Fetch preferences

[sambravo]

My gsd has a game she loves more than fetch, maybe more than any other game, that is to take the ball and have humans or other dogs chasing her to try to take the ball away from her; it is cute and even a little heart broken when she takes the ball and pushes it into other dogs like "see i have this ball you need to take it from me" but they dont get exactly what she wants

And since i'm not athletic enough to chase a gsd, i adapted the game by having two or more balls/sticks with me and play the regular fetch; she knows she must let go the ball on her mouth to have me throwing the next one

Still i wonder what crosses through her mind; maybe something like "ffs which ball you want me to guard"?

I know its not stressful to play this adapted game because they have a dopamine pulse everytime they run after the ball and grab it, but it's also not her favorite and sometimes when she has more than one option to grab, she looks indecisive

This is something that gets even more clear with a border collie that spends most mornings with her; sometimes the collie picks and let go her balls real fast like she wanted to be abble to grab all of them at once

 

[Kaia Murphy]

My gsd has a game she loves more than fetch, maybe more than any other game, that is to take the ball and have humans or other dogs chasing her to try to take the ball away from her; it is cute and even a little heart broken when she takes the ball and pushes it into other dogs like "see i have this ball you need to take it from me" but they dont get exactly what she wants

And since i'm not athletic enough to chase a gsd, i adapted the game by having two or more balls/sticks with me and play the regular fetch; she knows she must let go the ball on her mouth to have me throwing the next one

Still i wonder what crosses through her mind; maybe something like "ffs which ball you want me to guard"?

I know its not stressful to play this adapted game because they have a dopamine pulse everytime they run after the ball and grab it, but it's also not her favorite and sometimes when she has more than one option to grab, she looks indecisive

This is something that gets even more clear with a border collie that spends most mornings with her; sometimes the collie picks and let go her balls real fast like she wanted to be abble to grab all of them at once

This is adorable and honestly so interesting to think about. It really does seem like she’s trying to play a whole different game than everyone else, like her own version of “chase me but make it strategic.”

 

[EnraaGygas]

Chase initially tries to make every game of fetch into a tug game because that's higher tier than fetch, but no one ever bites, disengages until he actually drops the ball, and he gives up and plays correctly. Additionally he does the same thing with trying to shove the balls in his cockapoo brother's face, but the cockapoo is very blind and has zero idea what Chase is doing and just walks away.

 

[sambravo]

I got my dog a partner to help her with that

Now instead of chasing her he steals the ball and run from her, and hes faster and has higher stamina

One of these days she hurted her leg chasing him

We make plans, God laughs

 

[Mr. Schmucks]

Sounds like she’s running her own ball cartel. “You may look, human, but you may not have.” Classic shepherd.