Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

(Sorry for long post, it just kept getting longer and longer!)

I have a 14 month old male Lab named Taxi. He is a joy and has responded very well to training with positive methods. He likes to fetch his tennis balls and we have found it to be an enjoyable game to play. One thing that he has always done, but is now starting to bother me is that he "fast walks" the ball back to me after sprinting on the chase to the ball. Clearly, he seems to enjoy the chase more than the return. He doesn't have any other "lazy dog" symptoms (vet says he checks out fine and he runs during other activities). I think he knows that once the ball has been chased, he can take his time and I will be waiting (as he has trained me to do). I have two tricks that will elicit a return run but they are not translating into a run on "regular" returns. First, if I turn and run myself, he will break into a run, and second, if I point behind me, he knows to run in that direction for the next throw (something we worked out as a separate game a while back). In each case, I praise him when he starts into his trot but I don't think he knows why I am praising and he will go back to the "fast walk" if I do not play either of these tricks. Does anyone have any suggestions for making the inbound as speedy as the outbound?

Many, many, MANY dogs do this. You're right- the chase & catch is much more important than the return. My BC is like that. If you look at it from a dog's point of view & their prey drive (which = survival) catching the "prey" is much more important to their instinct to survive. Once they've caught the "prey" then instinctually that is what they need to do. Once that is accomplished, bringing it back to the "pack" doesn't require the same speed or motivation. They caught it, it's secured, so what's the rush. Personally, I don't mind when my dog brings things back w/ less vigor as long as he brings it back, which he does. Unless you are planning to do obedience competition, it really doesn't matter. One thing you can do is to teach your dog "hurry up" in which he will probably return a bit faster. Glad to explain to you how to do that on list or personally.
Nancy

Thanks for reply Nancy! I think "Hurry-up" may be useful for a few things, so I'd love to hear the process. I use one related "command" with Taxi that I haven't translated to other situations (and not sure I want to or could). We live on the beach and when he is swimming back to me, I pat the top of my head to tell him that he needs to prepare for a wave to catch-up to him (and possibly scare him, but not likely to hurt, we don't play in larger surf). When he sees this, he kicks his paddling up a notch. The command causes him to "hurry-up" but not really in the same way. Seems like there are situations where generalizing commands to multiple situations isn't the best route, so I have been avoiding trying this. Thanks again for any advice and for the explanation - which makes the behavior more understandable.