We have three dogs at our house. One dachshund and two dachshund terrier mix. They love they're toys. I've stopped buying cheaper squeak toys for them. When I get them, they quickly  chew them so much the squeaker gets destroyed.                                 Playing fetch in the yard, I've found some harder rubber balls that work good. I've also recently got some ropes about 12" long. They seem to like them also. Also picked up a hand held ball launcher, to throw tennis balls for them. When we all go out in the yard to play fetch, they never get tired of it. The further I can launch a ball the more they like it. Last night I threw balls for them until it was too dark to see.                    It's good exercise for the dogs. What types of toys does your dog like the most?

Same here ~ 

Chuck it ball launcher is THE GAME 

 

 

 

Besides the regular units,

THE Chuckit Whistler Ball is a fan favorite too.

 

A-Jay

Of all our dogs we only have one that loves to play with toys. Her favorite is a green and blue spikey ball that lights up when it hits something. She likes to play catch(not fetch) if you throw the ball where she can get to it she will catch it almost every time.

 

Whatever he wanted

 

 

 

 

Mike

37 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Same here ~ 

Chuck it ball launcher is THE GAME 

 

 

 

Besides the regular units,

THE Chuckit Whistler Ball is a fan favorite too.

 

A-Jay

A-Jay, I enjoyed that video. Our dogs are smaller, but burn across the yard with the same enthusiasm. Two of our dogs will fetch the ball, and return with it. Our younger one is still learning the fetch deal. He likes to get the ball, then run around the yard trying to to get the others to chase him.  While he's busy doing that, the others have already brought the ball back and are ready for another throw. It's all good.

11 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

A-Jay, I enjoyed that video. Our dogs are smaller, but burn across the yard with the same enthusiasm. Two of our dogs will fetch the ball, and return with it. Our younger one is still learning the fetch deal. He likes to get the ball, then run around the yard trying to to get the others to chase him.  While he's busy doing that, the others have already brought the ball back and are ready for another throw. It's all good.

Playing with one dog at a time and with only One ball helps them keep focused on the task.

Adding dogs and more ball can have them playing with each other rather than me.

Which is fine and we do both.

But one on one, especially that first year or so, seems important.

And pays off later down the line. 

A-Jay

Only one of our three plays with toys. Shes 14 yr old Pyrenees mix and goes bonkers if you said “get your squirrel!” Or “get your raccoon!” 
 

She also likes to chase a ball out in the fence, all the way up to deflated basketballs haha

Ours really like a good ol' tennis ball. Our oldest just chews on them, smashes them flat and lets them pop her mouth back open, I call it chewing her bubble gum. She has always been a huge fan of the stuffed Lambchop toys also. Really, anything with a squeaker or that crinkles when they bite it. Our younger golden loves to steal socks, especially the boys socks. I can always tell when she has a mouthful of socks she's trying to hide. 

Our corgi doesnt really play with toys as he just shreds things to pieces. Our german shephard thinks anything can be a toy. His obsession with pop bottles is interesting as it is annoying at times.

 

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Same here ~ 

Chuck it ball launcher is THE GAME 

 

Besides the regular units,

THE Chuckit Whistler Ball is a fan favorite too.

 

A-Jay

 

Agree with @A-Jay, the Chuckit is wonderful!

 

My yellow lab will run / chase / retrieve the ball all day long. We seriously have to limit him when the temps get up there...I believe he would run himself to death.

 

Our 18lb Shiba Inu has learned to retrieve as well. He's a flight risk...must be tethered when outside. I stand at the end of his rope...throw one ball towards the house that he can retrieve, and launch the other ball in to the yard for the Lab.

 

Both my dogs love the nyla-bone chew toys. Have to remember to pick them up at day's end...stepping on one barefoot is worse than stepping on legos(!).

 

Bark Box has some good "indestructible" toys...with time they get beaten up pretty good.

we have to be incredibly selective in what toys we bring in. We have 4 dogs and 2 of the 4 are toy destroyers.  Two are retrievers on land (like Ajay's).  Two of them swim (one is a diver also).  Three of them will eat the fluff out of a soft toy.  If it squeaks out of the pack it won't in 3 minutes or less. 

 

So all of that, there are very few toys that actually last in this house.  Everyone loves tennis balls but because there is always that 'one ball' that everyone wants it is a constant whine or fight over that one ball so we hide them most of the time (yesterday I threw 4 of them in the pool so everyone had something to do).  Nylabone toys have survived (only the hardest ones) but the dogs are less interested in those.  Soft non-squeakers are okay for a while but once they start pulling fluff out we have to take the rest of the fluff out so the dogs only get carcasses.  Recently we have gotten a few in bark boxes that are a hard nylabone type toy inside a carcass and they like them well enough.  the carcass doesn't last long but the inside does.

3 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Our younger one is still learning the fetch deal. He likes to get the ball, then run around the yard trying to to get the others to chase him. 

I've had a heck of our time trying to get my dog to give me the ball back. He knows the "drop" command and will let go of anything (including food) besides his ball. 

He'll fetch it, bring it back, but then won't let go of it. 

Any ideas on how to break this habit? He loves fetching, but it never lasts more than 1 throw haha. He's 3 years old, so still plenty of time to learn a new skill... if I can figure out how to teach him. 

 

3 minutes ago, JackstrawIII said:

I've had a heck of our time trying to get my dog to give me the ball back. He knows the "drop" command and will let go of anything (including food) besides his ball. 

He'll fetch it, bring it back, but then won't let go of it. 

Any ideas on how to break this habit? He loves fetching, but it never lasts more than 1 throw haha. He's 3 years old, so still plenty of time to learn a new skill... if I can figure out how to teach him. 

 

Hoping A-Jay can help you here. He trains a lot of dogs, and is good at it. I might say reward him with a treat if he lets go of the ball. But this may be wrong, as he might expect a treat each time. 

My first Weimaraner was a retrieving fool.  Since my house is on a cliff, 78 feet off the forest floor, I used to heave a frisbee as hard as I could from the top and you can imagine how far it would glide.  I would put him in a sit stay until it landed and then send him.  He would do that until he fell over from exhaustion if you kept it up.  Sometimes I would make him face me so he couldn’t see where it landed and I would use voice and hand commands to guide him to it.  When I would take him to the vet for his annual shots, she would comment that she had never in her 25 years of practice, seen a Weimaraner as muscled up as he was.  I also took him wade fishing with me a lot and he would swim the fastest current in the river.  Man o man I miss that dog.  He had a basket of all sorts of toys both soft and hard that he never destroyed.  No squeakers were safe though.  He also had a deer antler he found and he chewed on that a lot.  

2 hours ago, JackstrawIII said:

I've had a heck of our time trying to get my dog to give me the ball back. He knows the "drop" command and will let go of anything (including food) besides his ball. 

He'll fetch it, bring it back, but then won't let go of it. 

Any ideas on how to break this habit? He loves fetching, but it never lasts more than 1 throw haha. He's 3 years old, so still plenty of time to learn a new skill... if I can figure out how to teach him. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Hoping A-Jay can help you here. He trains a lot of dogs, and is good at it. I might say reward him with a treat if he lets go of the ball. But this may be wrong, as he might expect a treat each time. 

Not to hi jack the dog toy thread . . . .

@JackstrawIII I can't say for sure what 'will work' for you & your dog.  

IMO, every deal is different and each owner has his/her own way of living with their animal.

The relationship we have with our animals drives most everything IMO.

I have had a few dogs that did the same thing, especially early on.  

I never looked at it as a 'habit', more like a willingness situation.

Most dogs, especially by 3 years old, they know what we're all about.

They know what we're going to do before we do it.

So in this case, the animal is choosing not to give it up.

They way we approached it was to reinforce the 'drop it' command' (we use "Leave it"),

in the home (not during play at first) over and over. 

Reward based stuff works for us.

Once outside for a fetch game, we bring two balls.  Throw one and hold the second.

When he returns with the first one, make him sit & stay while showing him the second ball.

Tell him to leave it, once he does pick it up (very important) and then throw the second ball. 

That's his reward. Then do it all over again exactly the same way every time.  Being patient is key, never chase him, ever and stay cool calm & collected.  Never frustrated. When he does it right, we make a big deal out of it.  Also the dog is expending a ton of energy during this play, I always try to match it with my own enthusiasm.  It's got to be fun for both of us.

Bottom line not every dog/breed is a retriever.  Some dogs are perfectly content just grabbing the ball and running around with it.  But IME, with some time & effort, most of them will come around.  

Have Fun.

A-Jay

https://youtu.be/0jtwK7l0RkI?feature=shared

 

Frisbee.

 

My dog is a sweet, goofy-looking boy, a 22-pound miniature schnauzer, but he has a border collie's drive, smarts, and athletic talent. I play Frisbee with him everyday and everyday I see him do some leap and mid-air contortion that I've never seen before. My vet has seen him catch at the dog park and she thinks I should enter him into competitions. I probably won't, but he sure has the talent. He's also the fastest dog in the dog park. 

Frisbee.  

 

my dog will start shaking in fear at the mere utterance of "bath?".  but that frisbee can go into an icy lake and he will belly flop like a boss into it to fetch.  

Alot of posts about good boys and good girls, yet not many photos.

 

 

Disappointing 

51 minutes ago, Texas Flood said:

Disappointing

Fixed

 

Sara's favorite was always playing tug with dad

Over 24 years since we lost her, and I still miss her lots.

4 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Once outside for a fetch game, we bring two balls.  Throw one and hold the second.

Haha this is the only thing that works for us too. I guess we'll just keep working the process and try to keep the kids from chasing him when he has the ball. Thanks AJay. 

 

To answer the OP's question, our mini bernedoodle loves the kong mini tennis balls. The only problem is that they roll under the furniture and he just sits and whines there until we go get them for him. 

10 hours ago, JackstrawIII said:

I've had a heck of our time trying to get my dog to give me the ball back. He knows the "drop" command and will let go of anything (including food) besides his ball. 

He'll fetch it, bring it back, but then won't let go of it. 

Any ideas on how to break this habit? He loves fetching, but it never lasts more than 1 throw haha. He's 3 years old, so still plenty of time to learn a new skill... if I can figure out how to teach him. 

 

Garmin has a solution for this, but it's not for everyone. Takes a lot of work and consistency.

 

Barring that, try turning your back on the dog after you've told them to drop a couple of times. "This is not ok and you are getting no attention at all until you make the right choice" - works pretty well for some dogs. Then praise the drop and re-engage when they do drop it.

@Texas Flood, here’s some!! you can see Cori’s raccoon in the first pic, she even throws it for herself

Thank you @MN Fisher and @TnRiver46

 

Those are some beautiful pups. Keep em coming ya'll!

My second Weimaraner.  He was more of a protector than a sporting dog.  Did his job well. 

Cosmo is naturally a very good retriever.  I did some training myself (force fetch retrieve) and sent her to basic obedience/firearm/bird training when she was younger too.  When she was younger and teething, I had random toys laying around the house and garage so that when she came at me in "piranha" mode, I could shove a toy in her mouth.  That phase didn't last very long, but the one toy that did is the DUCK.  Its feet are missing, but the plastic body is intact.  It's as old as she is - turned 13 last February.