Teaching fetch

[Omi2003]

What is the best way to teach a dog to play fetch? We rescued our Finny 3 months ago from HUA. He's an amazing dog and loves to jump. He looks like he's made for fetch and especially soft frisbee but I can't get him to catch or bring anything back. Help! Thanks. Finny is estimated to be 1 1/2 yrs old and is 27 lbs. His vertical leap is better than most NBA players. :) I just want to get him playing with the frisbee etc. Of course, I have to learn how to throw the darn thing myself. ;)

[cloverfdx]

hi and a huge welcome tp pet talk

ok here are a few tips about starting to teach fetch

1) play keep away from finny and act as though the frisbee or other toy is the best thing in the world, realy make the dog want the toy , then throw or roll the toy a few feet away from finny if he goes after the toy praise like mad and give him some time to play with the toy

2) when you are succesful getting finny to pick the toy up you can begin to call him and move a few feet away from him and hopefully he will follow ( with dog holding the toy still) if he follows more excited praise (verbal/food reward etc)

you could also teach him the "hold" command where you place the object in his mouth hold it there for a few seconds then tell him "give" lots and lots of praise :D

good luck and most of all have FUN :D

[primabella]

Cloverfdx pretty much covered what I was going to say.

When I was teaching Mickey how to fetch, I would throw his ball and when he went to get him I gave him his "come" command. He caught on quickly, but maybe it would be different for every dog.

Good luck. :)

[Omi2003]

First of all, thank you for the welcome :) Secondly, the tips are excellent and we'll try them immediately. Actually, (lol) I tried the keep away with Finny earlier and he was like "I'm not paying any attention to what you're doing...I have sticks to chew on!!" But I'll keep trying and follow your a schedule. My son's German Shepherd will play all day and I'm so jealous. I asked my son how he taught her that. He said he threw the soft frisbee to her over and over. It kept hitting her nose until she finally decided to open to mouth and catch it. :D

Hey I like these smiley faces. I've never been able to figure out how to download them! This works slick.

Again, thank you.

[cloverfdx]

He said he threw the soft frisbee to her over and over. It kept hitting her nose until she finally decided to open to mouth and catch it.
lol, funny but smart dog to catch on eventually


When I was teaching Mickey how to fetch, I would throw his ball and when he went to get him I gave him his "come" command. He caught on quickly, but maybe it would be different for every dog.
ohh micky your such a smart young man, and cute as well (brains and good looks:D )

Omi2003 good luck with the training and playing im sure finny will catch on to the game soon :)

oh and if you need help with anything else just ask :D