Fetch

You may think all dogs know how to fetch. Which is pretty much true, but  my dog Gracie never really figured it out. Usually when you try to throw a tennis ball for her, she'll bark at you and expect you to go get it for her. Or she'll go get it and not bring it back to you, which is pretty annoying in the summer when she's outside and runs to our neighbor's backyard. So, I decided I needed to teach her something every dog already knows, which is how to fetch.

According to Kyra Sundance, in her book 101 Dog Tricks, she suggest that you make a slit in a tennis ball, drop a treat inside it, and throw it for your dog to retrieve. This way, your dog is motivated to go after the ball, but must bring it back to you to actually receive the treat (24). I had never thought of putting the treat in the tennis ball, and was hopeful that this was what would make the trick click for her.

Unfortunately, I was still having a hard time getting Gracie to bring the ball back to me, so Sundance recommends you, "never chase your dog when he is playing keep away. Lure him back with a treat, or run away from him to encourage him to chase you" (24). This suggestion helped with my problem and Gracie can now fetch like every other dog.

Although I don't play fetch with her outside much in the winter, I am hopeful that learning this trick will stop her from running away in the summer. If you have a dog, do they ever run away? And how would you fix that problem?