# Lotus balls: Training your puppy to fetch



## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

I've seen a couple threads on this topic and I struggled with teaching Ari to fetch at first because she would rather run around with the toy than bring it back to me.

Her agility trainer recommended a lotus ball to help with that.

It has 3 "petals" with velcro on the inside and a little pouch in the center to hold treats. Your dog probably won't be able to get the treats out himself (although I've read that some learn how) so the only way to get whatever tasty goodness is inside is to bring the ball back to you.

























(there are many places to order them, but I got Ari's from Clean Run)

I tried it with Ari and it has definitely worked! Usually she dawdles when fetching but now she grabs it and brings it straight back so that I can open the present for her. This will be very useful in her agility classes when she is off-leash: we were wasting a lot of time before while Ari did crazy zoomies with her toy all around the arena.


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## snmim (Sep 7, 2015)

It definitely took a long while to teach Mira how to fetch, it probably would've been a bit easier with this. She's gotten to the point where she can pick up any item off the ground and do long distance fetch outside  Thank you for sharing. Ari looks adorable and hope she's feeling better now.


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## Summerhouse (Jun 12, 2015)

I got a similar thing on a rope but has different compartments. Its good for throwing over the last jumps in agility to encourage them to go ahead. I have to press it really tight together so he doesn't get the treats out before I get there.
Found the one I got
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NWT-Rip-n...434329?hash=item33adb1abd9:g:lWsAAOSwT6pVlA74


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## Sanic (Oct 22, 2015)

Thanks for the link! I'll probably end up buying this for my future pup


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

I have a lotus ball and I love it. I throw it as Swizzle is exiting the weaves and all sorts of other tasks when I want Swizzle to drive ahead without looking at me.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

That's very cool. All of our girls are natural fetchers--except Fiona, the golden retriever :noidea:.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Zooeysmom...I had a good chuckle over that. lol. Go figure, right? My Chihuahua, Jose` is the best retriever I've ever had...better by far than my Lab was, who did retrieve but not with so much gusto as he does.

Sophie Anne, that's terrific. What a clever idea. I just wonder though, if that (because it has the treats in it) will become part of the cue so to speak...if she'll only retrieve something that has treats in it. Well, as soon as she seems to get really onto it, I'd try switching her asap to another kind of toy (maybe intermittently with that one) and see if she'll bring that and then give her the treat. What do you think? At least it seems to be giving her the idea. That might be the main thing with it.


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

Poodlebeguiled said:


> I just wonder though, if that (because it has the treats in it) will become part of the cue so to speak...if she'll only retrieve something that has treats in it. Well, as soon as she seems to get really onto it, I'd try switching her asap to another kind of toy (maybe intermittently with that one) and see if she'll bring that and then give her the treat. What do you think? At least it seems to be giving her the idea. That might be the main thing with it.


Ari learned how to fetch without the lotus ball and brings back a boring old chuck-it glow in the dark ball 99% of the time. Fetch didn't come naturally to her because she wasn't totally sure what was so exciting about a boring rubber ball, so the learning curve was longer than usual. I think the lotus ball would have helped with that.

Nowadays, when we are at agility classes or in a stimulating environment, Ari would sometimes rather run off some steam on her own than bring the toy back to me. This is where the lotus ball is useful: she can only get at the smelly treat inside by bringing it back to me, which increases the incentive to return to me rather than running in circles all around the arena. Eventually I think she will get in the habit of coming back to me, but until then this is an extra tool to help her in the right direction.

You don't have to stick treats in it either. Probably the best way to use it is on a variable reinforcement schedule where it randomly does or doesn't contain treats once the dog has learned that returning with it is a rewarding experience.

I also got her a lambskin tug for times when I can't trust her to ever return with a thrown toy. :lol:


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

sophie anne said:


> Ari learned how to fetch without the lotus ball and brings back a boring old chuck-it glow in the dark ball 99% of the time. Fetch didn't come naturally to her because she wasn't totally sure what was so exciting about a boring rubber ball, so the learning curve was longer than usual. I think the lotus ball would have helped with that.
> 
> Nowadays, when we are at agility classes or in a stimulating environment, Ari would sometimes rather run off some steam on her own than bring the toy back to me. This is where the lotus ball is useful: she can only get at the smelly treat inside by bringing it back to me, which increases the incentive to return to me rather than running in circles all around the arena. Eventually I think she will get in the habit of coming back to me, but until then this is an extra tool to help her in the right direction.
> 
> ...



Yes! I agree with that bolded part. Thanks for your explanation. It made things more clear to me. I think that's a great invention! And am glad it's getting her more focused on what she's suppose to be doing in the agility ring.


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## PlayfulPup (Aug 8, 2012)

We cut a slit in a tennis ball, squeeze it open and pop a treat in there for our beagle and used it the same way as the lotus ball. (we used variable reinforcement too) At the time I was under the impression it was hard to train a beagle to fetch, but with food motivation she was reliably bringing it back to us in 10 minutes. We stopped putting a treat in there after a week or so. Once the kids started running around with her she stopped fetching; she just wants to play tag or be lazy and watch them run around.



Poodlebeguiled said:


> Zooeysmom...I had a good chuckle over that. lol. Go figure, right? My Chihuahua, Jose` is the best retriever I've ever had...better by far than my Lab was, who did retrieve but not with so much gusto as he does.


We rescued our beagle from a retiring BYB. He kept one pup for himself. They had champion scent/tracking parents, so we took the 8mo pups and our min pin out to open wildlife field to run around and see if they picked up any scents. They never picked up on a rabbit scent to follow, so we started throwing treats for them to sniff out. Our min pin was by far the best at finding the dog treats! The breeder was clearly frustrated by it all, since he had already started working with his pup. She was clueless.


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