The method I used for Hoki won't be suitable for all dogs as it involves really trusting their bite inhibition.

What I realised with Hoki is that she would often catch fingers in her excitement and not even seem to realise that she had done so, but that if she did realise that my fingers/hands were in the way, she would be much more careful.

Effectively then, I taught her by deliberately manipulating the situation so that if she did try and snatch all she got was a lot of my hand and NOT the toy/food she was after (i.e. I did not let go).

I found doing this wasn't nearly as painful as I expected, I think firstly because she realised that she has got me and not the toy, so she didn't complete the 'bite' and secondly because my hand/fingers weren't moving over her teeth, there was no scraping/catching of just a small part of me.

I could then introduce the word 'gently' and she has learned what that means - i.e. I'll release what's in my hand when her mouth is open but she's not trying to snatch the object away.

Of couse in your case the mouth/teeth are much bigger/stronger and the ball in your hand is larger than the ones I use.

But if you trust him not to bite when he knows that you hand is in his mouth, it might be worth giving this a try. It does involve some strong nerves on your side though - you must keep your hand still and not try to move it out the way if he does go to snatch.

However, if he's so wound up that he wouldn't even notice if he'd got your whole hand in his gob, I definitely would not try this method!

He grabs when I have taken the ball off him, usually to throw it again for him or to put it away. He would also grab it if he drops it and I go to pick it up - and in those circumstances I do leave it, but he will then pick it up and push it into me constantly. No amount of ignoring this behaviour seems to work.

Thanks Hali. I will observe him a bit more before trying this method, as I do have the feeling it would be the latter - and he is that desperate to have his ball that he might not notice if my whole arm was in his mouth

When the ball is on the floor your foot is a useful tool - I used to stand on it quickly (as long as I was wearing boots and not flip flops!) and tell her to leave.

But I know that Zak is pretty darn quick so you'd have to be even quicker

Haha - I will have to speed up my reactions Although, I have tried this before and he just grabbed the rope and heaved the ball from under my foot, just about toppling me over in the process!

UPDATE

Just got in from a session with Zak. Well, the good news is that he left his ball on the command 9 out of 10 times, and the snatching it back was far less when I was also using the "take it" cue, then with an "out" and "leave it" cue. Hopefully just airing the problem and getting a few different views is already starting to see a change in the behaviour

ah, I forgot yours are on a rope - that does make it harder.

That's great

so he desperately wants you to play? If play is contingent on not grabbing, he will stop grabbing. Watch him, as you go to, say, pick up his ball to throw it, the very second he starts to make a move, stand up, say 'ah ah' (if that is your try something different cue) and wait until he backs off no matter how much pushing the ball into you he does. It will take a fair while first time, second time slightly shorter, third time shorter still and so on.

I had a very, very ball obsessed Collie. Once the grabbing problem was cracked it was a very useful reward (and the highest value to him) during training. He got me through all of the college practical assignments and did extremely well

well done Moobli. we are all rooting for you!! ( Good boy Zak. help yah mum out. there's a good boy.)


ps thanks for pasting the message.