My adorable four-legged furkids, Nat and Pyxi, will be two years old in a few weeks.  In the 16 months that we've been a family, we've learned a lot about each other.  I'm not saying they belong in Canine Mensa, but they pick up on things pretty quickly.  Too quickly, as far as I'm concerned when it involves behavior guaranteed to make me crazy.

However, we work a lot on basic training and they both know to sit, lie down, stay and come on voice signal.  We back up some of these with hand signals, too.  Learning to "leave it" has stopped most of Pyxi's inclination to chew on things she shouldn't.  For fun, both know how to spin when asked, can speak on cue, and will offer a paw most of the time.

On my part, I've learned to spot when one tries to "resource guard" me and correct it.  One pup is not allowed to block the other's access to me ever. 

Training is fun for all of us, most of the time.  Nat would probably prefer that I not bring out the hula hoop, but his sister will sail through it time after time.

Pretty bright pups, right?

So, how come we can't seem to get the hang of "fetch"?

My old dog Moe loved nothing more than for me to throw a tennis ball so he could chase it down and run back with it.  He'd place it in my hand or drop it in front of me and stand like a runner on starting blocks waiting for me to throw it again.

These two?  Pyxi might chase it, smell it, and then leave it where it stands.  She might pick it up and carry it off somewhere -- anywhere but back to me.  That's how she is with a lot of her toys.  Nat will occasionally chase it.  Well, actually "chase" is too strong a verb.  He might happen to go over to the ball if it isn't too far away.  One sniff satisfies his minimal interest.

I know we'd have a blast in our backyard or at the dog park if they could just get the concept.

I've read training articles online for tips on how to train this game.   Armed with this knowledge and a bag of treats, I took them outside for a lesson today.  Numerous throws with praise and positive reinforcement if they merely touched their noses to the ball. Pretty much all that taught them was, "Mom has treats.  Yippee!"

Acting on a suggestion in one of the articles, I cut into the tennis ball and hid a treat.  That at least got Pyxi to roll the ball around with her nose a little bit before she stopped and came back over to me.

Yep.  These dogs are smart.  Why work for the treat when Mom has a whole bag? 

I stopped short of maximum frustration and quickly asked them for behaviors they know so we could end on a positive note.

Positive for them anyway.  I don't feel the least bit reinforced.

Most dog owners have to turn to professional help for behavior problems.  How many want to talk to a trainer to learn how to teach their pups to play a particular game?