Ball mad Foxi - 2008-10-27

Question

my foxy jack cross indi, learnt to retrieve a ball in 5 minutes (great), now she is totally obsessed with the ball and follows us around all the time with the ball in her mouth and dropping it at our feet every waking hour, can you please help.

Answer

This is a dominance issue. Her having control of the 'supply' means she has control. And what she tries to do is get you to play with her when she wants. Suggest a few 'ball free days' and ignore her a little more when she wants things. Dogs can get obsessed with things, like balls, bikes etc - and you need to try and break it as it will not get better otherwise.