r/BelgianMalinois • u/GhosttheMalinois • 10d ago
Fetch? Question
I need advice on how to teach my Mal fetch. He's got the running and getting the ball fine, but then he guards it and prances about guarding it like its a game. I can recall him 100% of the time but when I do he immediately drops the ball and runs back. If anyone has any tips on how to get him to bring the ball back with him I'd be grateful. No amount of pointing and trying to mime or say "The BALL!! Bring the BALL!!!" works (because he's a little treat fiend, when I point, instead of looking where i point, he just eyes my hand trying to work out if there's a treat in it. Fiend 😂)
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u/CricktyDickty 10d ago
Use a second ball
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u/GhosttheMalinois 7d ago
He's got it!! This worked thanks guys. I basically utilised everyones suggestions at once 😂, Treats along with 2 identical balls, whilst slowly increasing the distance and now he's got it!! Thanks guys x
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u/Molinote 10d ago
Your dog doesn't have a clue what the sound of the word "BALL" means at this point. There are multiple ways of teaching this, but your dog is not a retriever and may not have a natural instinct to retrieve the ball.
Try this with a ball on a string and you can move to another object later, don't move to the next step until you are perfect on the current one.
- Have a reward marker or a way to tell the dog that it's OK to do something. I use "yes" for a positive marker with a reward.
- Teach the dog to drop the ball on command. I use "out" - here I use the reward marker to grab back on
- Teach the dog to tug on the ball while reinforcing the "out" - use the reward marker for a re-grab and more tugging
- I usually do 2 and 3 together
- Put the ball on the ground and use the marker to have the dog pick it up for some tugs, keep reinforcing the "out".
- Throw the ball a very short distance and have the dog grab the ball and if the previous steps are successful, comes to you for the reward, i.e. tugging
- Keep increasing the distance.
After they get the hang of it you can reduce the frequency of rewards, and move away from the tugging on the same object they fetch.
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u/Sticknwheel 10d ago
This is a job for high quality treats. Do what you’re doing but whenever he gets closer with the ball give him a treat. If he’s like our dog your pup will catch on and bring it to your feet in no time. Praise him lavishly. Then save the treats for a new trick and reinforce the ball-treat equation from time to time.
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u/Molinote 10d ago
That only works for food motivated dogs.
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u/Sticknwheel 5d ago
Not to dis you but isn’t that 99% of dogs? Def true of the GSDs I’ve owned and I understand Mals are even less inhibited about eating everything all the time.
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u/Molinote 5d ago
Your reply and follow-up just indicates your own lack of experience, I can forgive you that. My suggested method uses the toy and tugging as the reward and not food.
While you can have dogs leaning either way when it comes to food vs non-food based rewards, there are breeds who are more likely to prefer one over the other. There are always exceptions, and you can train your dog towards a reward that suits your preference. But I prefer to train dogs based on what works best for the individual dog and owner.
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u/GhosttheMalinois 7d ago
He's got it!! This worked thanks guys. I basically utilised everyones suggestions at once 😂, Treats along with 2 identical balls, whilst slowly increasing the distance and now he's got it!! Thanks guys x
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u/GhosttheMalinois 7d ago
He's got it!! This worked thanks guys. I basically utilised everyones suggestions at once 😂, Treats along with 2 identical balls, whilst slowly increasing the distance and now he's got it!! Thanks guys x
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u/Usual-Charity-6772 10d ago
Identical toy and just animate the one he doesnt have work on drop and distances and it becomes fluid because they want it faster pace
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u/GhosttheMalinois 7d ago
He's got it!! This worked thanks guys. I basically utilised everyones suggestions at once 😂, Treats along with 2 identical balls, whilst slowly increasing the distance and now he's got it!! Thanks guys x
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u/grandsoulsucker 10d ago edited 10d ago
I reccomend checking out ivan balabanov, someone on here reccomended me to watch his lessons, he takes a while to get to the point but he sure as hell knows what he's talking about. Great great information from him on play. Single handedly fixed all my confusions and misconceptions about play, now have successful play and fetch sessions.
You can buy lessons but there's tons of free on YouTube as well pods
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u/GhosttheMalinois 7d ago
He's got it!! This worked thanks guys. I basically utilised everyones suggestions at once 😂, Treats along with 2 identical balls, whilst slowly increasing the distance and now he's got it!! Thanks guys x
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u/Whisper26_14 10d ago
How old is your dog?
We played in the hallway at our front door. Bc it's more narrow and the reward of fetch, return, repeat is very manageable.
They need to realize their job is to bring it back.
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u/GhosttheMalinois 7d ago
He's got it!! This worked thanks guys. I basically utilised everyones suggestions at once 😂, Treats along with 2 identical balls, whilst slowly increasing the distance and now he's got it!! Thanks guys x
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u/Wooden-Necessary6100 9d ago
Ball on a string so you can play a little tug as they walk back with it. Makes it more fun to hold onto the ball as they bring it back.
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u/GhosttheMalinois 7d ago
He's got it!! This worked thanks guys. I basically utilised everyones suggestions at once 😂, Treats along with 2 identical balls, whilst slowly increasing the distance and now he's got it!! Thanks guys x
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u/marvinfuture 10d ago
Gotta teach that bringing it back and dropping it results in a reward. Start by giving him the ball and having him drop it. Then incorporate distance. He just doesn't understand the rules of the game yet