Teaching a dog how to play Fetch may not be that easy, but it is defiantly a fun thing to do with your pet. In the game of fetch your dog will pick up the Ball, chase the ball, hold the ball in its mouth, run back to you, and then drop the ball. There are many books and magazines out there that have instructions on how to teach your pet to play fetch, but I have a very easy way that will make it easy for you and will help your dog enjoy playing with toys.
The first thing you need to teach your dog is how to drop the ball when he is told to. If your dog doesn’t know how to drop the ball, then you will need to teach it. If your dog already knows how to drop the ball, then you can move on to the next step.
You need to make sure that your dog is having a good time, so don’t get upset if your dog doesn’t do this the correct way the first time. You should get the dog running back and forth by you before you teach him to bring back the ball and drop it. The best way to begin teaching fetch is by doing it inside the house, and then moving outside to either your backyard or a local park.
When teaching fetch, you should have 2 or more identical balls or fetch toys. If they are not identical, that is fine. You should begin by teaching the dog to get the toy. Throw the ball or fetch toy a few feet in front of you or you can roll it if you are inside. You can either say “get it” or “go fetch; it is completely up to you which one you use.
When teaching to bring the toy back, you should say “bring” or any other word that you think would get the dog to return the ball to you. Remember to not throw the ball far away, and remember to pause after giving your dog the directions. If he picks up the ball and brings it back to you then that is great, you should have a treat for him when he gets back!
But if he grabs the ball and runs somewhere else, that is completely fine because the dog is still learning. You can start acting excited and move away because dogs are attracted to movement. When he gets back with the ball, do not grab it out of his mouth! Just throw the second one and repeat what you did the first time. If the ball that you are using squeaks, you can squeak it before you throw it so it gets the dogs attention.
