My dog(4.5 y.o female Canaan dog) is overly gentle with her toys, when we are outside playing, she would many times run all the way up to the toy and than not grab it, and when she does she grabs it so lightly it falls from her mouth, and when she takes it she will willingly drop after a few feet. She definitely has no jaw/ tooth pain since she chews and tears toys at home, and she shows no difficulty when eating her food. She is very hesitant when she chases or tries to catch her toys, and seems very enthusiastic at first but looses the enthusiasm when she gets to the toy, or some times even half way to it! Additionally when there are other dogs around (even those she knows and definitely isn’t scared of) she will instantly give up on chasing the toy, and let the other dog take it (note that I don’t play with her toy when there are unfamiliar dogs around as she can get into fights for it, I use sticks instead but get basically the same result). She is a very athletic and strong dog(though very mildly over weight, already in the process of taking care of it), and we take very good care of her health, but whenever a game involves biting down on something she doesn’t even try(like tug of war for example) . I’m new to dog training but I am very determined to do the best I can for her in all aspects of her life and willing to put any necessary effort to fix this issue, I want her to play confidently and enjoy, but it almost seems like she is constantly holding back.
My dog is hesitant to play with her toys
- Thread starter sidah
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- dog training
@sidah Hi there, if I was in your position I wouldn't overly worry about this behavior I have seen multiple dogs exhibit this behavior and in my opinion it is not an issue for any pet dog. Some dogs just don't have that drive to chase a ball or play tug.
The only time it could potentially be an issue is if you are training your dog for work or you are intending to train your dog for trials events. If this is the case then there are ways to increase this drive however you have to be aware that you cannot drive into a dog you can only bring out what is there naturally. I have worked with working dog handlers with dogs with low drives in the past and although it is achievable to lift their drive it does require a lot of patience and work on the handlers part.
So taking all that into account what may I ask you are looking to achieve, because depending on what you are looking to achieve depends on the advice or guidance I would suggest. I hope that makes sense and I look forward to reading your response.
The only time it could potentially be an issue is if you are training your dog for work or you are intending to train your dog for trials events. If this is the case then there are ways to increase this drive however you have to be aware that you cannot drive into a dog you can only bring out what is there naturally. I have worked with working dog handlers with dogs with low drives in the past and although it is achievable to lift their drive it does require a lot of patience and work on the handlers part.
So taking all that into account what may I ask you are looking to achieve, because depending on what you are looking to achieve depends on the advice or guidance I would suggest. I hope that makes sense and I look forward to reading your response.
@elie36 Hi thanks for the reply! I’m looking to get her to actually participate in play in general, because the problem isn’t that she doesn’t show interest ,she many times sprints at the ball, but simply doesn’t pick it up, and as I mentioned seems to almost hesitate before actually grabbing it, or even put her jaws around it a few time while it is still on the ground but eventually not pick it up, she has similar behavior when other dogs play fight and she runs(very closely) around the dogs who are play fighting and tries to join in but hesitant to do so, I many times get the feeling it’s a confidence issue and I’m trying my best to find how to best take care of it, and although I am new to dog training I am fully invested and willing to do anything necessary, no matter how slow and tedious the process may be , as I am not in a hurry and I want the healthiest and most playful life for her, I fully understand even a small amount of progress could potentially take weeks and months, but I really have no problem with long processes, I want to help and guide her to get a little out of her shell, as well as to get her to be more excited when we play just the two of us so she can get the exercise she needs when there are no other dogs to get her running at the park, many times I run with her towards the ball which get her going a little more, but I can’t keep it up for too long
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.@sidah Ok awesome.
The first thing I used to do with puppies when I was still training was use sacking on a rope attached to a stick/pole and whip it around and get the dog chasing it, this helps build the chase and the bite/grab and hold behavior in a puppy.
It is a great way to lift drive and improve a dog's bite reaction. All you literally have to do is whip it around on the ground (like you would if you were playing with a cat) and the dog should chase it and try and catch it, have a little game of tug then let her win it and run around with it.
As I said it's a great way to build drive and also good exercise for the puppy.
Ive attached an image similar to the tool I'm talking about (they call it a teaser pole), mine was home made to be fair, it was a long durable pole with thick elastic rope with a sack attached.
If that doesn't work, try winding her up with a toy or ball on a rope so like the "teaser pole method" above do the similar apart from instead of letting her win loads and always get the reward and play you do the opposite to try and build that want for the toy so that when she does get hold of the toy she doesn't want give it up.
I hope that all makes sense any questions don't hesitate to ask.
The first thing I used to do with puppies when I was still training was use sacking on a rope attached to a stick/pole and whip it around and get the dog chasing it, this helps build the chase and the bite/grab and hold behavior in a puppy.
It is a great way to lift drive and improve a dog's bite reaction. All you literally have to do is whip it around on the ground (like you would if you were playing with a cat) and the dog should chase it and try and catch it, have a little game of tug then let her win it and run around with it.
As I said it's a great way to build drive and also good exercise for the puppy.
Ive attached an image similar to the tool I'm talking about (they call it a teaser pole), mine was home made to be fair, it was a long durable pole with thick elastic rope with a sack attached.
If that doesn't work, try winding her up with a toy or ball on a rope so like the "teaser pole method" above do the similar apart from instead of letting her win loads and always get the reward and play you do the opposite to try and build that want for the toy so that when she does get hold of the toy she doesn't want give it up.
I hope that all makes sense any questions don't hesitate to ask.
But like I said above the best way to find out is to increase the intensity of the fun activity to lift the dogs drive. It's a fun playful exercise so you can't do any damage so to speak with this type of overstimulation as long as you don't do it too frequently e.g more than twice a day.