doggy Basketball

[OrcaLuver]

I want to teach my dog how to shoot a basketball in a hoop, but I don't know how to teach him, so if you have any ideas please tell me!!
ps I tried throwing him the ball but he just sits there and lets the ball hit him in the head!!
PS He's a beagle cross, (although he is about as tall as a lab lol, he is two years old, and he likes tennis balls but only occasionally he'll pick one up and start asking you to play with him.

[wolfsoul]

Well, it will be very hard. I watched a biography on the dog who played "Air Bud," and it took him two whole years to learn how to do this prior to the movie.

I would just start by throwing him the ball and letting him hit it with his teeth. My dog likes to do this

But be careful, the dog who played Air Bud suffered many nose injuries while doing this.

[binka_nugget]

yea..I think you should be really careful with this. If you truly want your dog to catch, be prepared to send LOTS of time on this. I suppose you'd be able to find something about teaching your dog basketball on google

[primabella]

If I remember correctly, the dog from Air Bud also died from cancer. A substitute took his place in the sequal of the movie.

I don't know any injuries that can come out of this, except maybe the nose ones that wolfsoul mentionned. I'm not too sure how you can get him into it. It always helps if your dog has a high ball drive.

Mickey can score in soccer. If you bounce it in front of him and say "Score" he'll jump and tap it in with his nose. It's very cute and he loves it Maybe doing the same thing would help. I just got him into hitting the ball with his nose/head by bouncing it in front of him and saying "Pass" he passed it to me. Then when we get in front of the net and I say "Score" he 'passes' the ball to the net. Good luck

[Karen]

What kind of dog is he? How old? Is he interested in balls at all in the first place? It's not something every dog can learn, our Great Dane never would have understood it. She wouldn't even react to TREATS thrown in her direction. They'd hit her in the face, bounce off, then she'd casually eat them off the floor.

[primabella]

Originally posted by Karen
What kind of dog is he? How old? Is he interested in balls at all in the first place? It's not something every dog can learn, our Great Dane never would have understood it. She wouldn't even react to TREATS thrown in her direction. They'd hit her in the face, bounce off, then she'd casually eat them off the floor.

lol

It might also depend on your breed. Mickey has a skinny, pointy nose so he can't really use it to bounce balls upwards-only sideways. If you have a dog with a more squarish muzzle, it would probably be easier.