his mouth. Then click if he has toy in his mouth and walks towards you... You can start playing like that INSIDE, anytime with any toy... Toffee retrieves bones, rawhides, toys, socks... anything, lol

They love to chase, that is why he's running after the moving target... hahaha so cute he stands there waiting for u to catch up! These dogs are too smart for their own good!
 
Does he pick it up at all?

If he doesn't, the first thing to teach him is the 'get it' command. You need to teach him to pick something up with his mouth.

Go to a nice quiet room, sit down with a big bag of VERY tiny treats and a ball or stick. Make sure he is on a leash. Sit down in front of him and present the ball/stick. hold it right in front of his nose. if he touches it with his nose, praise him and reward him.. do this several times. Once he has the touching of the ball/stick down as a good thing encourage him to open his mouth and put it in his mouth. As soon as it's in his mouth say 'Good get it!' praise treat and reward. Again repeat this a few times until he is reaching for it himself..
Do this for a few days..

Once he has this down solid you can get him to hold the ball in his mouth and GENTLY keep his mouth on the object by holding his snout. Count to 3 (not out loud!), release his snout and say 'Drop it' at the same time. Once he drops it, praise treat. etc.. repeat this.. Over time, after you release teh snout he should not drop the ball until you tell him to with the 'Drop it' command.

Next, take the training to a short hallway. Sit at one end and have Mr. Dog on his leash still. Toss the stick just a couple feet away and tell him 'Get it'. He should go to the stick and pick it up. Then tell him to come to you, he should continue holding it because you haven't given him the 'Drop it' command yet. tell him to drop it, praise treat reward like he just won an oscar!

Slowly increase the distance and you'll having him fetching, retreiving in no time :)

This was how I taught Deja to fetch by the way.. She loved it. She got more treas than you can imagine and she loves to play fetch now. You can start leaving out the treats once he realizes it's a game.. the game becomes the reward.
 
Noah never liked to play fetch. Two times was enough for him.

Emma on the other hand loves to play fetch. She trained herself to do it. I would throw a toy or her ball and she just went and got it and brought it back. Dídn't have to use treats or anything to get her to bring back the object. Even in the yard, it's the same.


Try working in a hallway with the doors off it closed. This way they have to come to you. Use the treats etc. to coax them.
 
If you want to look at some of Bella's training videos it may help to get the idea of what these guys are saying. She is on you tube address is below my signature. Hope it helps
 
Bacca used to love to play fetch until Indy came on scene. Now he'll go for the ball, and then "guard" it from Indy instead of bringing it back! Very annoying! :mad:
 
Bailey will play fetch when she alone. At the dog park, she will run after the ball, stop and let the other dog take it and then run with the dog back to the person, who threw it. I don't know why she just doesn't pick up the ball when another dog is around. Maybe a submissive thing?
 
Strider gives a good account of how we teach fetch.

A couple of things we have learned also in regards to this command. While you are teaching it, never, never, never play tug of war with the pup during the entire training time, never train around other dogs in the early days of teaching fetch and use the same item 95% of the time.

Shelties are not born "fetchers (a.k.a retrievers), but they are so smart they can be easily taught. Fetching is a HUGE DEAL at this house. That is our favorite game with a pup. After they are perfect on fetching the same thing over and over, then we start to teach them specifics. We throw the tennis ball and the whiffle ball and tell him to bring us the tennis ball. Next time we tell him the whiffle ball and so on....then we add a rolled up sock and then a golf ball.....etc......We do this until the pup knows about 15 different items and then it it fun to teach him to "go find _________."

You know these shelties, they need a JOB!
 
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