# How to entertain yourself



## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

As far as Kiki is concerned, if I really want the ball I should stop throwing it away. She only plays fetch if she is in the mood and may well get distracted even when she sets off with purpose 
She is quite happy for Inzi and Dot to slavishly pursue balls that I throw again and again and again, and occasionally she steals one and trots off with it, her tail a proud banner declaring that she has possession and the law is on her side.
However she loves to find herself something to play with - in this instance a piece of gold ball that had been murdered by a mower.
She loves to throw her treasure around and will then pounce and throw it again 
Anyone else have a dog that does similar things, or are all of you poos ball obsessed dogs like Inzi and Dot


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

My sister's Pyr is a treasure hunter too. He pounces on his find ( a bucket, piece of garbage, food dish, glove, boot, whatever) and does the proud head flick, chest thrust and tail wave and he heads off. Then he throws it around, pouncing, and kicking it with his paws daring us to come closer to try to get it back.


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## Tinman (Apr 23, 2013)

Ha lovely kiki
Ruby will do this with some piece of insignificant discarded bit of rag or cardboard or plastic, she has great fun chucking it, pouncing on it, rolling on it, running with it ....... Then Ralph always comes along and ruins the fun for her


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Kiki 

Molly generally just goes hunting on our walks  so whilst Chance is waiting for something to be thrown she is generally checking out hedges and watching for birds which might need chasing - she took off after a heron high above us yesterday 

The exception is now I am teaching Chance a wait while I throw her ball, I tell Chance to sit and wait, throw the ball and Molly goes and fetches it  not exactly the exercise I am aiming for


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## Lindor (Feb 3, 2014)

Maggie will pounce on anything during our walks. Rocks, sticks, snowballs, chunk of ice, snowflakes, leaves.....I could go on and on.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

2ndhandgal said:


> Kiki
> 
> Molly generally just goes hunting on our walks  so whilst Chance is waiting for something to be thrown she is generally checking out hedges and watching for birds which might need chasing - she took off after a heron high above us yesterday
> 
> The exception is now I am teaching Chance a wait while I throw her ball, I tell Chance to sit and wait, throw the ball and Molly goes and fetches it  not exactly the exercise I am aiming for


LOL
This is exactly what Kiki would do 
Kiki also hunts 
However I play with Inzi by putting a ball on the path and telling her to leave it , while the other two are distracted. We can then walk on as far as is reasonable - less far if there are other people are around, otherwise up to quarter a mile, then I'll send her back for it. She loves this game !


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

I will try that one with Chance too I am sure she would love it too.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Inzi will work really hard to get her 'go back' command  Lovely heel work all the way


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

I'll try this with Rufus, I'll be amazed if he makes it ten feet.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Our agility trainer likes to use a toy as reward so we have done loads of this sort of stuff at agility and the general aim is I can put her toy down, work her away from it and send her on to it on command - that is the theory anyway!!


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

2ndhandgal said:


> Our agility trainer likes to use a toy as reward so we have done loads of this sort of stuff at agility and the general aim is I can put her toy down, work her away from it and send her on to it on command - that is the theory anyway!!


It was an agility boffin who introduced me to this idea for during walks - she had 5 collies and could put down one item and then after a while send one of the dogs back for it. The other dogs would stay with her, knowing that at some point it would be their turn!
I know lots of agility people who leave a toy outside the ring during competition and send the dog down the final line towards their toy at speed.... I've seen clever dogs leave the ring early on a mission to find their toy before finishing the course


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

fairlie said:


> I'll try this with Rufus, I'll be amazed if he makes it ten feet.


He'll love it and it is a good game to play when it is snowy as I'm assuming that a thrown ball might disappear into a drift 
Start with him on lead so he cannot slip back to get the ball before you send it and start with short distances with the ball still in sight and if necessary run back towards it with him with lots of whoops of encouragement!


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

This cracks me up. I won't be the one whooping with encouragement, I'll be the one dragging the dog impersonating a canonball with four anchor like legs away from the ball until I unclip the lead. Rufus will be the one with the horrible "my mum kicked me in the trachea rasp" for the next few days.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Love it  you had better organise someone to video your training session, we all want to see


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Chance was so fixed on the ball to start with it was a real effort to get her to move even a couple of steps from the ball but we started at that level with just a couple of steps of heelwork, then stuff like doing a jump or going round a cone and gradually built up. 

The waiting for release for a thrown ball has built a really strong wait in Chance which so far has transferred well to the start line in agility. Leaving a toy until she is told to get it is still a work in progress, it works brilliantly when it works but she is always a bit too keen to look for chances to get back for her toy


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Lovely Miss Kiki! Yes Poppy pretends that her toys are sentient sometimes and 'dares' them to move by stating at them really hard. She also pushes balls off the settee and pounces on them


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

The agility course is the only place that Dudley won't sit and wait - he is just too keen to get going so I have to hold his collar then start at the same time as him, such a disadvantage - I know that if I could have 10 mins of the lesson just putting him back in the sit each time he got up he would be fine and then be in the habit of doing it, perhaps I'll ask our trainer if I can do that then only do a couple of jumps instead of our go around the course. He is another one who doesn't really want to give me the ball if I am only going to throw it away again, someone chasing him when he has the ball is a much better game as far as he is concerned. He sometimes lays on the sofa with a toy - drops it over the edge then barks for us to get it, I think he just just likes to test our obedience! when we don't do his bidding he will get it, then flop down with a big huff.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Lovely KiKi! 

This is Nina.. Especially with the owl that Tilly got her for Christmas (secret Santa). She loves that owl, tosses it, hides it, chucks it down the stairs then retrieves it for herself


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Rufus doesn't even wait for us to throw, as soon as we scoop up the ball he goes out for it again, looking over his shoulder like a football (american) wide receiver.  He'd be like Dudley if we did agility, he'd bark with excitement if we made him wait more than a few seconds.

I won't film it Marzi, but I will start seeing if I can get him to leave the ball in greater and greater increments as you guys describe.


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## Miss Lilly (Sep 12, 2014)

As far as balls go, Miss Lilly now drops them without hesitation if I say 'thank you Lilly'!

Anything else she finds out and about (chicken bones and bread mainly) I have to extricate from the deep recesses of her mouth usually...

But if I give her just a sliver of something she's not had before (fruit / veg) she will roll, pounce and throw for a good 20 mins. Except celery which she frantically and joyously shreds!

Speaking of which, I'm sure ice cold celery sticks could be good for teething pups?


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