Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site and I hope you can help me out. Last night a wonderful Lab/Mix dog moved into our home. We rescued her from a local organization. She is 1 year and 2 months old, is very smart and knows all her basic commands. I've taken her for successful leash walks and two great runs today. She responds really well to my commands and is eager to please. On my second run with her, I stopped at this big clearing in the woods and put her on the retractable leash in order to play fetch with her. I brought along a ball and a frisbee but she was absolutely not interested at all. Not a bit. I have two sons who are desperate to play fetch with her and it will break their hearts if they can't. Is there some technique I could use to get her interested in fetch/retrieving? We don't know what she's mixed with but she looks like a small black Lab (ca 45lbs) and has the personality of a Lab so I'm puzzled as to why she was not at all interested in retrieving. Could I have been doing something wrong. She was on a gentle lead. Could that discourage her from playing fetch? Am I asking too much too soon? Please help.
Thanks in advance for all your advice,
Joana
I'm new to this site and I hope you can help me out. Last night a wonderful Lab/Mix dog moved into our home. We rescued her from a local organization. She is 1 year and 2 months old, is very smart and knows all her basic commands. I've taken her for successful leash walks and two great runs today. She responds really well to my commands and is eager to please. On my second run with her, I stopped at this big clearing in the woods and put her on the retractable leash in order to play fetch with her. I brought along a ball and a frisbee but she was absolutely not interested at all. Not a bit. I have two sons who are desperate to play fetch with her and it will break their hearts if they can't. Is there some technique I could use to get her interested in fetch/retrieving? We don't know what she's mixed with but she looks like a small black Lab (ca 45lbs) and has the personality of a Lab so I'm puzzled as to why she was not at all interested in retrieving. Could I have been doing something wrong. She was on a gentle lead. Could that discourage her from playing fetch? Am I asking too much too soon? Please help.
Thanks in advance for all your advice,
Joana