Stobie loves playing with balls. Adores it so much it’s sometimes a toss up between food and a ball. Favourite toy of all time is his squeaky beetroot but other than that a ball always wins. A tennis ball or part thereof. The part can be limited to a half,abandoned by another dog in the gorse,or even just a small piece of the fabric. It honestly doesn’t matter to him and he will climb into,through and out of the top of gorse bushes and brambles just to get that fragment or complete ball. These are carried proudly like the crown jewels throughout the remainder of the walk. Placed on the ground whilst rummaging,backtrack to the safe deposit,collected ready to continue. I cannot deny the pleasure when the scraggy,mouldy,90% dead ball/parts are abandoned in favour of a new smart ball but very often this is not the case and he carries the scraggy balls or parts all the way home.
Stobie keeping an eye on the ball
So how to apply this to agility training. Treats are fine but I am rather fond of my fingers. So surely it would be easy to substitute treats for a ball? Motivation improved. Finger nipping improved. Obsession with ball improved. Sneaking ball from my pocket improved. However in all honesty this was working well at training. After he learnt that snapping for the ball wasn’t on and he had to actually work for it,things progressed better still. More practice was needed to ensure he only grabbed the ball at the end of the run but I wasn’t particularly concerned. So this seemed to be the way to stop him getting all withdrawn in the queues and keep him excited and eager to go.
Unfortunately,all the hard work didn’t last. I took his favourite pink ball with us to a competition thinking this would be wonderful and he’d be really focussed. Yes he was energised and bouncing sky high,but this was at and for any ball. Every dog,tiny to extra large,had a ball or at least it seemed that way. Owners throwing the balls this way and that,meanwhile I’m left hanging onto a lead desperately attempting to avoid being pulled over and regain Stobie’s attention. Queuing for his run he tried to knick several other balls. That was the end of using the ball as a motivator.
Back to just playing with him with no toy. Still not really working but I figured that using the ball was just a really bad idea. Cathy was adamant that he could be taught to play and with something other than a ball. I was adamant that he couldn’t. I had taken tuggers,balls on ropes,fluffy toys and other random things to training and he really appeared to not be interested at all. Out on a walk,again the only thing he was interested in was a ball. Once in a while he would play with a stick or get excited about some random abandoned toy that he had found. That was the point though,he had found the toy. It wasn’t officially his so therefore it was good to play with. The more unusual finds were taken home,but most were dropped at the bridleway gate.
Stobie with ball
Whatever happened I really had to do something. He loves his agility but I hate to see him shrink back into himself when faced with queues and over-exuberant dogs and handlers waiting for their run. A subject that I’ve discussed with Cathy many times but finally it seemed I should give the “agility only”another chance. What to get? Not a ball. Not a really large toy either. I wanted something distinctive and that could be stuffed in a pocket. Easily identifiable by Stobie as his and something he’d do anything to play with.
Still stating that he’d not look at anything but a ball I swallowed my doubts and tried to look for something that might meet the requirements. Southdowns DTC competition provided the answer. One of the stalls was selling small tuggers. Pink &purple felt,small enough to fit in a pocket. I reasoned that it wasn’t expensive and could easily be given to Tyke,our other Springer,if Stobie hated it.
Tugger in hand I went back to sit with the group. Stobie flaked out on the ground beside me,likely wishing for a cool shower to cool him down in the heat. So what did I do? Grabbed said pink/purple lurid fluffy item and kept stuffing it at his muzzle. OK,somewhat more playfully than that but I highly suspect he was inwardly grimacing at my attempts to tempt him to play with it. That said the second he voluntarily opened his jaws a tad and grazed the fleece with his lips he got a huge amount of praise and hugs. Yes I felt a prat,yes I’m sure I looked like a prat rolling around on the grass trying desperately to persuade him to play with the tugger.
I suppose I must have spent about 30mins or so rolling around and cavorting with Stobie. By the end he was grabbing for the tugger and pulling me over. For now job accomplished. The tugger was hidden until Monday night’s training.
Monday I was very dubious. At the end of a day of competition,after 30mins of stuffing it at his muzzle we’d ended up with voluntary play. I was convinced that would be that. Tugger in hand I tried tossing it around and attracting his attention. I was stunned when he responded and we had a full on tugging session. He ran the weaves faster if I trailed it just over his head but out of reach. He’d run anything faster to be honest (shame he missed the contacts!!).
So now it is a permanent fixture of our training. I’m really hoping that next year I can use this at competition as his motivator. That’s still a few months off so I have a little more time to work on his training. I know I can be stubborn (as can Stobie!) but this time round I really should have believed in Cathy! That said I already should have realised as Cathy helped me teach Tyke how to play…..