Working on drive-building with my 10.5mo GSD and am having an issue that hopefully someone can help me with.

The dog does not target the ball but rather the string -- He will grab the string and begin to tug. After he gets a good tug or two in THEN he'll counter and grab the ball. How do I get him to target the ball? Note: If the ball is laying on the ground.. he'll grab the ball and not the string. I do not have this problem with a small jute tug.... he targets that fine with me holding both ends.

Any exercises I can do to get him past biting the string?

Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

Ball up most of the string into your fist so that the dog can only bite the ball ( watch your fingers! ) - this is how Bernhard solves that problem.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Tried that today. All I can say is that my dog is very hard-headed and persistent. he kept giving the string the old college try...and my fingers will vouch for that!

Will,

Ok, let me ask you another question...Does this matter? I'm not going to put my dog into a professional orbee ball biting contest. I just want him to end up trained to reliably protect my family. I could just use a jute tug to build drive (a la Balabanov) and save my fingers and much frustrattion. We are thinking that we want to get some level of Schh title on him, but in the end that's not why we bought this dog. (

I have no problems with him getting full mouth bites (and holding) a jute pillow.

thanks for the reply.

Neil,
My dog wouldn't even look at a ball until he was about a year old - he was a terror on a jute tug though, and I have the scars to prove it.
Now he's a ball maniac, so maturity and practice can sometimes bring a dog around...

So is the ball absolutely needed? Nope - but it is easier overall than using a tug for everything and it's worth your time to try and get your dog in tune with the ball, if possible.

The "ball on the string" is favored by Bernhard as he can whip it into action *fast* ( really...really...fast! ) and reward his dog at the instant that it does the correct behavior ( think "Marker Training" as done by a Mute with the reflexes of a cobra.....). Few of us will ever have his speed for this type of reward, but for those that can master the skill set, it's a wonder to see.

I hope that helps, and if your dog has a full and deep grip on the tug, you're better off than many dog/handler teams, so be glad for that point!

Good luck!

Will,

Got it. Will wear a glove. Will also try working more with dropping the ball in front of his nose for him to strike at. He misses or ignores and I'll play keep away...give him a couple of chances then put away ...see if that helps. Will also start marking the instant that he gets a grip on the ball.

We're definately fortunate about his grip and the fact that he counters well and often. His grip is not as solid on the ball, but that will come in time as he's hell on that jute.

We are also gratified that he is bonding well to the family. He LOVES my wife and kids (he's laying on my wife's feet right now). My wife (and all of us) spend a lot of time with him...I'm a firm believer that that will pay off in spades down the line. This has been a greater priority with us at this point than any other trainnig.

It's all good. At 10.5months he's still a pup. We have lots of things to work on (like not trying to eat through the front of the house to get at the UPS man, or thinking the vacuum cleaner is a prey item that needs to be caught and killed).

Thanks again for your reply. Much appreciated.

I have a question on this same subject.

I tied a small canvas toy to a string tonight to play with both of my dogs (13 years and 4.5 months). The puppy likes to swat at things and would swat the string every time he got the toy. I assume he was trying to pull it out of my hands but I'm not sure. When I shortened the string he just swatted my arm instead. I started dropping the string after he got the toy. Yes, no? It seemed to make him more confident, but I don't exactly want him swatting at everything either. Come to think of it, the first few times he got the toy he was grabbing the string with both paws and standing up on his back feet. I'd like to get him into SchH, so is this something I should not discourage?

I think, if I remember correctly, what my FR trainer said about Neb going for the string/line of a toy, or more up by my hands, is b/c it's more stable in terms of movement and easier to target. I'm probably butchering his explanation, so if I'm off, blame me, but it makes sense.

I found shortening the string/line helped, and I also did a lot of pulling with the rag (aka not as airborne), so that the rag stayed stable and he got into the habit of targetting the rag.

As well, when Neb was little and we were building drive, I let him win 100% of the time as per our trainer. If he properly targetted and got whatever we were using, he 'won' it. So I don't think dropping the string is a bad thing at this juncture.

But I'm totally not the expert on this one, so hopefully someone else can weigh in.

Ah, I remember seeing that somewhere else on the forum. Great point. I'm 6'5" and he's obviously much shorter than that. I'll try keeping it lower and will less string. If he doesn't have to stand up, he won't. Makes perfect sense.

Lots of young pups have a tendancy to be "cat-like" in their early prey work.

In fact, somewhere around here I think there is a thread started by me, complaining that my GSD puppy was swatting and pouncing on the tug instead of biting.


They get over it.

Here we are:

My SchH Puppy Thinks She is a CAT!