My 1.5 year old female GSD plays ball.  A lot.  Always, in fact.  She loves to play ball... around the clock.  When she eats, she drops her ball into her food dish, eats around it, then picks it back up and goes on about her business.  She will fall asleep with a ball in her mouth.  She will wake me up at midnight with tail wagging, ball in mouth, and that expectant, please-please-please look in her eyes.

It's actually becoming something of a problem.  Wife and I can't watch TV, make coffee in the morning, do chores or anything without her stepping in front of us with ball in mouth and "the look".

Is there any way to break her of this, shy of just banning every ball-shaped object from the house (which would probably send her into some kind of psychosis)?

Other than the ball thing, she's an absolute sweetheart.  Well-behaved and personable, still loves to puppy-wrestle and stuff but no weird personality quirks.

Helllllppp meeeee...

An obsessive GSD, you don't say I would recommend putting the ball up and only letting her play with it when you get it out.  That does a couple of things.  You control her toys, and she'll play harder with it when she does have it.  You may even be able to use it as a reward for her in that case.  I control my GSD's toys and only pull them out for him when I want to use them as a reward during training.  He gets excited and I have his full attention when I work with him.   I would expect if you try this she'll struggle with it for a few days because you're changing the rules on her.  She'll probably search for the toy, and if she knows where you keep it she may stand in front of where she thinks it is.   My GSD has a flirt pole that he's obsessed with, and he'll stare at the closet he thinks it's in.   Mine's a year and a half old too by the way.

What Tripleoption said.

You control the dog via the ball...not the other way around.

Will give it a try... I suspected the answer would be something like this, but it never hurts to ask around with others who have BTDT.

Thanks!

+1

Buddy's ~1 year old shepherd was starting to get nippy if you tried to touch her when she was ball-fixated, or if she dropped the ball by you and you ignored it.  He put all the balls in a bin up high for a while, except when he wanted her to fetch.  She was a little crazy for a day or so, but adjusted quickly, and is MUCH better behaved now.

Pretty much what has been said, but if you leave other toys out, your intelligent dog might bring something else to see if you'll throw it.
"Fuck it, let's see if he'll throw this thing, then".
Don't. Don't associate fetch with anything but a ball or your dog might just start bringing you anything it can lift to get that fix.

"You're taking away my...  what???"



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Should calm down around 2 years old. Gsd's need a job, she thinks hers is to play ball.

This...

I adopted a 1 yr old GSD in May.   He is ball crazy also.    The balls are put away until WE decide it is time to play.   Seems to be working.    If we leave the balls out,  he will drop it in your lap,  or in your newspaper,  until you throw it.    


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My female gsd is the exact same way! She is completely toy/ball crazy! She will go fetch all day long if you keep throwing. She does tire out a little quicker now that she is 6. She does the whole drop it in your lap as well. If you still don't throw it, she will plop her big paw on your lap with a look that says, come on dumbass, throw the damn thing!

GSD be crazy yo