Any ideas about how to stop my naughty Labrador stealing others dogs balls?

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Hi our Labrador is nearly 7 months old and is generally a big loving puppy who we all adore.

However all his training, recall, and general manners go completely out the window when he sees another dog with a ball.

He races over and steals the ball. This then initiates his favourite game of being chased by another dog.

He knows the command 'Drop it' perfectly at home and all other situations. He listens but ignores it when he has a stolen ball.

I have tried showing him treats in my hand to persuade him to come to me when he has the ball, but he just looks at them as if he is weighing up whether the treat is better than being chased and he always picks being chased.
I don't want to keep him on a lead at all times as he needs to have fun and exercise, and he doesn't bother other people, just other dogs with balls.
It has taken ages to get a ball back at times.

Have any of you had any experience of this? I would love some advice! Thank you in anticipation. I've attached a photo as he is really a lovely boy.

Totally agree with @PollyRoulson ( which is a rarity 😀) , dogs can have a perfectly lovely existence without playing with other dogs , mine has never played , a quick sniff and move on is great . Also my dog would always choose a ball over any food , he is ball obsessed , although surprisingly he would never take someone else’s ball if they were playing with it , I must have trained him much better than I thought I had .

@Floralnomad

Totally agree with *@PollyRoulson* ( which is a rarity 😀) , dogs can have a perfectly lovely existence without playing with other dogs , mine has never played , a quick sniff and move on is great . Also my dog would always choose a ball over any food , he is ball obsessed , although surprisingly he would never take someone else’s ball if they were playing with it , I must have trained him much better than I thought I had .

Thank you for all the advice. I will definitely be doing more proximity games with him. I'm glad that when he gets to two he may lose interest!

He's only seen bubbles once and he tried to eat them

What a handsome lad!

I think, as others have said, you need to make yourself as interesting as possible to him, ie, as Polly said, proximity games. I personally can’t stand the in-your-face video/teaching style, but the Sexier than a Squirrel/Leash off Game On/Absolute Dogs training focuses on this and gets good reviews.

I would also whistle train for a conditioned recall. If you do that well, he should turn and recall before his brain has even had chance to compute the Mum vs ball conundrum. I use Pippa Mattinson’s book Total Recall and my Lurchers would recall even mid-chase. (One of them was a ball thief when he was younger as well - before we whistle trained.) If he loves balls that much, you can use one as a reward his very best/fastest recalls.

Follow the whistle training plan, then book a regular slot at a secure field and build up to recalling while someone you take with you is playing with a ball at a distance or even better, playing ball with another dog.

A huge study has shown that once dogs are over 2 years 98% of them do not want to play with dogs they do not know. Most choose or try to avoid interaction with unknown dogs bounding over to them.

That's interesting @PollyRoulson but not my experience with the dogs I've had (13 over 30+ yr) I'd say more than 75% of mine would always respond playfully to any dog who initiated play. I've got three atm, an oldie who doesn't play with strange dogs, but who is very happy to greet them when they bound over (so long as they are not uneutered males!- he is on lead because he's reactive to them). A 2.5yr old who is a play initiator and a 4yr old who will happily play with new friendly dogs.

I moved to a new area (same town) in January and have new dog walking routes - so it's been 90% new dogs we've been meeting. Yes, they do love it when they recognise an old friend but they've been open to making new ones. Only yesterday my two youngsters met, and played with, a very nice collie they'd never met before. Lots of play bows and face licking.

I'd be interested in a link to the study if you have one - I'm wondering whether dogs in multi dog households, who are habituated to playing with each other, might retain more playful ways than single dogs who only have humans to interact with?🤔.

My ddog always did this so I bought loads of tennis balls and when she nicked one I gave the other owner a brand new tennis ball, didn't work obviously if it was anything other than a tennis ball but most were and therefore ddog didn't get chased when she picked up another dogs ball which then took away the thrill of being chased. She's still a bugger for it, but if i start shouting NO soon enough then she doesn't bother.

It's good your looking for solutions but I have a ball obsessed dog and wouldn't mind at all her having to chase to get her ball back. She enjoys it.
However I do need it back as she only likes certain balls that I have to order online as they don't have them in the shop anymore!

He’s a baby and, ime, lab puppies/adolescents do this. Sometimes other dog’s balls are just too tempting. Mine went through a really bad stage from about 8mo to 15months, now he does it rarely but still doesn’t give it up easily when he does get hold of ‘treasure’. Nothing is of higher value than a stolen ball for him when he’s in the mood, no amount of smelly treats, squeaky toys or whatever. We used to prevent it as far as possible by avoiding dogs with toys, using the lead and occasionally being that person who shouts ‘please don’t throw your ball!’ in a panicked voice then hastily explaining that my dog is a thief, as we get closer. As I say, he’s largely grown out of it now and we’ve found a ball type that he loves, so he’s much more focused on his own toy than others’.

As others have said. Take a ball out with you and at home teach a ball swap game.
There is nothing as valuable as a ball in our house. The only thing that we got close to getting him to drop one was a cheese straw and even that I think he felt was a mistake not to be made in the future.