So we’ve published many posts boasting about how to take care of your dogs and make them happy, train them and travel with them. All in all we like to think that our dogs are happy and love us very much and that we are tending to all of their needs, including discipline and exercise. Yet, like in any other family or in this case “pack” even though one tries to strive for perfection, it seems to be elusive at best and we find that there is always room for improvement in certain areas. For Balam, that area is “the game of fetch”.
It was a beautiful sunday at the off leash park in the Texan capital, and even though the winter sun was blessing us with it’s dainty fingers there were only a few people out with their infallible companions. We had our regular daily walk after which we let our three giant beasts loose to do their usual, innocent mischief, always diligent not to lose us from their sight, always ready to come on cue. That is until…
An exquisitely well trained Belgian Shepherd arrived to play fetch with it’s master, doing all sorts of tricks and pirouettes in the process. We know that Balam loves a good game of fetch but it had been a while since someone else that wasn’t us played fetch in front of him, so we expected him to run after the ball for a bit and then come back to us with his typical “did you see what I just did mommy?” face. Well, that didn’t happen.
He got this look on his face that wasn’t his usual happy face, it was more exhilarated, ecstatic, frantic, absolutely mesmerised by the ball and he would not stop chasing after it, nor respond to any of our commands. We had to strap on his leash and even then he would cry and bark without ever losing sight of the ball. We tried distracting him by taking him for a walk and he would walk while staring at it until it was completely out of sight.
It was a bit bewildering to be honest and we were set on fixing it as soon as possible. We were not going to sit idly waiting to find him in a back alley selling himself in exchange for a good game of fetch.
So we read some good articles about what this is and why it happens, including quite a helpful one by Cesar Milan since we are huge fans. He is showing sings of obsessive behaviour, that can be caused by several reasons, including lack of exercise, frustration, some sort of trauma, lack of mental stimulation, or a desire to be challenged more often and in more complex ways. Most articles seemed to agree on one thing, and that is exercise. Our dogs do a huge amount of physical activities, from agility to frisbee to just chasing each other, but then again they are working dogs, bred specifically to endure long hours and harsh conditions, so what might seem like a lot of exercise to us for them is a walk in the park (no pun intended).
Another important change we made was to establish a routine. This gives the dog stability and reduces levels of anxiousness and/or frustration.
We are also working with a set of specific activities to teach him self control and make him more calm around objects that entice him. For example making him look us in the eye instead of towards the ball before we play fetch. Leaving him in “sit” and not allowing him to move from that position while we play fetch with our other dogs Cora and Tau. We then reward him for not moving by throwing him the ball. We sometimes throw the ball and tell him to leave it not letting him touch it.
Making eye contact before throwing the ball
It seems like it is getting better but we still have a long way to go. Therefore we would really appreciate if anyone who’s had the same experience or who knows about this subject could help us out with some advice on how to snap him out of it. We would very sincerely love to hear from you!
El Dogerino 