Hopefully I can get some good advice from all of you with vastly more experience than me.
Got an almost 6 month old pup 2 days ago.
He is settling in alright.
Breeder said he has great ball drive and he plays 2 ball like a pro. So far I can only get him to return the ball about one in five tries. He just runs off with it.
Breeder said to give him time. And also suggested he may be getting too much time with me during the day. He used to be in a kennel only getting out during training. We have him in our home as part of our family.
Perhaps he would be more inclined to want to play ball if he spent some more time crated during the day or perhaps in the backyard by himself.
Any suggestions?

I personally would treat the dog as if he knew nothing. This means using food to get him to return the ball... he needs to think there is something great about returning the ball to you, like a nice treat. I trained the return like this.

1: Throw ball.
2: Dog gets ball.
3: I call his name and get his attention, then I run the other way calling his name.
4: Dog chases me.
5: Dog gets to you, you turn and give treat, he has to drop the ball to recieve treat, then praise and repete as needed.

Training through drive and reward for a job well done.

He will return every time....then of course you rotate treat giving and soon you can drop the food all togther, he should return just for the fun of it...on occasion re-enforce with a treat.

If he will not come back after a couple of tries, I just end the game and we go back inside, no treats no praise, nothing but bordom. Don't get into the chase me game.

Patton - check your private messages

I use to have a similar thing with my dog, which has massive prey.
The reason my dog woudn´t come to me with the bal was because he was affraid of having to give the bal back to me.
So I first did this with a long leash just hanging behind the dog just in case he doesn´t come. (techniques like running backward is used)When the dog is near you (also congratulate him) DON´T take the ball instead you play with it (play tug) and let the dog win then run a little backwards and call the dog again play with the tug and let him win then run a little with the dog try to get him to sit and then take the bal AND immidiately throw the bal away again and start over.
Remember you have to make it fun for the dog that he like to come and bring the ball to you and that you can do with playing AND LET HIM WIN and the times he has to out throw the ball away IMMIDIATELY. Don´t do this too much that the dog get´s so tierd that he say now you go get it yourself boss ! At the end the let the dog keep the ball for a while.
Ofcourse you can work with food or an other ball in tricking the dog to come to you. But I don´t like this, the dog has to have fun and has to like to bring the ball to you if this isn´t the case there is something wrong in the connection handler dog.
What I use sometimes is a second ball but this is only that I want more speed in the dog coming back to me. Then as soon as he picksup the thrown ball I show him my second ball which I hold in the air or behind me so he has to jump in the air or run between my legs.

DON´T take the ball instead you play with it (play tug) Mickey, I can vouch that this works...at least it did for my dog, who I thought didn't have much prey drive in the beginning (boy, was I wrong!)

The problem was the dog wasn't too wild about chasing the ball at all, until a short tug game was introduced as a reward. Now she retrieves consistently, still not for the fun of the chase, in my observation, but because she hopes there is a tug game coming!

Thanks for all the great advice. I will keep trying till I find something that works.
The only thing that worries me about playing tug right now is that he is teething and everytime he even tries to tug gently on a soft towel he ends up with blood on the towel. So we have been steering clear of tug games while teething.

Dogma,

I hope that like your dog my pup eventually shows me his drive.

The breeder keeps telling me to give him a couple weeks to adjust. Is this characteristic of working line shepherds to need to take time to adjust? Or maybe it is just his age?

Being really used to Labs I have not encountered this before.

Thanks.

Patton,

It could be an ajustment issue, the dog does not respect you as the master yet, so he figures he don't need to bring the ball back....this will go away with time and OBD training, as I said before, start from scratch....unless this breeder is a personal friend of yours and you have seen the dog actually do it, don't assume any training has been done.

Two Days???

Give the guy a little time. He sounds like he will do just fine. Play with him and do the "bonding" thing. Feeding him directly from your hand for several meals never hurts either.

He is probably a little confused as to exactly what is happening and who he should "belong" to. If he is playing "two ball" OK, he will come up in drive as he gets older. My guess is in another 6-8wk. you will really begin to see what you have.

Patton, I can't begin to tell you how I worried that this dog I had spent (what I considered a lot) of money for, was not going to turn out as promised! But I had seen both parents work a Sch routine, with the Dam almost more powerful than the sire (being a good thing in my mind...) so I "kept the faith"!

In the beginning, for almost 5 months, the pup (WG/DDR/Czech breeding) had no interest in chasing, never bit my feet and hands like our other dog (a male), and while she would play tug, not with the enthusiasm of the male.

It took till she was almost 7-8 months old that the drives started kicking in! Wow! She now practically quivers at the sight of the ball, gets airborn to the puppy tug, and starts barking at the sight of a blind. Has an explosive run to the pole for the send away, and two ball keeps me on my toes. So NO more worry! I just needed to wait till she matured a bit... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I cannot begin to thank you all for your encouragement.

Ikor,
I am definately expecting too much too soon.
You are right when you suggest that his world has been turned upside down. Nothing is even remotely the same in his world including the sex of his handler which I don't think can be underestimated.

Dogma,

You sound like me, we spent half our savings on this dog(not a fortune but for a young family enough of one)
And having been burned by a breeders claims before I am even more gunshy.
Glad to know that sometimes drives may not be totally formed at 6 mos.

Could teething also have an effect on this at all?