Woody the ball thief

Woody is now going great with most aspects of socialising and nice behaviours, however we have one little issue with his "theft & total destruction" of balls. If we are out i am having to resort to putting him back on the lead if anyone in the vicinity is playing with a ball-any shape or size/anybodys property. Most dog owners are ok about it however parents enjoying a nice kick about with their son/daughtwer are understandably not quite so happy about it. any tips for what i can try? treats/his own balls have had no impact!

My Scrumps was like that, all I could do was ever put her back on lead. The amount of times I had to appologise to people for burst balls. No amount of distraction/treats/her toys would stop it. I hope she grew out of it (I was only with her till she was about 4). Not much help sorry Xx

No help here either since we have the same problem as well and just put her back on lead. Suki is so bad my wife brings extra toys to replace the broken toys from other peoples dogs. Suki even interuptted a soccer practice on the beach one weekend. If you find a reliable technique please do post it.

the first time it happened to me there was a sunday match going on in the park, proper reffereed match, Scrumps went on the pitch and tried to nab the ball, granted my recall wasn't great cause she was young, and thankfully couldn't get any teeth around it. I was so embarresed

janey wrote: the first time it happened to me there was a sunday match going on in the park, proper reffereed match, Scrumps went on the pitch and tried to nab the ball, granted my recall wasn't great cause she was young, and thankfully couldn't get any teeth around it. I was so embarresed

Sooo she has had mutilpe offenses? Suki is constantly having mishaps. Nothing serious but she does seem to like to get into trouble.

and I can't help.. Jethro has even run onto a footy oval during a game to try to steal the football!!!
... He might be going deaf but he always hears the sound of a footy or a ball being bounced .. so I normally put him straight on his leash !!

OMG, I thought I was alone. We are having so much trouble walking Izzy at the moment.
We get to the end of our street and the kids opposite play out the front and in their drive way with a ball and it's a struggle to turn the corner. Then we get to the park and there's kids playing with balls, loose dogs chasing balls and she has to stay on the lead, meanwhile pulling your shoulder out of it's socket.
Last week I thought we were well and truly past the JRT and his family and all her other friends were appearing from the other corner, so I let her off. She raced towards her doggy friend and suddenly turned tail and headed straight for the JRT with the ball, totally ignoring me and running at least 100m to get to him scooping up the ball in her stride. I was absolutely mortified, thankfully the JRT wasn't like the one we'd had and didn't get his bits in a knot, coz she ran all the way back to me with his ball.

There is something about a staffy and a ball and they think they have the right to kill them

gem wrote:There is something about a staffy and a ball and they think they have the right to kill them

Skibadee used to do this, its all about controlling that moment when they 'zone in' on the ball and run over to burst it. Keep him on a long line lead and practice by getting someone to kick a ball around in the vicinity but not close enough so it distracts all his attention. Then get something really yummy (cooked sausages or liver treats) and do a little bit of training, sits stays and recalls things like that. Loads of praise when he is listening, also teach a leave command with something really tasty when he waits. I found getting Skibadee her own ball and distracting her with it and high pitched sounds when she was about to strike really helped too. The leave command is the most important bit of this training though, once you've got that down to a tee your sorted. Its getting their attention on you at that crucial moment, a long lead will help no end!

thanks LC may have to give this a try!