So I have watched this ball multiple times and am at a loss. I swore I remember it saying to start this toy around 4 months old or later. I currently have a small size for my rottweiler now about to be 7 months old in a few days. Now she bites like crazy and will hold on to everything for dear life, except for this orbee. It is not due to lack of trying on her part but I believe that between her mouth size and the rubber, she can't get a good grip. Today was the first time I have used it in about 2 months, and she has grown, but still the same results. I am starting to fret about this because even though she is good on most everything, this ball flying out of her mouth has me concerned. Could it mean she doesn't have a good bite? Or is this ball possibly just too big for her mouth? How should a dogs mouth look with this in her mouth while holding on strong? Her mouth doesn't fully enclose the ball, that is how it is slipping out. But she is 100% about this ball, or any other toy I may have in my hands so I am trying to figure out what I can use for the exercise. What about the rubber puppy tug toy? Anybody use that toy for this exercise? I have watched the video and will be getting this toy as I think it would work well as she can clamp down on it. Any thoughts? Thank you.

I have the Orbee’s as well, but neither Quinn nor Hav seem to be able to make this their drive building toy. Like you have described, it kinda slips out, as if Quinn bite down hard enough on to it and that combined with the slipperiness, just makes it not work out. Since I KNOW Quinn can bite and really hold on well through the long bite, I don’t worry about it.

I use what works for the dog, and for Quinn it is a hard jute ball on a rope or a padded stick (don’t ask). Those are his favorite prey items for drive work. Hav likes a thin jute tug with a gripper tab on it. It gives him a nice surface to bite and hold and tug on. They both seem to prefer a harder surface to bite. Quinn’s ball is hard and I realize it can bonk them on the head and knock the drive out of them, Quinn is beyond that point and Hav likes his tug…

BTW, both LOVE the Orbee as a great fetch toy and play in the house ball. They like to walk around and squish it like bubble gum.

When are you gonna put a picture of Hav future girlfriend up?

Well I am glad as you have calmed me down just a little bit. I watched this video again and just don't understand how an orbee would work. But however, I must say that after closer inspection, yes I did freeze frame on it, I noticed it wasn't an orbee being used in the video as a ball on a string. I have come to a conclusion that a harder ball on a string would just work better for me. The difference though is my girl seems to keep wanting this ball more and more as I am able to take it out of her mouth. It does seem to build drive as she gets more and more frustrated because she can't hold on to it. But then again, whatever toy I have in my hand or on my persons, she wants, so type of toy doesn't matter as much. That is why I think I might check out that rubber puppy tug toy. I would like to get her on harder tugs, but I have been waiting for her adult teeth to be in 100%. I know she wouldn't mind, but up until now, I just would've prefered softer toys.

And as for pictures, I am not computer literate. I have no clue as to how to put picture here or in my signature. But however, I have figured out how to upload photos. you can check out pictures of Vienna and a few other dogs I've had at Smugmug.com. Hopefully that link works. And as for the photos, she doesn't really stay still. So that is why I barely have any photos of her looking at me.

 Quote: lamarr couttien

And as for pictures, I am not computer literate. I have no clue as to how to put picture here or in my signature.

Yes I did quote myself if you were wondering. I just wanted to say I figured out how to put a picture in my signature. But really, I think there needs to be a walkthrough as to how to do it. I had to look at 3 different threads to figure out that I had to put " after it. Very confusing, at least for me. Good thing I know how to use the search function. Sort of.

She is a cutie!!!

And LOTS of people have a hard time with the sig pictures, Don't feel bad...

I have a similar problem. My pup absolutely loves this toy, but she won't bite the ball, she'll only grab the rope. She loves to play tug with it so I figured it's best to just let her just have fun with it and not try to teach her to grab the ball since she is super motivated just to get it in the first place. I'm guessing this is more of a drive building toy than a tool used to teach proper bitework anyway?

 Quote: Lamarr Couttien

Yes I did quote myself if you were wondering.

I laughed out loud.

I started this with a small pocket tug that pup really likes. Even with that it took a few sessions for him to really catch on and start fighting for the tug. I found that the important thing was to let him win each and every time. I've even stopped taking the tug away from him after the sessions. I let him carry it for as long as he wants while we walk up to the door to go back inside. Now he's really confident that he can win the tug from me, we're still working on him keeping me from grabbing it away...it kinda hurts his feelings. Your rottie should be able to bite the orbee, my pup could pick up a size 4 (kids) soccer ball at seven months.

I guess maybe I am expecting something different. If it came off as if she couldn't hould the ball in her mouth that was incorrect. She can hold the ball, in her mouth and carry it around like a champ. I don't have any issues with taking things away from her. To put it simply, it is close to impossible to grab any thing out of her mouth when she clamps down on it. The only thing that she can't is this orbee. It definitely builds her frustration, which in turn makes her want to go after it harder, faster stronger. But the more she gets into it, the more she drools, and the more slippery the ball gets. This is why she can't hold on to it when I grab the rope. She will go after the ball all day, but I am afraid what it would do to her in the long run if it kept making her more frustrated if I kept grabbing it out of her mouth 10 out of 10 times. Does that make sense? It is great for the focus work though, and I can use it in that regards, but if it is going to cause my dog to obsess over it due to the challenge, I'm worried about the long term affect.

Sharon, Vienna will target the ball 100% of the time, but it is what causes the frustration because it isn't a good grip surface when wet. If she targeted the rope, or hard more rope in her mouth, her success rate of keeping it away from me would go up drastically as she can hold on to the rope. I don't want to teach her that though as she is smart, and if she knew that if she just grabbed the rope, I couldn't take it from her, that would be all she would do. I think I might have to do what both you and Jessica have mentioned. Just use it for fun games like fetch or something along those lines.

I hope this all makes sense. If not, let me know and I will clarify some more. Thank you.

On a side note, have you noticed everyone who has replied in this post so far is from California? I thought that is a little funny.

Part of the drive bulding & bite training is to frustrate the dog to build drive to teach the dog to try to grab & hold onto the ball. If you can pop it out of their mouth they will learn to hang onto to it & bite harder & not let you pull it out. This teaches them to bite & hold. A part of the training process. If the dog really doesn't like the ball, use a tug instead & then eventually replace it with the ball down the road. It took my male quite a while to learn that if he didn't hold on to the ball he would loose it. On the other hand my female from day one would NEVER let go of anything for dear life without a fight. She is still the same way if she doesn't hear an 'out' command. Sometimee she will still wait a bit & look at you, as if asking...do I realy have to out it?!

^^^That.

Maybe give this a shot. Instead of pulling the tug out, tug on it just enough to make her tug back. The very instant she pulls on it, let her win. That's what I did with my pup, who's also a slobber hound, and it kind of set off a light in his head. From there you start pulling just a bit harder still making sure that the pup always wins. Once she's confident, you can start really working with her. Just be careful not to make it too easy.