Fetch

corbinam

corbinam

Moderator
I have been thinking about this--and thought I'd get the opinion of the forum. Lexi is a mostly natural retriever. Bentley doesn't care for toys and I defy anyone to teach him to fetch (kidding, I'm sure it COULD be taught, but he would not enjoy it).

I was thinking, what if I had two (or more) dogs that fetched? When I throw the frisbee for Lexi, my expectation is that she is to bring it back. I don't correct her when she doesn't, but the game and fun is over. I expect her to retrieve. Yes, it is fun for her, but it's also kind of a skill, right?

If I throw a ball for two dogs, wouldn't it stand that one of them is learning that they don't have to always bring it back? Then when I want them to, they may not since they've learned they don't have to. Or, are they smart enough to know that someone brought it back, and that's good enough?
 
corbinam said:
I have been thinking about this--and thought I'd get the opinion of the forum. Lexi is a mostly natural retriever. Bentley doesn't care for toys and I defy anyone to teach him to fetch (kidding, I'm sure it COULD be taught, but he would not enjoy it).

I was thinking, what if I had two (or more) dogs that fetched? When I throw the frisbee for Lexi, my expectation is that she is to bring it back. I don't correct her when she doesn't, but the game and fun is over. I expect her to retrieve. Yes, it is fun for her, but it's also kind of a skill, right?

If I throw a ball for two dogs, wouldn't it stand that one of them is learning that they don't have to always bring it back? Then when I want them to, they may not since they've learned they don't have to. Or, are they smart enough to know that someone brought it back, and that's good enough?
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Occasionally Spitfire gets the upper errr frisbee. He typically drops it off while making a straffing run by me. Sca has learned to grab it and bring it the rest of the way. The game ends when no one brings it back (or sooner).

Oh and sometimes I put Sca in so Spitfire can fetch by himself.
 
corbinam said:
If I throw a ball for two dogs, wouldn't it stand that one of them is learning that they don't have to always bring it back? Then when I want them to, they may not since they've learned they don't have to. Or, are they smart enough to know that someone brought it back, and that's good enough?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. This is the situation that my parents have with their border collie and border-aussie. The border collie came first, and she's a ball and frisbee nut. The border-aussie came next, and is also a ball and frisbee nut, but when we are playing with both of them together, she does one of two things. 1, she'll let the border collie get the ball and not even try. Or 2, she'll get the ball, bring it within about 10 feet of you, drop it, and let the border collie get it and bring it all the way back. If she's playing by herself, she'll bring it back no problem. So border collie brings it back 100% of the time, but the border-aussie has figured out that if she doesn't bring it all the way back, the border collie will take care of it. But she still enjoys playing fetch. It's weird. It's just best to play with the separately.

I liked what that one member, Lysette, did where she would say to the dogs, "this one is for Claussen", and the other dog (Little Bear) would stay and not go after the ball. It worked the other way around too. I have no idea how she taught them that, you can't see her holding the dogs in any way. With a serious ball crazy dog, that's a lot of self control!
 
lol, poor Mr Bentley :D

Toffee became Frisbee crazy by me rewarding him for bringing Frisbee back, and I always drop a lil treat INTO the Frisbee. Still do, now n then.
When Spruce came to live with us, he didn't tug nor retrieve AT all. Now I throw the disc and it is always for Spruce first, cuz T is too polite to go after it if another dog goes for it, but he is by NO means NOT bringing it back when he gets it, as a matter of fact it made him have more drive, lol when it IS his turn.
Spruce prefers a high jump as a reward, so he gets a treat or a high throw as a reward for bringing it, no reward for not bringing it, BUT Toffee will get to bring the disc back if I tell him to go find Spruce's Disc.
Spruce's very crazy and intense but enthusiasm is shorter lived unlike T who will always be slower but steady and never stops, he's super reliable
 
well, Cran would always bring it back to you or whoever threw the frisbee so the play can go on.
in the house, Destin will bring me a toy and I throw it for him- then Cran wants it too. I have tried throwing two toys but no one likes that option. so I throw the toy down the hall and everyone goes after it. it doesn't always come back to me right away as there is a lot of keepaway by whoever did get the toy..... Jocu has actually brought it back a few times recently where before he never did- he would always try to get Cran to chase him......
so now Dixie is the only one who never brings it back..................
 
All four of ours run after the ball and do everything they can to be the one to bring back the ball. Not sure I'm talented enough to throw four at the same time. Although it might make a funny video.
 
This is what I learned from my two.

Miko likes playing catch and loves bringing the toy back so he can catch. Koji likes to chase. Bringing it back isn't important. No fetching for him. However, as much as I like to say Miko is perfect, he isn't. He'd drop it right out of my reach. :rolleyes2: And somehow, I taught Koji to "go get your ____", so he'd bring it back and we could continue the "chase". Also, when I'd have to give Koji the command to go get it, I wouldn't throw it again, I'd just make him chase it around me, that was his reward for getting it.

Therefore, IMHO, when you get your third dog and let's say it learns to fetch, if you figure out why it fetches, you'll realize what you have to do to get them to bring it back. Like I said, Koji likes to chase, not fetch at all. But I taught him to "go get your _____" and return it to me, even when he didn't want to. Miko didn't mind bringing it back because catching was more important than chasing it down. I could toss it a foot in front of me and he'd be happy.

Obviously, there's different combinations. I'm not saying a chaser won't bring it back. But I noticed with Koji, he'd go after the ball, stop it, and then it wasn't interesting anymore because it wasn't moving, so he'd trot back to me expecting me to have another ball to throw. The movement of the ball isn't what made Miko go after it. He liked to catch it. He seriously, was a goalie. So for him, the ball being returned meant he got to catch it again.

That was lengthy, sorry. Just something to think about.
 
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