Stimulating games for my Collie X

[TrickyBiscuits]

Hello everyone,
I adopted a Collie X puppy about 15 months ago, quite a sad start so wasn’t sure how she might be but she’s been amazing

She’s 18 months now and walked for at least 2 or 3 hours a day, we live very rurally so she’s able to meander around outside most of the day too. She’s very well behaved and calm with an easy temperament so I think she’s tired out enough on a daily basis (collapses with (on!) me every evening).

My worry though is that she seems so bright I’m starting to think that she might not be getting enough ‘mental’ stimulation. The reason for this is she’s recently become almost obsessed with her ball, she just wants it thrown for her all day, now has it everywhere with her, and it dominates everything. She’s not even that keen on walks if we don’t have it with us.

Of course I took her to puppy classes, she’s now well trained and always capable and eager to be learning new tricks. That bit’s fine. I wanted to take her to agility classes but obviously that’s been delayed for now.

Really I’m asking for any new games that might excite her. I’ve tried a snuffle blanket, hiding treats under cups etc, but she’s just not that interested. She’s quite likes hide and seek with us but nothing can compete with the ball for long.

Is this just a young dog phase (she seems content enough!) or should I be doing more? If so, what?

TIA

Maybe a job working from home??
Sorry op!!
Yabu not to post lovely ddog pictures!!

That’s brilliant! 😆

Hopefully photo of ddog attached...

Link the ball to something else?

e.g. find the ball first, THEN have it thrown

Moving on to...

Find something else first (e.g. a dropped glove) and the ball is the reward.

Maybe a flirt pole? It's still has that chase-me movement a ball has but isn't a ball.

Maybe a clear signal that ball time is over. e.g. five mins of ball time at the start of a walk but then it goes in a pocket and does not come out again on the walk.

My collie is 6 now and is still ball obsessed. I think it is completely normal.

The ball worked for training much better than treats.
But you can play hide and seek with the ball. Hide it and have pooch find it. Use a smaller ball that fits into your hand and have them guess which hand it is in.
Get a ball that you can put treats in so pooch has to try and get them out.

If there is no ball in sight, my dog will accept alternative toys. They must be treat the same as balls though, so chucking so he can catch it or fetch it.

"No more play" is what I say when it's no longer play time. It took a quite but he finally accepted that I was not playing with the ball anymore for a bit and he will sleep.

Thanks, SirSniffsAlot - I’d completely forgotten about flirt poles... I remember hearing about them ages ago but she was too young at the time. I’m absolutely going to try that!

I do connect the ball to another game or task / use it as a reward but I guess I’ve been wanting to divert entirely. Maybe I need to be a bit clearer / firmer with how I approach it. She’s such a good girl and I feel a bit sorry for her when she loves it so much 😳

What is a flirt pole? (too scared to google it as I have a feeling the answers won't have anything to do with dogs!)

We have a Nerf ball launcher... Successfully exited the house via a back window. Ddog had the sense not to follow..
Unlike the ds who fired it. No sense..

Thank you, TheChip, some great ideas and glad to hear being ball mad is normal!

Ddog will also treat her toys in a ball like way. Ideally she’d like to play rough tug games with them but I was told not to as it teaches too much dominance. I’m not sure if that’s right or not though.

My collie's favourite game is trying to get her tennis balls out of a muffin tin. She'll also drop them back in so she can keep playing.

As a dc a collie cross was my furry sibling. She loved my paddling pool and stood in her back legs and jumped a skipping rope with me. She lived til we were both nearly 21..
I named my business after her.. Never forgotten.

I am no expert at all but I'm trying to mentally stimulate my pup (whilst buying myself time each day) by feeding him in as many different ways as possible. We never use a bowl, we have a snuffle mat, puzzle maze, fill a box with kibble and then bury it in all his toys (some people do this with cardboard but mine would just eat it) or I fill a water bottle or milk bottle or plastic jar with his kibble, either with the lid off or with lid screwed tight and holes drilled in the sides, or rolled up kibble in a towel. Also I put kibble in a Muffin tray and then put a ball or toy on top so he has to move them round to get the food. All these can be done as games instead of meals. Also recently tried blowing bubbles and he chased them around trying to eat them.

Op she's gorgeous, very like the girl I had growing up.
I've got 3 yr old jrt with collie thrown in, it's incessant but she's very intelligent.

Obsessed with fetch things, does yours like to fetch the other toys she has?
I took the ball off mine 2 years ago in the house. Hid it, obviously with her not in the room as she'd know.

I've repeated the names of every you she has each time she gets one.and she loves to fetch and find them by name. We're up to about 20 toys now. I hide them around the house 😂.

Collie types love a job don't they.

Thanks for all the great ideas, everyone 😊

She’s generally not very good motivated (unless it belongs to the cats!) but I might start having another go with those type of games.

Bubble blowing is a great idea! And finding toys by name- that should be quite a mental exercise- I’d never have thought of it! I’ll try the muffin tin too.

Yep, collie’s always love a job! I think she’d have been a great little sheep dog given the chance.

food motivated

thesunwillout... I’ve don’t think I’ve ever come across a JRT collie cross... that’s a great mix!

Have you tried some of the absolute dogs games? I do them with my retriever pup
Keeps him busy. We don’t bowl feed anymore either. I have some DVD’s my mum gave me. We have great fun with them

@TrickyBiscuits

Thank you, TheChip, some great ideas and glad to hear being ball mad is normal!

Ddog will also treat her toys in a ball like way. Ideally she’d like to play rough tug games with them but I was told not to as it teaches too much dominance. I’m not sure if that’s right or not though.

Tugging is fun - dogs love it. No reason for it to establish a dominant streak - especially if the dog doesn't win! Or is it you that you are worried about becoming dominant?

My collie knows the names of literally hundreds of toys. As a result we also have "housework" - bring, tidy up, toys in boxes. Before bed he has to go round the house and collect all toys and put them away. Largely so that I have a chance of not breaking my neck falling over them the next morning.

He also likes Nina Ottosson puzzles. And flying disks.