My Sheltie has become a Retreiver

[Justicemom]

Jody is no matter what a Shetland Retriever! He longs to chase his ball for hours without stoping! If I don't throw it right after he brings it to me he will start this funny sounding wine. If I ask him if he want's to go get it and I don't throw it, he will growl at me! Not a mean growl, just a "Oh COME ON! Throw it already!" type growl

This is Diva demanding that I throw the ball. I can't repeat the words she said its not fit for a public forum.

If you don't throw it for her, she does it herself.(see second picture)

She is 4.5 yrs old and ball crazy!

 

[VallejoSheltie]

The park has a soccer ball, however he doesn't seem too interested.
A BC owner used to frequent the park with one of those egg shaped hard balls about 1/3-1/2 its own length, and that dog would herd that ball around the entire park, growling and making such noise as to be comical. I think I have a video somewhere. Boots, meh.

That chuckit ball seems like it might be worth a try.

Unfortunately, outside of the treadmill, he doesn't even play with other toys at home. Well, outside of the Pixar Cars little car that you shake/drop and it says some quotes from the movie and then races away....He's knows how to drop it too make it move. Sadly, I think thats now broken as is the treadmill today. He seems to love it, and really, really wants me to watch him, watch me watch him run.

We'll see if he finds the herding testing interesting. So far, he really likes to watch our young chickens. Didn't go after them when I had them free-ranging on a string in the backyard.

 

[nestewart123]

Sheltie Retriever, too

When Mac was young I would take him to the park, but he was soooo barky, I didn't enjoy the outings. Stopped going for quite a few months and durjng that time trained him to retrieve a ball with the Chuckit and invested in their frisbee that resembles a squirrels. These are his most favorite toys. Not only does he bring them back, he makes sure they get in my hand. Should I miss the pass off or he drops it too soon, with an "I don't think so," he will endlessly pick it up again and again, to shove it back into in my hand.

Well, I thought, maybe using the Chuckit ball thrower at the park might keep him from barking so much. It worked. He still strains and barks as we arrive, but he does easily respond to a "let's go" and we throw and retrieve, and throw and retrieve. He usually ignores the other dogs enough that we can do periodic training sessions in between fetching. He is really doing well with the long distance stay and come. I know I don't have his attention 100%, because he will occasionally step in when a smaller dog is getting picked on. I am just happy that he is more focused and not so frantic around other dogs. Mac is coming up on 2.5 yrs, so I'm hoping that this is a sign he is maturing and that I am doing something right.

 

[dondlhmn]

Ball or toy oriented

I currently have two shelties, a father and one of his sons. Before these two, I had another sheltie (all tri-colors). The one we had before had no interest in chasing/retrieving anything---he would go after the ball, sort of identify it by putting his nose on it and then look at me as if to say "OK, I found it, now if you want it, you know where it is." and he would then go off on other doggy business. The two I have now both like to chase/retrieve a ball or other toy, but the father loses interest in that game pretty quickly if there are interesting bushes to sniff. The younger dog (now about 6 years old) has ALWAYS been EXTREMELY toy/ball oriented and would chase one for about 200 years if you would throw it for that long. He LIVES to chase a toy!! First thing in the AM he does is to toss a toy on me while I am still in bed and the very last thing he does in the evening is to urge me to throw one of his toys and then, after I take it away and place it on the night stand, he sits and STARES at it until lights out time. I think that he thinks he is a retriever!!