Been trying to train Nikki how to fetch, and she's real good at the "run really fast towards the ball and try to nab it in your mouth then wipe out because you have no coordination" part of it, and she does eventually grab it, but sometimes she'll just grab it and then see a stick or something and chew on that. Or just drop the ball and go off wandering else where.
If I play with the stick instead (since she obviously likes it better than the ball) she'll follow the same fetch routine, but she just stops and chews on the stick.
Other times, she does well at coming back to you, but the problem is she over shoots you instead of stopping in front, so it's hard to reward her at the right time because she just keeps going. Also if you reward her too soon, she drops the ball too early and goes after the treat instead. You can tell she knows that the 'click' is a good thing but she loses all interest in what she's doing once she hears it, because it's like "I've done my job, you've rewarded me, let's see the treats or move onto something else".
So I'm at a loss. I've never been good at training dogs to fetch (most of them never had the drive to even go get the ball, and Leo [the only one who would actually fetch after the ball] just grabs the ball then runs and hides it) and don't know how to even begin with the next part of it.
If I play with the stick instead (since she obviously likes it better than the ball) she'll follow the same fetch routine, but she just stops and chews on the stick.
Other times, she does well at coming back to you, but the problem is she over shoots you instead of stopping in front, so it's hard to reward her at the right time because she just keeps going. Also if you reward her too soon, she drops the ball too early and goes after the treat instead. You can tell she knows that the 'click' is a good thing but she loses all interest in what she's doing once she hears it, because it's like "I've done my job, you've rewarded me, let's see the treats or move onto something else".
So I'm at a loss. I've never been good at training dogs to fetch (most of them never had the drive to even go get the ball, and Leo [the only one who would actually fetch after the ball] just grabs the ball then runs and hides it) and don't know how to even begin with the next part of it.