She won't give up the ball!

[Quigley]

New member here. I need help with my 8 year old female doxie who absolutely will not give up her ball after playing. News flash: Dacshunds are stubborn. Another obviously redundant attempt at humor: They are strong! She loves to chase her ball when I throw it in the park. The ball is one of those small tennis-ball types made for dogs. She runs her heart out chasing it up to 60 yards away then returns it to me, dropping it at my feet for another toss and chase. After clapping my hands when she arrives at the ball and picks it up, saying "Good girl!," I always use the same words when she returns it, "Give! Good girl! Want me to throw it again?" As I pick it up, I say, "Ready? Let's go!" as I throw. Always the same. The problem is after several tosses, she brings it back but won't give it to me. Instead, she walks right up to me, under my legs as I squat there, wagging her tail, obviously tired. I try the same words but she will not give up the ball. I pet her and try again. Nope. Nothing doing. Obviously she is tired and it's time to go. I command to get her to release the ball. Nope. I can read her mind, "No $%# way!" In the past I put my thumb under her top incisors, with my other hand grasping the ball and pushing downward, and opened her mouth enough to remove the ball. However, since two days ago, she absolutely will not allow that. I can't pry her mouth open no matter how much I try -even to the point where her teeth have just about broken my skin on my thumb (I am very strong... but her jaw is stronger). So I have allowed her to carry the ball all the way home (almost a block). When we get home, I still cannot get the ball out of her mouth. I pet her, order her, I even tried offering her a treat which she ignores. I then offered the same treat to my other dog, attempting a bit of competition, Nope, not giving up. I thought I was outsmarting her when, yesterday, I got a piece of meat with gravy on it, and offered it to her. All she did was try to get the food into her mouth - with the ball still in place! You might say: Well, just let her have the ball; she will tire of it sooner or later. I can't do that because she will chew it to pieces. Even though it's expensive to replace a ball every day, I could live with that except she always swallows the pieces. No toy has ever lasted more than five minutes around her; she always swallows what she destroys so I don't give her toys any more except those nylon fake bones to chew on. So I have two questions to which I hope someone can advise me: First, is there some way to make her let go of the ball? Second, is there another type of ball that she cannot destroy - something I can use in place of the small tennis ball so I can just let her have it and not worry about her ingesting stuff? I don't want to hurt her teeth. I don't want to press my fingernail into her ear to make her relase (as I did when traning dogs years ago). I don't want to scare her with loud noises or water. I don't want anything to hurt her. Any help will be greatly appreciated! I look forward to responses. Many thanks! mj

 

[Cashs Mom]

I have one who won't give up the ball for anything. One of my previous dachshunds was ball crazy but he would give me back the ball to throw again. I have a mix now who will not give up the ball for anything. She's mixed with catahoula/jack russell and some other hounds. I have found these balls from Chewy https://www.chewy.com/frisco-fetch-squeaky-tpr-ball-dog-toy/dp/179579. They are kind of big though so I'm not sure if a smaller dachshund could actually get them in their mouth. They are hard to chew up though. Honey goes thru a tennis ball in minutes and even Kong balls didn't last that long. Good luck!

 

[Quigley]

Thanks! I'll check them out.

 

[Quigley]

Here's an update. Thanks for the info re: semi-indestructable fetch balls (I say semi because not matter what toy coompanies say, they have obviously never met a Dachshund!). I shied away from the one with the squeaker inside as I thought it was sort of like putting booze in a cabinet then telling an alcoholic to not open it! I ordered several balls which were advertisted as "chewable" and "non-destructive." QuigleyAnn (my black tan-point long hair) loves the new ball. I can throw it farther than the old fuzzy small tennis ball, about 60 yards, and she runs her heart out to get it and retrieve it. Before, she got tired after 6 or 7 throws but now she retrieves is a dozen times before getting tired and locking it into her mouth. I let her carry it home where I offer her water. She goes to the bowl but will not drink - she doesn't want to let the ball go. Treats don't entice her. Trying to out-think her (I know, silly me) I went out the back door to my front porch and rang the doorbell, hoping that, and my other dog barking, would make her drop the ball to bark. All I got was a muffled "woof woof." However, by then I could see her lower jaw was quivering, indicating she was getting tired of hoarding the ball. I was able to get it out of her mouth with only a modicm of prying. I am not worried about her eating this new ball since it seems tough enough to last until she tires. Thanks for the advice. I'm hoping she will eventually get the idea she needs to put it away after out walk to the park.

 

[Cashs Mom]

It sounds like you have a good at least partial solution.