Fetch OBSESSION...help, please?

[tomatosandwich]

Sometimes Divot's obsession with balls and fetch is helpful. Need him to stop barking at 5:00 a.m.? Throw a ball. Need him to leave the cat alone? Throw a ball. Need him to go out to pee when he's refusing in a thunderstorm. You guessed it: throw a ball!

BUT..

The begging for us to throw a ball is out of control! He walks around dropping it at our feet and whining. Or if we're on the couch, he jumps up and plops one in our lap and starts whining. We've tried putting the balls up and just using them when we take him outside, but then he runs around searching for a ball and whining. Or he'll bring us a rope or stuffed lovey and wait.

It's cute...but a little overwhelming at times. Any suggestions how to calm this obsession?

[Zekey's Mom]

Would an automatic ball popper help, for playing fetch by himself? I've seen commercials for this. If you can switch off the music, it might be worth a try!

[Meggie]

Ooof! That sounds obsessive.

I hate to sound like a meanie, and granted I'm no expert but I'd do away with the balls for awhile. I'd work with him during the day teaching him the command "quiet" (which has worked for Hubble). Does something trigger the barking? Hubble barks if he hears someone on tv ring a doorbell or knock...Since barking seems to be the most problematic of his behaviors, if he has a distinctive trigger like Hubble does, have someone fake the sound during the day and reward him when his barking dies down. Hopefully he'll get the point!

Hubble is obsessive sometimes too and although it's been difficult, I've tried to avoid taking advantage of using his favorite objects as distractions as it isn't addressing the behavior directly.

[lindasue]

My last dog (shepard/golden) was like that. I wish Pegi would fetch more - unless she's interested, I can throw balls all day and she just yawns and watches.

My sister-in-law taught her lab "last one" - and would throw the ball one more time. It worked. Course that was a lab, not a cairn...

[Hawkeye]

The begging for us to throw a ball is out of control! He walks around dropping it at our feet and whining. Or if we're on the couch, he jumps up and plops one in our lap and starts whining. We've tried putting the balls up and just using them when we take him outside, but then he runs around searching for a ball and whining. Or he'll bring us a rope or stuffed lovey and wait.

Do you have Radar over there?? I got out of the shower this morning and he's ready to play fetch. I have started a little tough love with him. I put all the toys away and will take them out when we want to play with him. Then he gets all excited and whines in front of the cabinet that his toys are in. So I have had to give him a stern "NO not now" and also put him on his side saying" No not now". This is working - he's getting it. We have to be in control and tell them when it is time to play fetch not the other way around.

Sorry can't help you on the barking.

[Lynn in TN]

The begging for us to throw a ball is out of control! He walks around dropping it at our feet and whining. Or if we're on the couch, he jumps up and plops one in our lap and starts whining. We've tried putting the balls up and just using them when we take him outside, but then he runs around searching for a ball and whining. Or he'll bring us a rope or stuffed lovey and wait.

Do you have Radar over there?? I got out of the shower this morning and he's ready to play fetch. I have started a little tough love with him. I put all the toys away and will take them out when we want to play with him. Then he gets all excited and whines in front of the cabinet that his toys are in. So I have had to give him a stern "NO not now" and also put him on his side saying" No not now". This is working - he's getting it. We have to be in control and tell them when it is time to play fetch not the other way around.

Sorry can't help you on the barking.

Sorry I am laughing so hard but I think you both have Kelly at your houses. We have been telling her NO firmly. Last week she started rolling it to us with her nose. You know if nothing else works try the "BE CUTE ROUTINE". Cairns are so good at that. I told her no night before last, because I wanted to take a bath. I get in my nice relaxing bath and who do you think shows up, beside the tub nasty red tennis ball in mouth and drops it in my bath water and grinned the biggest grin, the little stinker was teasing me. Needless to say I took a shower after my bath ( I couldn't get past the fact of where all that tennis ball had been) LOL If you all figure it out share the answer with me please!

( We have been a little mean lately throwing 2 or 3 balls at once, soooo funny) Try it if you haven't already.

[finncaraid]

It seems that attention is more important to a Cairn than even food! Try ignoring Divot & only play at a certain time/times every day. At first, he'll probably start "beating" you up to get you to play. But really very quickly, he'll get the message that it's up to him to entertain himself the rest of the time. Most of the day & night, it's just Finn & I and all he wanted was someone to play ALL THE TIME. That's not possible since I work from home. When he was still a pup, I started scheduling everything- walks, meals, naps, training, playtime. He got the hang of the schedule fast & was satisfied. The schedule is pretty much done with these days but he knows if you sit on the couch, a game is okay. He's got plenty of things to keep him busy the rest of the time. He has a window that's set up for not just watching but taking a sun-nap, he has access to his toys, which are in a plastic tote thingy that is always in the same place, he has something different to chew everyday, he takes a different route every day on his long walks, a few times a week he goes for a ride & at least once a week he actually goes somewhere like the pet supply store, a new park, etc. He knows playtime is in the evening & it lasts 2 hours. We don't actually play for that whole time: we have a game for a bit then he wants to sit on my lap & get belly rubs, back scritches, leg massages, etc. If you can get everyone in the house on the same page with a playtime routine, Divot will get the signal that games are set for that time.

[Tracy A.]

I agree that you need to get the message that you play at 'set times' verses 'on demand'. I know it doesn't seem like it, but Cairn's are easy to train and it really only takes a few times for the to 'get it'...if there is something in it for them... well they catch on very quickly... and they adapt to new scheudles ... with some effort.

So get the ear plugs out, a cocktail at hand, and decide when you want the 'fetch' times to be.... then most important... don't give in! once a Cairn knows you'l give in.... well you're doomed!

To help with the transision i would collect up all the toys, then when 'fetch' time comes, get a ball down and play for a 'set amount of time' then put the ball back up.

It will take a few times for the new schedule to click. But once a cairn knows that they can get what they want with a certain behavior...well, they will try it every time.

You might even need to crate Divot if he gets too vocal...or too pushy.... see in his mind you are his 'automatic ball throwing device'.... and now the 'ball device' is no longer going to operation 'on demand'..... good luck.

[tomatosandwich]

Thanks for the great advice. I do think he's spoiled because the kids are always happy to oblige! He is a good fella about not barking about fetching, but the whining is merciless! The paw pats and nose nudges are adorable but never ending. I must be tough, even in the face of cuteness. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

[TazTalk]

It's so easy to spoil a Cairn. What starts out as a simple ball toss turns into a nothing-else-matters fixation on the moving round object. We had learned (maybe from the forum?) to hide the tennis balls in the frig. Because of the tight frig seal - Taz cannot sniff them out. So it becomes out of sight...out of smell ...and out of mind.

[Idaho Cairns]

Bonnie does approximately the same thing--drops the ball at our feet, whines, pushes it with her nose or feet, is insufferably cute all to have the ball tossed for her. It is irritating and if she finds a visitor that is amenable, she will literally scream at them to get them to throw a ball for her. The only way to stop the behavior is a sharp "No!" or "No Play!" which causes her to run into her hideout and sulk--which creates all kinds of guilt. However, it either guilt or constant throwing, fetching, throwing, fetching, throwing, fetching.....!

Don't think for a minute that you aren't being manipulated by these Cairns, they have mastered the art of getting what they want out of humans.

Try using a sharp "no" command, confiscate the ball, and see how it works for you--I know of no other way to get the dog under control in this situation.

[Tuesday]

You've instilled a heavy play drive into Divot. You can use this as a heavy training session to teach him some new commands or tricks. Murphy has a high play drive as well, and we've taken to using tug and fetch as training sessions to teach him "come" as well as enforce the other stuff he knows. This kind of work sizzles their little brains and will wear them out.

Edited to add: Have you thought of fly ball? Agility? These would be good to train him to do with such a high drive that he has?

[tomatosandwich]

Idaho, but how can I scold such a happy, eager little face?!?! I know you're right. It's just so hard!

I like the fridge idea!

Tuesday, I would love to do agility with Divot! I've been waiting to watch the one knee he had trouble with as a young pup. The vet thinks it's going to be fine, but he still tends to be a bit funny with it. We're hoping he gets cleared by the vet at our next visit. Then it will just be a matter of picking the nights I teach around agility nights.

[Luke Bizzy]

Our little female furbaby Gretchen was a ballplayer extraordinaire. She loved it, either on land or on the sea. We would put her life jacket on, give her the ball and she would run down and drop it on our seawall right beside the steps down into the lake. It would roll off into the water and she would jump in, swim to it, grab it and swim back to the steps, climb out and drop it and let it roll off again, over and over until she was exhausted. Boaters cruising by our place would stop and watch her doing her thing. She was amazing.

[tomatosandwich]

Gretchen sounds like Divot's doggy soul mate! One of his favorite games this summer was retrieving golf balls from the bottom of his kiddie pool. I keep hoping he'll get the idea to play fetch by himself by rolling the ball down the steps (I know I read about a Cairn who does that on here!).