Hello everyone ..

Just looking for some input.

GSD is now 7 months. And all he wants to do is play bally all the time. He wakes up .. looks for his kong ball and wants us to toss it for him almost immediately. He's never agressive and waits politely for it. But I still have to wonder, is too much of one activity a bad thing? Is he going to be obsessive if I keep letting him play bally?

And I mean he REALLY likes it. He can play bally for hours and hours .. it doesn't seem quite "normal". He wants to sleep with bally, wake with bally, bally right after meals, bally all the time. He seems to be more attached to bally than even to the other pup. Any thoughts?

Finkie (Finnish Spitz), his sister doesn't fetch well. She just wants to be outside all the time. She'll sit by the door and whine if we don't let her out. She'll stay outside nearly indefinitely, sub-zero temperature and all. I'll call her in after a good half hour and she'll race home; have her feet wiped. No sooner than having a quick look around and maybe a treat, she's whining at the door again. I watch her on the webcam while she's out there. There doesen't seem to be anything spectacular out there. She meanders around and checks things out around the yard (pretty large).

Note - I have tons of doggy toys and such inside. She really shouldn't be "bored". They just don't seem at all that interested. If I give Finkie complete attention, then maybe she'll want to stay in. But once withdrawn, its "I want out" again. When she's iniside, she tends to be a little over affectionate. She wants to be with you all the time (and have 100% of the attention) if you make her stay in.

Is that healthy?
Any thoughts?

- David C

It's not abnormal for a dog bred to have really high prey drive. Hopefully you are putting all that desire to work for YOU by teaching him behaviors to offer in order to earn some ball-playing time. Most of us don't leave the ball (or whatever is the favorite toy) with the dog; we keep it up until it's time to train (aka..play!) so that it is special and the dog really values it and works hard for it. At the end of the session, we put it up again.

The spitz is probably not comfortable with the temps in the house, pretty common in breeds with that type of coat. If you live where it gets hot in the summer, you might find she likes the house a LOT better when the A/C is on.

Wow David, sounds like you got EXACTLY what those of us with good working dogs are striving for, one with a high prey/play/ball drive.

What are your training goals for your dog? Add the ball as a reward for any of them, have a good trainer to work with, and you and your dog will go far.

http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0036.htm

http://www.leerburg.com/pickpup.htm

and this site is for breeders, but interesting to note the fact of high ball drive as one of the highest selling points for the lineage. http://www.alfaheimshepherds.net/puppies.htm

Hey, go figure, you got a dog, who's bred for working AND is showing all the signs of a good breeder!

Hey David

Sounds like two great dogs. I would love if my dog would choose a toy to love like that. Right now he will do anything for teh cats mouses, which he promptly tries to swallow feathers and all. My dog is a siberian, like your spitz all he wants to do is play outside, just sits and smells the wind even if its snowing or pouring. She might come around when she is a bit older and want to come in more, just bundle up and go have fun with her. As for your shepherd have at it, play ball and let him sleep with it, makes training easier if he likes a ball rather than food which to me seems to get messy and expensive.

David,
Been there, man. My last GSD had super freaky ball drive and wanted the thing every waking second. It was so bad that the only thing he couldnt destroy in a few minutes was a solid 3" rubber ball from England. It made training really easy but getting him to out the ball was always a chore. Be carefull though. He swallowed the top of a kong and it lodged in his intestine which ruptured and killed him from peretinitis. Count your blessings and dont let him go to waste.

Thanks for the great reply guys - I was a little surprised that its a "good thing". But I can't say I'm disappointed.

GSD came from a very reputable breeder in Texas who has true German line dogs. Actually she's a breeder who came over from Germany a few year back. So I guess you can say she's from German lines herself. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I guess I didn't know that prey-drive would express itself so .. er .. goofy-like. One the one hand, GSD really FOCUSES on the ball - staring at it intently before its thrown. The focus is so strong that he often catches before it can get past him. And I beam the ball when we play outside. But then he brings the ball back and drops it at our feet with his big tongue hanging out and his tail wagging like its some joke. His expression is just so goofy sometimes. I guess I when I think "prey-drive" I think of more intense aggressive behavior. To me this seemed more like "play-drive" than "prey-drive". Shows my limited knowledge.

At least we taught him to place it up on the couch when we're sitting so I don't have to bend down to pick up the ball (see the website link below for a movie of this, he's really quite good). Pretty much he'll do back flips if it means you'll throw it for him again.

Either way .. this brought up a very good question. What ARE the traininig goals for my boy? My wife wanted him to him to be a therapy dog because of his very tame and patient nature. Too bad .. he's got a great solid bite when we play tug. And he "outs" 100% of the time, perfectly. All play, zero aggression.

Either way .. I'll do like you all say and use it more and more as a training tool (now that I recognize it as "drive" and not obssessive compulsive). - Whew .. THANKS!

About Finkie - I guess I'll just have to wait and see. She's really sweet; always wanting to lick you from head to toe. But once you don't give her 100% attention then its "I'm outta here". I guess she got the "do her own thing - drive". - I noticed that she'll retrieve too, but doesn't like me to throw it again right away. She wants me to play tug with the object before tossinig it again. She actually brings it back to play with, not just to chase. Cute dog, a little strange. But very cute.

If anyone has any suggestions of things I can train with the ball (aside from the simple sit-stay-down), please LMK! I'm all ears!

Thanks!
David

Therapy dog would be good for your boy, but it seems that he could do sooo much more like agility and competition obediance and tracking. I think tracking is really fun, I haven't gotten too far into it but its a change from obediance. I know you are in NY and I am pretty sure they have agility classes there.

For therapy dog the dog has to be at least 1 year old and have never done bite work. Must pass his Canine good citizen and out here go through an 8 hour training class and owner is interviewed as well.

Check out the Dove Lewis Society for Therapy dog training, DLAAT dove lewis animal assisted therapy.

Guys! The completely worked!! Wow .. no food to train. So cool.

I trained Juen-Sak (my GSD) to fix the rugs back over after he flips them while running. The rugs are there to help him from slipping and its a chore to keep getting up and fix it for him while I'm on the couch chilling. (He bring the ball back and puts it on the couch so I don't have to bend down to pick it up).

But this time we trained without the aid of food! Thanks for the inputs .. I wonder how far I can take this?!?

I made a small video to document our little victory on the website below (its a pretty long download unless you have cable-modem or DSL). But check it out.

Thanks again!
DHC