How to Teach a Dog to Play Catch With a Ball

Video Transcript

"Okay, how to teach your dog to play catch with a ball. Now most dogs, anything of this shape, by they're four years old, like Pima here, they'll be conditioned to know this is a toy. And as you can see, from her attention to it, and if I move it she's following it around, that's already the first step, teaching them that it's a toy. Now, if I throw it, she'll probably go get it and bring it back to me, which is a start for playing catch. Let's try that. Get it! So she gets it, brings it back. And, leave it. And she knows how to drop it. Sit. Good dog! We'll try it once more before trying to get her to catch it, just to get her to retrieve. And, leave it. And, sit. Sit. So far, so good. Now, we'll try just lightly tossing it to her, and this is kind of a large ball, so she should still be able to catch it in her mouth. And let me turn this way. And I'm just going to lightly toss it to her. And there we go, she's got it. Drop it. Now, we can actually try to get her to catch it on a little longer distance. Go! Go! And she lost it in the air that time, but you can tell she does definitely get the idea. Let's try it once more. Leave it. Sit. So far, so good. Get the ball, and toss it up. And she lost it in the air again. So this is something that's going to work better at shorter ranges, and let's just try it once more. Sit. Sit. Sit. I'll try backing up. Stay. And tossing it to her. And there we go. Good dog! Leave it. Sit. Sit. There you go."