[For Want of Poodle]

Annie is a obsessed with fetch. At 8 months, I couldnt get her to fetch at all, and then I watched a few Bill Hillman videos, and pretty much overnight, had a retrieving fiend. She LOVES her kong squeaker balls.

How do you end games? I usually end games if a) she stops retrieving, no chasing after the dog here, when she drops it, the ball goes in my pocket, or b) the ball rolls under the couch for the third time, and then it gets put away.

How do you end fetch games?

 

[PeggyTheParti]

If she stops bringing it back, game over. We just walk away.

If she's still going strong, but the humans are over it, we'll enthusiastically say "In!" and then race inside for a treat.

 

[vandog]

If she doesn’t bring it back or actually chase after it, game is automatically over. She gets bored sometimes and will go and change the toy (ie chuck it soccer ball, frisbee, west paw stick, chuck it rubber ball) but if she doesn’t put the old toy away, game over.

If I’m done, I tell her “all done” and she’ll run up to the back door and drop the toy in the basket outside by the back door and wait for a treat + and paws to be cleaned.

 

[Johanna]

Zoe would play fetch until she dropped from exhaustion - that that takes hours! When I have had enough, I put the ball in its "home" - a bowl on one of the kitchen counters. Zoe knows where the balls are stored and will lead me to them when she wants to play ball! I also have an IFetch machine. I am anxiously waiting for the day when Zoe drops the ball in it instead of bringing it to me!.

 

[For Want of Poodle]

Hmm... thank you. This is the first dog I have ever had that will play fetch, so am still learning the "rules" of the game as a human to keep her wanting to play fetch and still wanting to bring it back to me (she drops it in my hand usually).

And yes, especially indoors, Annie would cheerfully play fetch for hours if I let her, hence the "if it goes under the couch again and I have to fish it out, it's being put away" rule. If I lie down on the floor in exhaustion, she retrieves the ball, drops it on top me, lets it roll off of me, chases it, and repeats... Balls are stored when I don't want to play on the top shelf of a closed cupboard. I trust her not to counter surf for food or treats but her beloved ball might be too much of a temptation.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

My parents had a shih tzu and a schnauzer that would sit and stare at wherever the toys had been put away. Like, for hours. The schnauzer would do the most annoying thing:

Yip.


Yip.




Yip.

I don't put Peggy's balls away because she'll play with them on her own sometimes. The frisbees, however, get put in the garage. And when they come out again, my husband makes it look like they're appearing out of thin air. She's obsessed with those things.

 

[Tierna]

Beau loves to play fetch, but he's a low/moderate energy puppy. So I leave his ball out all the time, and when he wants to play he'll go get it and bring it to one of us. Then we'll play for maybe 10-15 mins tops, and he'll just stop retrieving/flop down on the floor. He'll rest for a little while, and then the game will usually start over again. Some days we'll have as many as 6-7 games of fetch, but most days 4-5 games. I did have quite the time though finding a ball that he couldn't destroy/lose under furniture, thank goodness I found the Hartz Dura Play ball it's his new favorite toy.

 

[Vee]

I don’t let the game get to the point where the dog doesn’t bring back the ball, if she shows signs of tiring or losing interest i end it. When I end fetch i say ‘good girl’, give her the ball, then say ‘all done’ and she carries it around, I like to think of it as her prize and they way she struts around she does too 😆 I pick the ball up when she’s done, I never leave the ball down, she will pester everyone to throw it all the time and I like to use it as good bonding activity, so it’s much more exciting when she hasn’t seen it for a few days

 

[Mufar42]

Renn is very good now when we play fetch in the yard. I can tell pretty much when he is slowing down as he will look to go lie down and play by himself rather than run to me. So I call him over toss it again, recall him, give it to me. Then I say ok that it for now. I put the ball up and call him over, leash him up and I take him for a short potty walk in the yard. I then unleash him and say ok lets go in the house and now he does and anticipates getting a treat when he comes in. It took us a long time to get to this point but its been going well.

 

[Vita]

I've been playing this daily, often twice a day and on my bathroom breaks when they'll bring a ball or toy to me. They figure if I'm sitting there doing "nothing", I should be tossing the ball. 😆

Fetch always occurs inside my apartment since they're "indoor poodles". (Don't judge, they use potty pads and have never had fleas! 😁 ) While sitting at my computer, I've learned to do the overhand toss behind me while I read the news or watching a movie.

Sachii, my white toy poodle male is OBSESSED with it. My daughter once kept them for an overnight and played it for well over an hour, saying "I started to worry he might have a heart attack, he was clearly tired but wouldn't stop!"

How to stop? Guilt-free! I simply put the ball or toy away. He still whines usually for a few minutes, but sometimes for up to 10 or 15 minutes, but when it's over, it's over.