Neither one of my dogs is interested in fetching.

[hedgehog]

We bounce balls, toss objects, roll balls and they merely observe politely with no comments.

[LWolf]

1. My dog will fetch once or twice.

Only for me, not for anyone else. I think she decides it's a "job," until I keep doing it again, and she realizes it's just a waste of time. After twice, she'll sit by me and watch me throw, watch the ball roll, and then look up at me as if to say, "If you want it, why do you keep throwing it away?"

[Arkansas Granny]

2. It's like they're saying "If you wanted the ball, why did you throw it away?".

[magical thyme]

3. mine both fetch

Jake, the elder, grabs the ball and then trots off to comfy spot and lays down holding it. He won't bring it back and he won't let it go.

Luna runs around with it in his mouth. He occasionally will drop it and look up at you. If you (or Jake) try to pick it up, he grabs it and runs again.

So fetch is a boring game at my place.

They're better with their water frisbee. Both swim out to the frisbee and both bring it back, usually fighting over it while I yell for them not to drown each other. Luna used to refuse to let go of it when he got back, but now drops it on command and then stands on it. Jake used to drop it, but now he just walks out of the water and up the hill refusing to let it go, no way, no how.

[jakeXT]

4. Try some meat like salami /nt

[leftyohiolib]

5. my little corg (leo) wont either butwhat he will do is

bark at me to get me to take hoim outside and he'll lead me to the fence that separates my yard from my nbors house. when we get there he looks for the nbors black lab cause what he wants is for me to throw the frisbee for the lab so my corgi can run back and forth along the fence and bark lie crazy at the lab as SHE goews and fetches the frisbee

[bigwillq]

6. My dog isn't either.

I try with her, and she fetches it like once or twice and then seems disinterested.
She's a small chihuahua, so she can't fit a ball in her mouth but I've tried to toss other things and she just seems not to care.
She is an awesome dog, though, so I guess I would rather have her be cute and awesome than a good fetcher!

[warrior1]

7. mind too

I got him when he was eight and I don't anyone ever played with him. I tried when I first got him but he couldn't get into the idea. He just rather hang out and a best bud.

[surrealAmerican]

8. same here

They give you an odd look when you throw things though.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. That's an inborn trait. Some dogs have it. Some don't.

Retrievers live to retrieve. My brother had one, and when she was just a newly acquired puppy, he tried rolling a ball on the floor and she brought it back to him. If he wasn't careful, she would literally retrieve until she was exhausted. She was always finding sticks for him to throw. One year my grandmother had a vegetable garden, and we found the dog running around with a zucchini in her mouth.

Once I was at a lake resort and saw a black Lab running around begging people to throw sticks into the lake for him to retrieve. If one person got bored, he'd find another one. However, he was so into retrieving that he wore himself out, and he began to sink while in water over his head. One of the swimmers saw him and towed him into shore, pulling on the stick that was gripped between his teeth. He lay on the shore panting, but as soon as he recovered, he was running around with that stick again.

The dog we had when I was growing up? No way! He was an English setter, English springer spaniel, pointer mix, and although he was smart and knew how to do a lot of tricks, we never got him to retrieve. We'd throw something, and he'd look at us as if to say, "If you want it so badly, get it yourself."

[HeiressofBickworth]

10. One of our cats will fetch.

She also will push open any drawer in any room looking for socks. She loved to drag socks around. I found a particularly long, fluffy winter sock in the water bowl.

But she also fetches items thrown for her amusement.

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. dogs, like humans, some like to play, some don't.

.
.
.

However - most dogs like human attention.

Try playing catch with your SO, ignoring the dogs.

Get a soccer ball and kick it around, just you and your SO

Frisbee, football, whatever - just play with moving objects between you and your SO.

Don't even try to encourage the dogs to join in, but I expect they may try to, just to get your attention.

Especially if you "play" past their normal feeding time a wee bit.

Pet owners that leave a constant supply of food available are gonna have lazy disinterested pets.

Think of it this way - if you have all the food you want, rent paid and so on- how hard are you gonna work?

Something to ponder.

CC

[hedgehog]

12. I never thought of modeling the game for them - I'll have to try that!