Dog chasing footballs - help please!

[SHsheff 10]

We've a staffie. She likes to chase footballs, hunt them down, then kill them. Thoroughly. This has happened a couple of times (last year) and each time it cost us a tenner, to recompense the owners.

 

So, my question is, what can we do? We've tried squirting water in her face when she came near to the (practice) ball, which went well (aversion therapy) until she managed to grab the ball, at which point no amount of water would have worked. She grabbed it, ran off, killed it, and worried it to bits.

 

She's then quite happy to return to us and have the ball removed from her posession because once it's punctured and is dead, she reverts to being an obedient dog.

 

Something on the internet suggests that we should carry a football with us at all times, and if she shows signs of going after someone else's ball, we show her the ball that we carry and encourage her to go after that one instead.

 

Your thoughts, please?

[Jessica23 10]

Mine is the same. I keep her on the lead if there are people playing football in the park until we're safely past them.

 

She also steals other dogs' toys, of whatever variety, and knows that that's what she's done. Prances around looking very pleased with herself and won't come near me, even if I'm waving sausage and cheese treats around.

 

The only thing I've had some success with is toys that make a noise - either a squeaky one or using a hard plastic ball on gravel/pavement - then she seems more interested in her own stuff than other people's. But it's not 100%.

[staffsNlaffs 10]

Found this for you, it's lengthy but might be useful

 

 

You don't need water other than to give the dog a drink but what you do need is the thing that is at the core of her interest - a football. Get yourself down the local sports shop or just have a look around and you may find one.

 

So the ultimate outcome is to be able to roll the football, throw the football, bounce the football and her not move a muscle. This is 100% going against her instinct to chase moving objects so you have to reward her for not reacting not punish her for doing what she is born to do.

 

Now, we need to think of a football just being a bigger tennis ball just as a sofa is a bigger dog bed. If you don't want your dog on the sofa then you tell them they shouldn't be there and reward them for being on their bed. The same goes for what you want to achieve here but with a few different steps.

 

You state that you and your dog are in an enclosed area with a fence but the dog can see people playing with footballs outside the fence and will not stop focussing on them. This is like you watching TV. It looks really interesting, fun and exciting but you can't get to do it so the best you can do is to watch and become engrossed thinking about doing it and then the whole room fades into the background, your partner's conversations turn to white noise and the smell of tea cooking just becomes normal unscented oxygen. The only thing that will probably bring you back to reality is something more distracting, more rewarding and you might have to be nudged to snap you out of it initially.

 

So you go to the enclosed area when there are people playing football but you keep the dog on a lead. As she starts to focus on the guys playing playing football you can call her away as you walk away. If she follows then she gets massive reward, fuss and a play with a tug toys or something. If she doesn't then you apply a bit of pressure to the lead to gesture that you want her follow. Even if she moves her paw then you should at least acknowledge it. Apply a bit more pressure and lots of encouragement and as soon as she starts to lean her body towards you or peel herself away from the exciting programme you need to praise her and really encourage her to follow through. You are now becoming slightly more exciting than Match of the Day. Once she is walking away with you then you have to become Super duper exciting so lots of praise, interaction, play and rewards be it food or toys. You are going to have to do this a fair few times but if you keep your eye out for her gaze becoming a little too fixed on what it happening away from you then you need to interrupt it and begin the distraction process and follow it through, then again, then again, then again. Eventually you will not have to interrupt the gaze quite so soon as she will be listening for that queue that all the fun in the world is coming her way but from over there instead of on the football pitch.

 

The other option is football in one hand, tennis ball in the other, dog watching you and you're in the back garden or secure area without any other distractions.

You place the football on the ground and put your foot on it to prevent it rolling around or moving if the dog pounces on it (this will only make it more interesting - to a collie if it moves it's interesting, really interesting no matter how many times it sees it but you have to show them where the best reward is for chasing). Allow the dog to sniff the football, jump around it in a play bow or whatever it wants to do but you must not encourage it. Encouragement or any other sounds at this stage only reinforce the dog that you are joining in and adding to the excitement. Now what you want to do is to bend down and hold the tennis ball in front of the dog. Now that you have the tennis ball between the dog and the football you can roll it away from the football. If the dog chases it then bingo but if the dog doesn't move then calmly pick the football up, walk over to the tennis ball, pick that up, place the football down with your foot on it again and start again. Eventually the dog will go after the tennis ball, you might need to wave the tennis ball about and make excited noises whilst doing so but eventually the dog will go after it. When it does then praise wildly, throw the tennis ball again and make a huge fuss.

You are not moving the football yet so it is static and therefore not all that exciting.

 

Once you can get to the point of placing the football down, putting your foot on it and throwing the tennis ball with the dog chasing it every time then you can up the stakes. By this I mean keeping your foot on the ball but rolling the ball around with your foot so you control the movement. Throw the tennis ball. If the dog doesn't not go for it then pick the football up, go get the tennis ball and start again. We are always making the tennis ball the most exciting object whilst keeping the football under our control just the way you do with the sofa and the dog's bed - the sofa is more desirable because it's bigger and that is where you sit but you keep it under control and make the dog's bed far more exciting through having chews there, rewarding there and making a nice fuss of the dog when they are on the bed.

Once you can get the dog chasing the tennis ball every time your roll the football about with your foot then you can up the stakes again by bouncing the football a bit, then a lot, then throwing both balls and only wanting the tennis ball back, throw the tennis ball but make the dog wait before releasing to go fetch, throw the tennis ball and stop then make the dog wait then release the dog to chase then stop the dog chasing before releasing it again to fetch the ball and whatever else you can think of.

 

The most important thing to remember is to have fun being an idiot to distract your dog. Have fun channelling your dog's natural instincts into what you want to happen. Restrict the dog being able to chase using a lead for a while whilst you can control the chase with distraction or command.

[Rainrescue 10]

We have got exactly the same problem with Spud - one of our dogs in rescue. He is ball crazy - goes crackers with them.

 

He has got better over time, and now he will leave when you work with him on them, but at the first opportunity he is back at it. Left to his own devices - he just plays and plays with it in an obsessive way.

 

I will pass this info onto Dave who is doing work with him - its always good to have new ideas. I wonder how they start off with it in the first place.

[staffsNlaffs 10]

We have got exactly the same problem with Spud - one of our dogs in rescue. He is ball crazy - goes crackers with them.

 

He has got better over time, and now he will leave when you work with him on them, but at the first opportunity he is back at it. Left to his own devices - he just plays and plays with it in an obsessive way.

 

I will pass this info onto Dave who is doing work with him - its always good to have new ideas. I wonder how they start off with it in the first place.

 

you wonder why they chase a ball?

[Rainrescue 10]

No - why they frenzy over a ball. There is a difference between playing ball - and being ball obsessed.

[staffsNlaffs 10]

No - why they frenzy over a ball. There is a difference between playing ball - and being ball obsessed.

 

most things seem to stem with who's in charge of who so it wouldn't surprise me if its a dominance related issue or insecurity.....

[Rainrescue 10]

Yes I agree. I think there is also a 'kill' type instinct as part of it too. Dogs that go crazy to kill anything that squeeks, even worse.

 

I suppose its when things just get out of hand. If they are allowed to from early days - its very hard to stop something once its in as a habit, without lots of consistent hard work. Not easy to do in kennels, but something that has to be done in a home environment or it just gets worse.

[staffsNlaffs 10]

Yes I agree. I think there is also a 'kill' type instinct as part of it too. Dogs that go crazy to kill anything that squeeks, even worse.

 

I suppose its when things just get out of hand. If they are allowed to from early days - its very hard to stop something once its in as a habit, without lots of consistent hard work. Not easy to do in kennels, but something that has to be done in a home environment or it just gets worse.

 

Hunting instinct for sure. One of ours is part sight hound part exorcet, she'll fly at anything that moves given the chance (she doesn't get the chance now). It's a shame because she is something to see in full flight.

[SHsheff 10]

Thanks for all your responses. I think the problem is that the dog is hard-wired to run after footballs (the kill instinct) and although she's quite happy to be distracted up to a point, if the urge takes over, that's it and she's deaf to anything from that point.

 

I'd seen the article on tennis ball/distraction before - but thanks staffsNlaffs - but although I can imagine it working some times, I think the thrill of the chase can be so overwhelming that it would give us a false sense of security.

 

It doesn't seem as if there is a sure fire way of getting chasing out of a dog that likes to chase.

 

Best to avoid football areas/keep her on a lead until we're definitely in the clear.

[denlin 12]

You should keep your dog on lead, supposing she sees a child carrying a football and decides she wants it and accidentally bites child until you have this problem under control

[SHsheff 10]

You should keep your dog on lead, supposing she sees a child carrying a football and decides she wants it and accidentally bites child until you have this problem under control

 

That's my point. I don't think we will get the problem under control, hence saying best to keep her on a lead unless we're sure there are no footballs (and people will footballs) around.