Dog kind of biting

Bottle_of_Smoke

I was just brought my aunt's dog to the park.

He's very good natured and friendly to everyone he meets.

So anyway in the park I had one of his toys; its a ball with a string coming out if it. Problem is when I pick it up to throw he immediately lunges for it, rather than wait until I throw it. At one point I didn't realise how close he was and when I reached back to throw he lunged, missed the ball and caught my wrist.

He didn't break skin but I certainly felt it. I know it wasn't intentional but I would be worried he may someday come in contact with a child throwing a ball and hurt him/her.

Has anyone got any suggestions on training him to wait until the ball is thrown to go for it?

Also of less importance is there any way to train him to bring the ball back to me?

He's about 18mths-2years old. Sheep dog looking but not a pure bred

Cherry Blossom

Hold the toy, tell the dog to sit, reward with a treat or a pat when he complies, say waaaiiit, and as you throw the toy say fetch. He'll soon get the idea as to when he's allowed.
Teach the dog the 'come' command. Say his name to get his attention, then say 'come' and whatever works to get him to come back to you, reward him for comming. Don't try to take the toy straight away, let him keep his prize for a bit. Again get the dog to sit. When he's calm do a swap with him for a treat and as he lets go of the toy say 'drop it'. It might take a while but eventually he'll start to associate the words with what you want him to do and it'll get easier untill he's eventually happy to do it all for a pat. Make a big fuss of him everytime he complies with a command (and only when he complies) and he'll figure out what he has to do to please you soon enough.

Hope this helps

morganafay

Yeah, one of my dogs is a bit hyper, and sometimes she'll bark at me or try to grab a toy off me when we're playing fetch, so I make her sit before throwing it, and she kinda calms down . . .

kylith

morganafay wrote: »

Yeah, one of my dogs is a bit hyper, and sometimes she'll bark at me or try to grab a toy off me when we're playing fetch, so I make her sit before throwing it, and she kinda calms down . . .

QFT

One of mine used to go crazy when she saw the lead, jumping and air snapping. I started by telling her to sit. If she didn't then I turned my back and ignored her until she did, now she knows that the lead won't go on until she's sitting. If you're consistant he'll soon learn (especially if he's got some collie in him) that the ball doesn't get thrown unless his bum's on the ground.

tk123

We have the same with our guy! Luckily he treats kids like he does strange dogs and sits down when we meet them! He's 1 next week thou and the playful nips hurt and bruise so working on getting him to stop - he's a retriever. When he does do it it's game over - back turned and put out for a few mins.

Anyhoos he cut his paw and couldn't go for walks so loads of pratice with his training this week to drain his energy ...He knows how to sit and wait until I tell him to come to me..so I decided to use it to my advantage for when we're playing fetch. I got him to sit beside me and holding onto his collar I said WAIT! and at the same time I threw a treat past him, counted to 3 and told him OK! (OK is his relase from wait) and let go of the collar and clicked (he really really responds to the clicker). After repeating a few times he caught on and now he'll wait when we play fetch until I tell him to get the toy!