I have been having a probem lately with Bella outing the prey when someone is walking by or another dog or cat is near. She so interested in the other animal/person that she will stop running in the circle around me, and start trotting toward the person or animal. It seems that about .5 seconds after she does this, she drops the ball. What can I do to stop this?

Is it possible that she doesn't have enough prey drive? I have noticed that sometimes she will lose focus on the ball when we are doing the focus work. Most of the time she stares at it, though, waiting for the inevitable! Thanks for any help you all can give me on this one...

How old is she? If she is young most of my dogs have done this to some degree or another, Weas would stop in the middle of a session to contemplate the butterfly fluttering over head.

A fricking butterfly..

But in the interest of learning all of the lessons my dogs throw at me the butterfly was more interesting then what I was doing with the prey item...........Or the butterfly was more of a challange....

A few things the butterflys have taught me:

Always end the session with the dog wanting more.

Make the sessions short and intense.

Your prey item HAS to be more interesting then the butterfly. Make that thing jump and move. If you have bleeding hands its a good sign that your are moving in the right direction...

If she is losing focus on the item you might be asking for too much focus at this time. I would back up a step.

Hope this helps, I'm no expert but this is what has worked for me!

Forgot to add, whenever she spits out the item unasked for make her beg for it the next couple of times. I mean to the point where you think you should be arrested for teasing your dog!

Thanks! I do need to keep in mind that she is young! (1 year old) I am not sure why she is so enamored with other people and other dogs. Does this mean she did not recieve proper socialization as a puppy?

I understand the notion that the prey has to be more interesting than the thing that is distracting her--good point here...I have two different toys we play the game with- a rope and an orbee ball. I usually will work her with one for a few days and switch to the other after that. This has been pretty effective in keeping her interested in the toys. However, she doesn't seem to like either one of the toys more than a strange person or dog. She just can't seem to control herself when one of them comes by.

When I feed her, Bella gets very, very excited. It is like a bomb getting ready to explode, and I would like her to be that interested in her toys, but I have never seen her like that for either one of them. Any ideas on how to boost this?

Thanks again.

I would put the toy on the end of a whip and make it dance.....

Have you tried a tug?

You want quick-frantic type movements.

How long is one of your sessions? When do you let her get the ball as a reward? Are you enthusiastic and cue your dog before it's time to train? And speak all that gibberish to them in a squeaky voice during training? If your neighbors aren't crossing the street when then see you coming, your not!

Different dogs mature as different rates and you really have to kind of go with the flow. Pepper was much more mature and focused at a year then the Weas was but ironically the Weas is a much more serious dog.

Go figure.

 Quote: Betty Waldron

I would put the toy on the end of a whip and make it dance.....

Good idea! Will do.

 Quote: Betty Waldron

Have you tried a tug?

No. I really want to get one, so it would be next on the list.

 Quote: Betty Waldron

How long is one of your sessions?

They range from about 2 minutes to 5 minutes. 85% of the time, I would say about 3 minutes or so. And we usually do two sessions a day.

 Quote: Betty Waldron

When do you let her get the ball as a reward?

At first, I let her get the ball everytime. (And sometimes a bit of my hand, too...) Now, I make her sit and focus for the ball, changing the amount of time and distance each time. About 5% of the time, she gets the prey on her own. This means I will let her catch the prey rarely, and sometimes she will get it on her own if I am too slow.

 Quote: Betty Waldron

Are you enthusiastic and cue your dog before it's time to train? And speak all that gibberish to them in a squeaky voice during training? If your neighbors aren't crossing the street when then see you coming, your not!

 Quote: Betty Waldron

Different dogs mature as different rates and you really have to kind of go with the flow. Pepper was much more mature and focused at a year then the Weas was but ironically the Weas is a much more serious dog.

Go figure.

Makes sense to me.

I would concentrate on letting her "win" the prey item. You have to kind of find a middle ground when they are slobbering they want it so bad but not discourage them either.


Claudia Romard said something along the lines that people don't play enough with the dogs during training. If you watch her she uses very exagerated body language and the 20 pound puppy is convinced that he is about ready to pull this full grown woman off her feet!

Doc was over 2 when I got him and a pretty serious fellow. I've incorporated a lot of what Claudia showed us with him and it's made training fun for him. I'm getting a lot snappier ob from him.

Anyways good luck and have fun. I'm not an expert by any means but I'm more then happy to share with what has worked for me.

 Quote: betty waldron

I would concentrate on letting her "win" the prey item. You have to kind of find a middle ground when they are slobbering they want it so bad but not discourage them either.

Will do!

 Quote: betty waldron

Claudia Romard said something along the lines that people don't play enough with the dogs during training. If you watch her she uses very exagerated body language and the 20 pound puppy is convinced that he is about ready to pull this full grown woman off her feet!

I forgot to reply to this above. Sorry! I have really been lacking in this department lately. I will work on being very exciting with Bella.

 Quote: betty waldron

Doc was over 2 when I got him and a pretty serious fellow. I've incorporated a lot of what Claudia showed us with him and it's made training fun for him. I'm getting a lot snappier ob from him.

Anyways good luck and have fun. I'm not an expert by any means but I'm more then happy to share with what has worked for me.

Will you tell me a bit more about what the trainer suggested or did to increase the level of fun?

Update!

I introduced a new toy to Bella today: a tug! She really liked it! I put it in my back pocket so she couldn't see it at first, but she smelled it right away, and wouldn't leave me alone! Well, we walked over to the area where we play, and I let her sniff around on the ground a bit. Then I said "Do you want to play?" She turned around and saw the tug and the tail just started flyin'!

I built up drive for about 10 seconds and had her sit, and when I dropped it, she gave it a nice grip without mouthing it! Lately she has been mouthing the rope a bit, and I thought for sure she would do it today, but this time I would say it was down by at least 50%. Really beautiful the way it was looking today. Head up, ears up, tail wagging, and calm grip. Just looking great! I noticed I was much more able to pull the tug out of her mouth, though, as the material was much more slippery than the rope or the orbee ball. So, I did that a couple of times, which only made her more excited, of course. I suspect her grip will get more firm as she figures that out.

But more to the origional topic, as I was running her in circles around me with her carrying the tug, I could hear a lady coming around the corner who was talking on her cell phone. I led Bella away a bit to give me some time, and when the lady came around the corner, I started playing tug with Bella. She held on, and when I started running her again, I noticed the lady had actually come quite a bit closer than I had thought. Well, I looked back at Bella, and there she was just running and holding the tug! Good girl!!

So, my plan is to just mix up the three items ball, tug, rope enough to where she can maintain that level of excitement for all of them...

Finding the right motivator makes a huge difference, eh Rick? You've already taught her that when a potential distractor comes along thats its tug time. Good job.

Howard