Chewing issue

S

Strider

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So Deja has taken to chewing on Darby. When we go to the field to play fetch, we throw the ball and Darby takes off like a bat outta hell for the ball and Deja takes off like a bat outta hell for Darby. She usually gets to him first and grabs his collar if he is wearing one or else his neck if he isn't. He keeps running withh a Deja-growth firmly gripping his neck. He gets the ball and returns it, the whole time Deja is glued to him. We have tried squirt guns, obedience commands etc.. She just can't seem to overcome it.

We end up either seperating the two dogs, in which case she plays and runs and loves fetching, or putting her on a leash to keep her from mauling the poor pup.

She has been doing this sinse she was a puppy and we keep waiting for her to grow out of it but to no avail. There are times that she doesn't do it as much as others but 90% of the time she is attacking him rather than playing fetch.

Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions? I would love to be able to throw one ball and let both dogs run after it. They are almost equally fast. Deja has a higher top speed but Darby is more nimble..
 
Strider said:
So Deja has taken to chewing on Darby. When we go to the field to play fetch, we throw the ball and Darby takes off like a bat outta hell for the ball and Deja takes off like a bat outta hell for Darby. She usually gets to him first and grabs his collar if he is wearing one or else his neck if he isn't. He keeps running withh a Deja-growth firmly gripping his neck. He gets the ball and returns it, the whole time Deja is glued to him. We have tried squirt guns, obedience commands etc.. She just can't seem to overcome it.

We end up either seperating the two dogs, in which case she plays and runs and loves fetching, or putting her on a leash to keep her from mauling the poor pup.

She has been doing this sinse she was a puppy and we keep waiting for her to grow out of it but to no avail. There are times that she doesn't do it as much as others but 90% of the time she is attacking him rather than playing fetch.

Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions? I would love to be able to throw one ball and let both dogs run after it. They are almost equally fast. Deja has a higher top speed but Darby is more nimble..
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I see this behavior every time I am playing with Trapp & Jasper.It's nearly impossible to toss a frisbee,if Jasper is outside.As he really does not watch the frisbee,his eyes are on Trapp.

When Trapp does catch it,or even if not,Trapp will bring it back to me.Jasper in turn,gets ahold of Trapp either by his ears,or somewhere on the neck area,and holds on for dear life,while Trapp is running full tilt back to me.

I pretty much solve the problem,by not letting Jasper outside,while I am tossing frisbee,at least for awhile.Then after a bit I let him out,so he can run & have fun.

When he gets ahold of Trapp by his fur,I just sternly give him a "no".After a couple of no's,he will look as though he's REALLY thinking..should I or should'nt I.

And he usually opts for not doing it.
 
So there is some hope :)

I know this is part of their instinct to herd and I don't want to beat her up too badly for it. I just wish I could control it better.

Maybe with time!
 
Meggie does this to Cooper and she used to do it to her BFF Lucy at my dad's house. She usually just got Lucy's tail because Lucy was WAY faster than her. But she can keep up with Cooper pretty well and grabs him at the neck/shoulder area and runs along side him. He doesn't seem to mind though. Am I a bad mom, I think it's cute!
 
Since I have two shelties, I throw two balls at the same time. Here this is yours, and this one is yours. Most of the time it works.

They both love to play fetch, but at times, Lucky or Lady wants the ball the other one has, then I have a Lady glued to Lucky like velcro. Usually its Lady, I like the color of that ball better, give it to me. If the havoc starts we stop. They become mom's toys.

Lucky will pretend he is going out, turns around comes back in leaves Lady out so he can play by himself. Lady has caught onto this so now she plays this game. Go out fool, I am staying in so I have my time too.

Characters aren't they?
 
I don't have any advise. Diva does this to Pike all the time and Grizz does it to both Pike and Diva. The other dogs grab the ball and then go into running back mode, spininng and weaving and dodging to throw off the other dog. I just chalked it up to the way shelties play. If one of the dogs grabs too hard the offended party tells them off and so it goes.
 
Amber does this to Maddox too...sorry, no advice here =(. I've always thought it was an alpha thing, however, at the dog park there's a guy who has a female border collie and fosters a male border collie. They play there for about an hour each time and he's a regular there. Every time I see them there I notice that the female is always going after the male's collar while the male fetches the ball...THE WHOLE TIME they are there. So we talked for a bit and I asked him if she does that because it's an alpha thing and he said, no that actually the male is the alpha and wouldn't allow the female to act like that towards him at home. I just thought that was interesting...I don't know if that helps any haha.
 
Strider said:
Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions? I would love to be able to throw one ball and let both dogs run after it. They are almost equally fast. Deja has a higher top speed but Darby is more nimble..
Click to expand...

I'm afraid its just darn hard getting dogs from the same pack to share a ball. I have the same problem - Tully always wants the ball and will take it off Mr D (often by snapping at him) but if she is playing ball with one of her mates they will share. Most of the people with two ball dogs at the oval throw 2 balls (it is a bit easier when there are a few of you throwing balls).

I also have different balls for each dog and let Tully pick which one she wants (she touches it with her nose) and Deska gets the other one. Occassionally Mr D will take Tully's ball but generally its more peaceful this way.
 
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