**Stupid** major achievement

I actually think it is an achievement. Shelties are great for running after the toy....the retrieve part, not so much. My boys would grab it, then hunker down with it. It I tried to call them back, they would abandon the toy and look for the next one to "subdue".

Herder style.
 
Connor and Gem, the grandpuppies, are both nuts about the game of fetch. This is good since when they come to be puppysat I can wear them out and they don't miss their mom as bad. The bad part is that I have to hide all toys because they want to play the game 24/7. I'll have to find the picture of Gem placing a toy on hubby's knee to ask him to get up and play.
 
Dickens is a natural fetcher as well. He'll go for an object, pick it up, then bring it back to you; look you right in the eyes for a second or two, and then ever-so-gently let it fall. He never seems to get tired of it! I wish he'd play tug, but he just isn't into it.
 
My Sketch will retrieve and retrieve and retrieve until my arm feels like it is going to fall off. He would sooner retrieve than eat...and that is a first for me with shelties! If we are playing inside, he will bring the item to me and drop it in my lap. If I ignore it, he pushes it around my lap with his nose to make sure I have seen it. And if I tell him the game is over, he looks totally devastated, walks away with the toy...then turns around and comes back to dump it in my lap again just in case I might have changed my mind. He will do this again and again. LOL Outside he runs like the wind to fetch and bring it right back to me, dropping it on command at my feet.

Simba will race with Sketch to retrieve whatever I have thrown and if he reaches it first he will carry it about halfway back towards me and then drop it and stand over it barking at Sketch to come get it and carry it back the rest of the way...he does this every single time. He has never once brought it back the full way. Even if I play alone with him he still drops it halfway and then looks around and calls for Sketch to come do the "home stretch" and when Sketch doesn't appear, Simba just lies down next to the toy as if to say..."Well, I guess I will just have to wait here for Sketch to come do his official last leg duty."

Faelee tries to outrace them both, knocking them tail over tea kettle if need be (which is easy for her to do because she is such a huge sheltie) to get to the ball/toy/frisbee first, then she races around and around Sketch and Simba, just out of reach, tossing her head and shaking the toy to tease them. Sketch gets royally PO'd at her and tries to run her down to get it back, Simba just barks at her. So...when we want a peaceful fetch game we leave Faelee in the house... or put her in another room with a chew if we are playing inside!!!!!!! LOL

Our most recently adopted sheltie boy, Dakota, couldn't care less about retrieving or playing with toys and just watches from the sidelines as if to say..."These games look kind of silly to me". Maybe in time he will join in.

Trini
 
Aside from peeing on a towel?

Our girls are natural fetchers. BUT- it took a while for them to comprehend catching the ball in their mouth. They just wanted to bounce it off their noses.

I had a vet once tell me that my first sheltie was unusual, because Shelties don't fetch. Brodie was 4 months old and a champion fetcher by that point. That vet got fired. (His office was also dirty- not cleaned between animals.)

The biggest accomplishment though was Casey walking on a leash and not acting like he was being beaten on the leash. You'd hook a leash on him and he would simply cower. But he has never run off from us.
 
I'd say that's an awesome achievement! :yes:

Jenna was a half-hearted retriever. She would chase toys, and would occasionally pick them up and even then she usually only brought them back part way.

Emmy loves to retrieve things, especially frisbees and rubber balls. She does it until she gets tired, then she will either just leave the toy alone or will hide it behind a bush so it's hard for me to reach it.
 
Of the shelties we have had all of them would fetch. Fox and Jester will argue as to who is going to bring it to us.

Jester will only play that game indoors. Outside he is to distracted by everything, (nervous anxious thing that he is). Accomplishments he let me cut the fur on his feet without having a fit. Just yesterday in fact usually that is a two person job.

Fox plays the game outside as well as inside. He tends to toss everything at you with a jump and a fling tug or ball in your direction. If it is to far from me I will tell him it is to far away. Then he goes and brings it closer. I am sure this is part of the game to him.

Accomplishments....Fox not acting frozen while in the car. Last week he actually sat up and was looking out the windows. Usually he lays there stiff and will not move at all while in the car. This is something he does while frightened is just lays down and won't move. It was interesting last summer trying to leash train and whenever a big truck would come barreling by he would lay down. After learning they were not going to eat him or some other terrible thing he stopped doing that.
 
Hollie had to be taught to fetch and catch frisbee. But once she learned the frisbee was her favorite. She would play until she fell over. She played catch with that frisbee until and including the day she passed.

Shelby was a natural at fetching and catching. We didn't have to teach her at all. She loves her tennis ball the best. We have her trained to drop it or even throw it right to you. If it is to far away we tell her "I can't reach it, you get it" and then she brings it closer. She likes frisbee but after a few throws she is done, she will take it and go lay I the shade. She does the same with the ball outside. They are much better things to do outside than fetch.

Inside she will play ball forever. DH has even taught her to catch it when you tell her to.

As for accomplishments, getting her to willingly walk out to the car. I don't know why but she didn't like the process of going and getting in the car. Once in it she was always fine. Something about getting there she didn't like. We encouraged her with praise and treats, so now when we ask her if she wants a ride she will walk out to the car by herself and stand at the door waiting to be out in. She still isn't overly excited about it.
 
Hanna's big accomplishment will be going down stairs. She has pretty much mastered up, takes them at a run now. I still have to carry her down and she shows no interest in learning either. We'll have all summer to work on it.
 
EJHUNTL said:
Hanna's big accomplishment will be going down stairs. She has pretty much mastered up, takes them at a run now. I still have to carry her down and she shows no interest in learning either. We'll have all summer to work on it.
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Yeah, Tara does NOT do the basement. If you take her down there, she makes a mad dash to get back upstairs. I don't know what will happen if DH ever gets his supreme wish and the basement becomes a place we want to be (as opposed to the dungeon looking thang it is now)
 
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