You’re so fetch

Been working hard on Julia’s play behaviors and wanted to share about our journey to getting her to play fetch!

Before I could get fetch I needed to work on just building her interest in engaging with toys and having me be a part of that process. I did a LOT of this where I sat on the floor and played around with different toys. Occasionally she would return with a toy in her mouth, but often she just returned without them. But I didn’t worry about that part yet, I just played with HER and was sure when she did come back with a toy I pet her and let her hold it until she dropped it on her own. I made the focus OUR interactions around the toys more than making the toy the whole focus.

• Each time her mouth is on the toy I praise and talk excitedly to her, this is what helps her come back to me

• If she drops the toy before returning or loses interest I try making the toy more exciting

• If she returns without the toy I praise and pet her and then toss another toy

• I’m trying to build the pattern of going after the toy and coming back to me, so it’s ok if she doesn’t bring the toy back yet

• If she returns with the toy I pet her and let her hold it until she wants to drop it before I toss it again

I use a food toy to help create the bringing the toy back to me. You can watch the video to see me work on the concept of her bringing things to me so I can help her get the food out!

• If she engages with the toy and moves it towards me at all (even just slightly) I praise her and help her open the toy

• I don’t take the toy from her to open it, I open it right there so she can eat right from it and not worry I’m taking it away

• I praise her for chasing the toy and gradually toss it a little further

• I work on seeing if I can get her to move it a little closer to me each time before opening it

Once my puppy will chase a toy and sometimes bring one back I work on two toy play

• I use two IDENTICAL TOYS, for fetch this matters a lot more than tug as many dogs will have a preference and not want to go after the lesser value toy once the toy stops moving

• I toss one, when they have it in their mouth I start praising

• When they return with the first two I start wiggling the second toy until they drop the first one, then immediately toss the second toy

• I kept sessions very short in the beginning, if I get 3 or so returns with the toy I stop, I want to stop before she does

Do you see the joy in her body when she plays with the ball now?

THIS is why I worked so hard to get this! It’s easy to give up and say “she doesn’t play” and just use food. But THIS JOY is what I want in my training and why I work so hard to get it. It took me about 6 weeks of working 3-5 minutes almost every day (at least 4-5 days a week) to get her to play with me.