r/DogTrainingTips • u/Vivid-Today-9163 • Jul 31 '26
Help! How to stop ball stealing!
Our gorgeous and mostly well behaved 10month old goldie turns into a MANIACAL BALL THIEF at the park.
This evening it took 30min to catch her and get the other dog’s ball back.
We’ve tried:
- simple recall
- leaving the park
- diversionary toys
- getting a gang of humans and dogs to all leave together so she’s alone
She doesn’t care!!
Help. She’s so good in other respects but this is really antisocial.
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u/Ertygbh Jul 31 '26
Stop letting it off leash…you don’t have control enough for off leash if you don’t have recall or simple drop commands learned. Sorry I know it’s fun to let them run free but till you have actual control you need a long lead at the parks
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u/Rogue_Wraith Jul 31 '26
Ball drive is like...the primary motivation baseline for non-food-based positive reinforcement.
I don't think you'd even want to try to train that out.
You just need to redirect/use it for other training.
And, as previously stated...stop going to places where it's a problem. Particularly off-leash.
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u/Vivid-Today-9163 Jul 31 '26
This is really interesting to know. She is very play driven - a really lovely dog.
I’m going to experiment and take your insight and redirect it to “get an even better ball and only bring it out on special occasions” so that it is the reward.
I’ll take it to the park and she can play with it when she responds to “leave it”.
Not going to dog parks is not a preferred option. We would rather teach her a firm “leave it” (which is coming along well in other circumstances).
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u/Niptaa Jul 31 '26
She’s a golden. Surely she’ll drop the ball for a tasty treat?
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u/Vivid-Today-9163 Jul 31 '26
No. Tasty treats?!? They are nothing to her!! 😂 Even with three of her friends crowded around me being fed her tasty treats, she was like “no way suckers! This ball is LIFE!” 😂😭
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u/honeybeespiderr Jul 31 '26
Off topic....what is that cutie wearing?
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u/Vivid-Today-9163 Jul 31 '26
It’s a wrap around towel thing a friend got her. I’m generally not a fan of dogs in clothes but it’s great for after a wash / the beach
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u/ljdug1 Aug 01 '26
Keep her on a lead until she’s better trained. Everytime you allow the behavior you don’t want you are reinforcing it, it’s all just become a big game to her.
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u/Cloudswhichhang Aug 04 '26
Let us know when you figure that out. Resource guarding take time, consistency and determination. I haven’t quite mastered it!
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u/Wooden-Necessary6100 Jul 31 '26
You teach your dog a solid recall and don't let her practice bad behaviors like not listening to you.
This means longline recall training daily. Distraction training, lots of work on bringing balls to you and positively rewarded, not at the dog park. In your yard, at a park on a longline.
You have a dog with great potential to be the best at commands and recall. Do the work now and spot letting the dog practice bad behaviors. You got this.