Enough with the ball already

[Guest Anonymous]

My 1.5 yr old shep/akita mix is addicted to fetch. No kidding..she'll literally pass over snacks, meals, and anything else in favor of the ball. Otherwise, my very friendly, sweet, calm, loyal dog. Once outside, though, it's find, retreive, and wait for the throw, for all of eternity. If we take the ball away, she simply chews anything remotely spherical until uprooted from it's original location. Any help appreciated.....

[Aroura]

My dog Tessa is the same, ball crazy. She is a Australian Cattle Dog/Kelpie/Bull Terrior cross, but we just call her an Australian Ball Terrier :smile:
If anyone tries to ignore her, she'll just keep bouncing and dropping the ball at their feet, barking and whining till they throw it.
The only thing I can do is to hide all balls/sticks etc where she cant see them and when I want to go outside with her I sit down and give her a back massage she cant refuse. After about a week of me doing that she started to come up for a pat whenever I went outside with her, instead of madly looking for a ball.
Hope it helps,
Jeanne

[Guest Anonymous]

I disagree... Ball chasing breeds are usually herding bred dogs. Be them mixed or purebred. All of my border collies are ball crazy. They are supposed to be this way. A herding breed was ment to work and need something to focus thier attention on. Namely, the ball. This is an outlet to channel their energy if they are not doing what they were bred to do, which is herd sheep, cattle, ducks, or other livestock. Having your dog ball-crazy is a very good thing. I have had many cases with what many people humorously call "Obsessive Ball Disorder." If your herding breed does not have a way to channel its enery and work drive, they can become agressive, or boredom biters. Many herders that are kept locked up without a way to channel their energy tend to destroy things. The ball is a good thing. it saves your furnature and your dog from becoming bored and even agressive. Many a herding breed end up in shelters and rescue organizations because the owners refused to channel their herder's energy and they become bored. Ball can turn into a good thing in the long run. Herding dogs are the overall excellers in herding, agility, and obediance. Though the thing that they also excell in is Flyball. This sport has taken the use of the ball and made it into a game that many herders enjoy. It's a great sport for all breeds, mixed or purebred. Another thing that herding dogs love to do is chase frisbees. All of my borders are active in herding, obedience, flyball, frisbee, and agility, and 2 of my dogs are excelling as search dogs. This ball obsessiveness can be turned into something great for you and your herding breed. Instead of teaching them to seek out the ball, they can be used to seek out lost articles or people. I hope this information helps. Because ball craziness is a wonderful thing. I belive that if you don't want a ball crazy dog, which is a dog bred to work, don't get a herding breed. Also, if you are busy all the time and do not have time to work your herder's energy, don't get a herding breed.

[Aroura]

On 2002-05-13 17:50, Lafayette Kennels Border Collies wrote:
I disagree... Ball chasing breeds are usually herding bred dogs. Be them mixed or purebred. All of my border collies are ball crazy. They are supposed to be this way. A herding breed was ment to work and need something to focus thier attention on. Namely, the ball. This is an outlet to channel their energy if they are not doing what they were bred to do, which is herd sheep, cattle, ducks, or other livestock. Having your dog ball-crazy is a very good thing. I have had many cases with what many people humorously call "Obsessive Ball Disorder." If your herding breed does not have a way to channel its enery and work drive, they can become agressive, or boredom biters. Many herders that are kept locked up without a way to channel their energy tend to destroy things. The ball is a good thing. it saves your furnature and your dog from becoming bored and even agressive. Many a herding breed end up in shelters and rescue organizations because the owners refused to channel their herder's energy and they become bored. Ball can turn into a good thing in the long run. Herding dogs are the overall excellers in herding, agility, and obediance. Though the thing that they also excell in is Flyball. This sport has taken the use of the ball and made it into a game that many herders enjoy. It's a great sport for all breeds, mixed or purebred. Another thing that herding dogs love to do is chase frisbees. All of my borders are active in herding, obedience, flyball, frisbee, and agility, and 2 of my dogs are excelling as search dogs. This ball obsessiveness can be turned into something great for you and your herding breed. Instead of teaching them to seek out the ball, they can be used to seek out lost articles or people. I hope this information helps. Because ball craziness is a wonderful thing. I belive that if you don't want a ball crazy dog, which is a dog bred to work, don't get a herding breed. Also, if you are busy all the time and do not have time to work your herder's energy, don't get a herding breed.

I agree completely with what you just said. I was only offering a suggestion to keeping the dog from hassling everyone who goes out the back door. With my dog Tessa I only ban her from the ball when there are visiters that she hassles, or when mum is hanging out the washing and she keeps dropping the slobbery ball in the washing basket, but apart from that I take her for a walk every morning and throw the ball for her at the park for an hour, getting her to do certain tricks for it such as speak, go up the slide, jump over the chair, roll over, come to heal, stay, wave, shake paw etc. Then I take her for a second walk in the afternoon where she can chase rabbits and run free. I also do obedience with her and once a week I take her out to agility, which she loves and is better than all the dogs there, even though she is only a begginer!!! Another game I play with her on a regular basis is "find the keys" where I hide the keys and she searches the house/backyard until she finds them. Living in a country area I understand the extra responsibilitys that go with owning a hearding dog, espesially considering 90% of dogs at the pound are working breeds that their owners obviously couldn't keep up with. I got Tessa from the pound at 5 weeks old.
She also has my 5 month old Boxer, Lily, and my sisters Poodle, Puddles to chase around the yard all day, so she is never bored.
I understand what your saying though, a large majority of herding dog owners don't understand what their getting themselves into, and it is the dog that suffers as too, it is the dog that is blamed when it bites someone from boredom.

[Guest Anonymous]

Agreed Aurora. Many a herding breed suffer an untimely death at a young age due to irresponsible owners. That is why I cannot express enough the need to research a breed before you buy or rescue it. Herding dogs and workers are most common in shelters because many owners are too busy and think "Oh what a cute little puppy!" Though they don't take into consideration that "The cute little puppy" is going to grow up into a large dog that needs constant family interaction and exercise. All the promises come when they buy or adopt this puppy. "We will walk her every day, and brush her, and play with her." And so eventually this cute puppy grows up and ends up tied on a chain with matted fur and becomes aggressive. It's never the dog's fault that this happens. That's why many of my dogs I have rescued. And will continue to rescue dogs that have sadly suffered the same fate.

[Guest Anonymous]

Thank you for your input folks. However, I was only trying to gain some insight into a particular behaviorism of my pet. She is a very happy, well-treated dog. I feel that this, while sadly true in some cases, is a pretty pious response coming from someone who works at a place that sees dogs as a profit-bearing industry. Be careful not to stereotype dog owners, just because we are not experts does not mean we don't want what's best for our best of friends....

[Guest Anonymous]

It doesn't seem to me like they were stereotyping at all. They never accused you of being a poor dog owner. It seemed to me like ALL they were doing was giving you some insight on a "particular behaviorism of your pet." Just thought that I would add my .02

Hmmm..perhaps you're right. But you'll have to admit it's fairly easy to say that only owners with the perfectly suited environment should rescue dogs from the awful situations they're placed in. Seems to me that this would leave an good number of beautiful animals in pens and adoption centers....Apologies, that did come off as insulting...

[Guest Anonymous]

I in no way meant to stereotype you at all. I merely wanted to provide insight to why your dog was behaving in such a way. And I see not that dogs are only profit. Because my dogs are pets before pennies. Though all get the same loving treatment.

[Guest Anonymous]

On 2002-05-15 10:59, Lafayette Kennels Border Collies wrote:
I in no way meant to stereotype you at all. I merely wanted to provide insight to why your dog was behaving in such a way. And I see not that dogs are only profit. Because my dogs are pets before pennies. Though all get the same loving treatment.

Of course..thank you. What the hey is flyball?

[Guest Anonymous]

Flyball is a game of sport for any breed or mix, though border collies and other herders overall excell the most. It is a sport for teams of four dogs, each running one dog at a time. The dogs are placed and held by their owner at the beginning of a 25 foot (sometimes longer or shorter) rubber mat. When realeased they have to run down the mat, jump over four hurdles, hit the box, grab the tennis ball and return to thier owner over the hurdles. It's is very fun and most dogs love it. Which ever team is fatser, wins.

Here's the main website for information. I hope this helps.

http://www.flyball.com/