Teaching a Dalmatian to Fetch

Playing fetch is a long established enjoyable pastime between dog and owner. The difficulty in teaching a Dalmatian to play fetch is this breed becomes easily bored or distracted. Although the Dalmatian may enjoy the chase in the first part of fetch, they can not always be relied upon to bring the object back each time, or to play fetch for extended periods. The Dalmatian may enjoy playing fetch for awhile, but this dog is always on the lookout for any better deals, and will abandon a game of fetch with little warning. If something better comes along, such as food or a cat, the Dalmatian will likely snub its owner and move on to the new entertainment. More often than not, the owner instead of the Dalmatian ends up retrieving the fetch item.

First of all you will need a toy that the Dalmatian loves. If the Dalmatian has already been taught to recall or come when called this exercise can be done in a controlled area such as a room or a fenced yard. If the Dalmatian has not learned to come, teach fetch while on a leash. Play with the Dalmatian and the favorite toy, teasing the dog, rubbing the toy on its coat and tossing it in the air a few times. When the Dalmatian shows keen interest at regaining ownership of its favorite toy, toss it out while giving the command "fetch". If the Dalmatian is on a leash, make sure you don't toss the toy further than the length of the leash! Once the Dalmatian picks the toy up in its mouth, praise it, and give the command to come. Or if using a leash, pull the dog back in. On the Dalmatian's return, give the command "drop". Take the toy in your hand and gently remove it from the Dalmatian's mouth. Some Dalmatian's take this as a cue to play tug of war. If this happens, reinforce "no" and try again with the command "drop". This might take perseverance. Once the dog has dropped the toy, be sure to praise it, and a reward might also be in order. Continue these steps decreasing the amount of toy teasing with each fetch until the Dalmatian is properly fetching the toy, returning, and dropping it. Once the Dalmatian understands the commands, you will no longer need to tease the dog with the toy.

Once the Dalmatian has learned to fetch, it will perform this trick with just about anything thrown for it. The Dalmatian will also fetch items thrown into the water. Dalmatians are good swimmers and enjoy getting into the water, more so if an object they can chase is also in the water. However, keep in mind that Dalmatians are not always reliable about returning with the item they were to fetch. As such, only throw expendable items into the water such as a stick, or you might end up getting wet feet to retrieve your Dalmatian's treasured toy.

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