Can a dog become too obsessed with fetch?

[CrumpetswithMarmite]

I have a 6 month old Puppy and he LOVES playing fetch. If he finds a ball he will drop it at our feet and happily play non-stop until we tire/we think he's getting too tired! He never has any issues with guarding and is always happy to drop the ball to play again.

Sometimes he gets really excited about us throwing the ball in an anticipation and almost verge on frustration that we are not throwing the ball fast enough! We don't reward that behaviour and will stop playing if he does that.

It crossed my mind, can his love for fetch become too obsessive or become a problem? Does this ever happen?? I've heard of dogs being very possessive of balls but he doesn't have that. He just wants the game.

He loves fetch so much we use it as the reward during training rather than treats. He'll do anything for it!

Our collie loves a ball (what collie doesn't? ) She would chase after a ball ALL DAY if we let her. Sadly we can't throw it for her anymore as she is old and doddery and has a dodgy hip. Although I honestly believe she would chase a ball to death.. literally! She is definitely obsessive with a ball and I have been conscious not to encourage this behaviour over the years.
As your pup is young I would be mindful of injuries too.
Could you do some other games with the ball? I.e hide and seek or sit and wait for whilst the ball is thrown and then released on command - this will help to avoid injury from sudden change of direction.
Hope that helps

Yes I have a Labrador like this. I have to ration his ball games, 15-20 mins per day. He goes full throttle after every ball so if I did more than that he'll be crippled in old age.

Yes, they absolutely can.

Ball throwing for puppies is also not a good idea in general as they can do some serious damage to their joints - all that twisting, turning, leaping in the air and sudden stops isn't good for them at all. Even in older dogs it should be limited to short periods and only ever once the dog is "warmed up".

If he loves the ball, hide it and get him to find it instead, or do water play so he has to swim for it so the risk of damaging on his joints is greatly reduced.

Yes mine would collapse before stopping.

We limit ball play and now he has a bad back he only gets it rolled to him to catch rather than run.

Our lab was obsessed with the ball. Literally obsessed! We would limit fetch as it was tiring and because we wanted to limit stress on his joints.
Current dog is also pretty ball obsessed. We limit fetch style walks to once a week. The rest of his walks are sniffy walks where we couldn't play fetch even if we wanted too. This is mainly to prevent joint damage/stress

Yes definitely. Dogs can become so ball obsessed that they can't focus on anything else, it can be highly addictive.
Too much ball throwing raises their cortisol levels snd leaves them stressed ( even though they appear to enjoy it)
Walks are no longer enjoyable as they don't stop and sniff or run around because they are glued to you waiting for the ball to be thrown.

I'd be really, really concerned about his joints - fetch is very stressful on their bodies (and minds) and 6 months is just a young puppy.

Yes same with my lab... she knows the command
Leave it that's enough now

And she'll leave the ball alone and go do something else

My dog used to turn feral with balls, he'd go from a lovely cuddly boy into a drooling snarling devil. I banned balls a few years ago.

Mine is a bit too obsessed - I've been woken up by him dropping a ball on my face because he wants a game of fetch FFS

I no longer take balls outside, because if he has one he no longer bothers to sniff things, chase squirrels, greet dogs or otherwise do doggy things - it's all about the ball. Complete tunnel vision.

We still play fetch indoors, and it's great if he needs to make friends with a new human (not something that comes to him easily!) as fetch is the best thing ever to him.

But yes, dogs absolutely can become too fixated.

I do a lot of retrieving with one of my dogs, and she gets obsessive very fast.

So we mix it up. She sits and waits while I chuck out two or three canvas dummies, and I then I direct her to fetch one of them, then another. I'll send her for one, stop her, redirect her. These are all what are called seen retrieves.

We also do 'blind retrieves'. I'll sit her on the edge of the woods, go into the trees, put out a few out of her sight, and send her out for them. Or I'll go over the lip of a hill out of her sight, and chuck a dummy over a fence or ditch, call her in, and send her for it.

Something else you can do is a memory retrieve, where you put out an item you want a dog to retrieve with the dog watching, then walk away with the dog and send it back at whatever distance works.

And as a PP suggested, you can hide items and get a dog to find them - it's wonderful to watch a dog hunt a patch of ground, suddenly smell what it's looking for and race in to grab it.

All of this provides a mental as well as a physical workout without putting massive stress on their joints. And it can sound amazingly tricky, but if you build up to it gradually with a dog who enjoys retrieving, it's eminently possible.

After a session of some of this, I have to chill mine out with sniffing for treats and some free running.

Yes,they can get obsessed.I have 2 Collies who love ,love ,love the ball.You can use the ball really to train your dog.Make your dog wait,lay down,heel with the ball.you can slow your dog down with the ball.Make your dog use its brain,rather then just throw the ball on and on.it is also a good idea to use a command when the ball game is over(eg.finish,that will do,etc) and you continue the walk without ball throwing.on an hours walk, I maybe just spend 15-20 minutes with the ball,the rest is walk.I also never throw a toy at home.Collies need to learn to rest.It is brilliant,your dog gives the ball so easily back to you,excellent job.

This a good article about the negatives of playing fetch: caninearthritis.org/article/on-throwing-balls/?fbclid=IwAR1sCCNuD4WexrBYTqAqUMLWNsF5AxTfIa7cMBZxuEu-AuiGY3xZpG4CNhM

Totally agree that many dogs get obsessed with balls and it is a killer on their joints.

However think of the breed you have.

Collies are not retrievers they love to stop movement. So if you have the ball between you and the collie and push the ball to the collie they will stop the ball and movement. This will meet their needs, no stressed collies , no knackered joints.

If you have a retriever they need to hunt so dont throw the ball as Grumpy says hide the ball and send out the dog to hunt and retrieve. Way more tiring than just chasing and not increase in adrenalin and no knackered joints.

Terriers Have to stop the movement and kill and grab so have a ball on a tuggy and have work on impulse control. Terrier stays in a wait whilst ball is moving then release onto dead ball.

Spaniels again love to hunt and flush things out. SO hide the ball and get them to search for it. Very happy dogs doing what they are breed to do.

So balls are fab just not chasing and endless retrieves.

Wow thank you everyone for all this advice. I had a niggle that mindless fetch could become a problem so this has really got me clear that I need to use fetch more carefully.

Today I went on a walk with no fetch at all, to help break it up. I think I was a bit worried that without fetch he wouldn't be as obedient as treats haven't worked so well in the past! Plus he's on the early teen phase..!

My pup was okay and enjoyed sniffing and running around, plus still had almost 100% recall without needing to use fetch as a motivator. I agree though that using fetch for training to use the brain is the best way...

@PollyRoulllson all this advice on specific breeds is very interesting too. Do you have any insight on poodles?

He is extremely intelligent and has enjoyed playing the find it game, loves to sniff a trail and as I said is very happy to retrieve the ball.

He also runs soooo fast... Fetch always seemed a good way to let off some steam for him but will limit it for now.

I'd hate for him to develop joint problems!

Great article @Happenchance - am having a read of this thank you

@Grumpyosaurus I love the sound of these games... Will definitely be giving these a try! We've got hide and seek nailed in the house so makes sense to try this outside in different forms.

@user313213521 that did make me smile on the dropping the ball on you although I'm sure the patience would wear thin!

At the moment we have hidden all balls in the house so he can't fixate / annoy us by asking to play at times it doesn't work!

Once again thank you everyone for comments and to hear of our furry ball obsessed friend stories!

My patterdale x is ball obsessed so he is not allowed tennis balls / mouth sized balls in the house at all . When we go out I do some ball throwing , some just kicking it a short way and some of the time he just carries the ball .When we go on a lead walk he carries a ball part of the way .

Ball play in moderation.
My 7 year old lab bitch has Elbow Dysplasia, which I believe may have resulted in ball play when she was younger.

Yes, and it can spoil walks especially if you are walking with a friend and want to talk !
Sometimes saying 'No' to the stick until the end of the walk is a good idea. Dogs learn through practice don't they?

Standard Poodles are really gun dogs so they will like to hunt and retrieve. Originally they were bred to hunt ducks in water hence usually there love of water. (not all though!) They are still used a lot in Canada to retrieve ducks.

So the use the ball to hide and for them to scent and retrieve back to you. Sending them out to a still ball from a controlled sit/wait is way better for them.

Also look to teach them directionals to help send them out to blind searches.

The toy poodle was bred for companionship but was also used for scent out mushrooms! SO again use the scent skills they have to hunt and retrieve still and hidden balls.

Fun fact they are actually German dogs many people think poodles originated in France.

OP do use your ball as a reward for training though and also fab reward for teenage recall! Just dont throw the ball to cause an huge fenzy of excitment.

Ball throwers are WAY more of a problem than ball obsession.

Yes. One of my dogs had a ball obsession when we picked her up aged 9 months. We thought it was harmless enough until a ball we'd thrown landed near a little girl and she went to pick it up.

Our pup [a JR x Dachshund] then snapped at her. We stopped all ball throwing from then on. She hadn't been walked in previous home so we could replace the ball play with walks and took her to places where she could swim [which she loved], we played other games with her. She soon forgot her obsession.

@PollyRoulllson I find it all so interesting! Thanks for this info and ideas. He has picked up a lot already in terms of finding objects/people when we play a game in the house so now I'm
wondering how to recreate the hide / retrieve game outside without him seeing where I put it (lol), I assume it is easier either two people to set up and play.

Based on everyone's replies (thank you so much), I'm going to completely rethink fetch. It is the health issues I'm most concerned about but I can also appreciate the love for fetch could also become obsession which has a lot of problems. As you say use it for reward for training but there's definitely so much more room for better brain games for him on walks.

I'm really sorry to hear @Knowivedonewrong about the hip issue I'm really hoping there's no damage done from the fetch we have played, he runs so fast and jumps up and down things with so much energy. I wonder if there are any supplements that might help more as precaution.

I'll give the hide / retrieve / scent work a go and report back I think he'll love it! He's always off sniffing and looking for things!