Getting the dog to "play"

[PistolEd]

So, we rescued a GSP mix from a shelter, and I know there is a period of adjustment while the dog learns the new home and the family. This is my first GSP so I'm reading as much as I can off the internet regarding temperament but I want to know if we're doing something wrong (or more importantly I don't want to train in a bad behavior). This is also my first dog since I was a kid...

The question I have is, he doesn't "play". When he's home, if he's out of the kennel, he's following me around or he's sleeping. He will "train" with us (sit, stay, come, etc) but he won't fetch, or chase, or play tug of war. He's chewed a tennis ball, but that's about the extent of his play. We have bought different toys and bumpers and ropes to find what he likes, but if you toss something, he'll watch it land and then turn and continue to follow me around. If you are sitting down, he just wants to sit next to you and be petted.

Outside, he has very little interest in humans and just watches for birds, squirrels and rabbits. Even on a long cc (20' or so) he just pulls the cord taught and "hunts". The only way I can get his attention outdoors is with something of really high value (like bacon - kibble and other hard dog treats are of no interest outside). But that will only get him to do training behaviors like sit, stay, come types of things. He still won't fetch or catch or "play". He's only interested in "hunting" or going for a walk.

Would I be doing anything bad if I were to really start to encourage him to play, or how do I get him interested in fetching for play without causing problems with an eventual training program?

I've been reading this forum for a couple of weeks and I realize I need to plan to purchase either the book Training with Mo or the Perfect Start DVD's (or both) but I don't know if this type of thing is addressed. I have tried to search this answer out on my own but can't find anything that quite seems to answer my question and many of the responses have me worried that I'll create more problems later by training the wrong behaviors. This dog will be the family dog as well as a working dog and it seems the GSP's are capable of doing that.

Thank you in advance for any opinions or input.

[Sharon]

I've had 2 rescues. They often don't know how to play- tells us about their puppyhood some. Do whatever you can to lighten that dogs being. Good on you. Might take 2? years for a rescue to feel comfortable enough for serious training.

edited for spelling

[Nutmeg247]

The free pamphlet on the SteadywithStyle website is also great, as is the What's the Point collection of writings from Martha Greenlee that you can also find on that site.

In terms of play, it does sound like your dog came from an environment where it might not know how to interact with some objects other dogs would naturally play with. Outside, on a cc, understand that exploring and looking for prey are going to be two extremely gratifying things for your dog, so it's natural that other types of interaction may not interest it too much.

Fetch is fun for some dogs, and for others the retrieve takes a while via whatever method, so it may never be rewarding play for even the best-socialized pup. Getting him to take things in his mouth and then release can be a fun interaction for him, in all likelihood, that you could do while he is sitting next to you as one first part of training a retrieve.

If he gets used to picking up a rope through that type of interaction, he might find simply that way that shaking a rope or playing tug is fun, over time.

[Trekmoor]

If the dog will engage with you at close distance then you could try playing with the dog by using a tennis ball or something similar attached to about 10 feet of string. If by teasing the dog by swinging the ball about you can persuade him to chase it then you can have the dog racing around you in circles trying to catch the ball as you turn on the spot. If the dog will do that then it will be possible to gradually release more and more string until the dog is trying to grab or catch the ball at 10 feet range.

A good friend of mine's with a reluctant to retrieve GSP successfully used this method but used a cold partridge instead of a ball. According to him the dog learned to retrieve in this way without becoming hard mouthed.

Bill T.

[polmaise]

It may be going against the grain and some other comments.
Reading your post ,If it were me, I would 'Ignore' the dog for a couple of weeks (I don't mean solitary confinement here) ..but Ignore it when it is with you! don't talk to it don't ask it to do anything! Don't do any training of sit's or stay's.
No toys no throwing ,no teasing nothing!
...............
Make the dog 'Want' to do something,rather than trying to Make it do something?
Worth a shot?..a fortnight can be a very long time for you,or a very short time for the dog?..

[Cajun Casey]

What is the alleged mix? Have a picture? Some dogs don't play. Some dogs don't fetch. Rescue dogs are not a known quantity and if you wanted a dog that would play, you should have tested him out first.

[birddogger]

Sounds like a nice dog to me. [At least as a pet]. I don't see a problem.

Charlie

[PistolEd]

Thanks for all the advice and things to think about. At least no one said it would be bad or detrimental to encourage him to do normal doggy things.

I am a very patient person and am in it for the long haul. I just didn't want to train a behavior that would be detrimental in the long run.

He is a gsp mix and here is a picture of him helping me build the dog house. He is an amazingly good dog, just wants to be with people all the time.

[PistolEd]

No pics uploaded on the last post. woops...

[Cicada]

Nice looking dog. How does he interact with other dogs? I have had dogs that just wanted to hunt but that was only after they got to be about 2 years old. How old is this dog?

Grant

[PistolEd]

Vet guess was about a year old. He isn't quite as well behaved around other dogs as I would have hoped, but I figure that comes from being at the shelter. He is excited to see the other dog, but then starts to growl and get aggressive if we get closer. So right now if we see another dog, we avoid them.

He mostly ignores our cat inside, but he's tried to dart after cats outdoors while on a walk, but he tries to dart after rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and birds (if they are on the ground). We got a training collar and he is learning "leave it", and is much improved, but he still gets all quivery when critters are near.

The picture of him by the tree was when we were working on Sit/Stay on a CC. He's looking at a cat across the street. Although I know if he wasn't on the cc, he'd have been after that cat...

[Fun dog]

I don't watch many movies, but we do have one hanging around the house. It's called See Spot Run and is about a dog that doesn't know how to play. This thread reminded me of that.

[pointstar]

Thanks for all the advice and things to think about. At least no one said it would be bad or detrimental to encourage him to do normal doggy things.

I am a very patient person and am in it for the long haul. I just didn't want to train a behavior that would be detrimental in the long run.

He is a gsp mix and here is a picture of him helping me build the dog house. He is an amazingly good dog, just wants to be with people all the time.

Ed, some people play chess, some play football, while others play harmonica and the luckiest people of all spend at least some time playing with a dog every day, you might have to find out what your dog likes. Remember, this animal has had some tough times, how tough you will never know, he got to the shelter for a reason, probably not of his own doing. Most dogs get more than their share of play from their littermates, then their new family, perhaps no one ever taught him what play is... It's a sad thought, but if I were you, I would let him tell you what he wants to do and accept him for what he is to some extent, at least on the play level, remembering that he already is the happiest animal in the World that you brought him home. Bye the way, I know someone will differ with this, but German Shorthaired pointers, even mixes do not belong in a Kennel, they belong in the home as a full member of the family, would you want to play if you lived in a cage?

[Ruffshooter]

How long have you had the dog?

[DonF]

How long have you had it is a good question. The dog is going to take some time to adjust to it's new environment. Dog sounds really insecure to me. Only a year old, it could be. I think most here have read about my time with Duke. He was as backward as backward can be but, he'd walk near a bird and go investigate, helped him a lot doing that. But duke was only nine or ten month's old. There was another dog I got in years ago. Six yr old male shorthair. Acted like what you describe, no interest in birds or hunting at all. The dog had been kept in a kennel it's whole life and was really backward. Got his motor going by taking him into a quail pen and just standing there till he did something. Took quite a while, maybe 45 min before he even got up from sitting by me to see what those things were running around in there. But he did start to notice them, even walked over to try and smell them a few time's. After several time's of that he tried to pick one up, it simply left. Then he tried a few more time's without any luck until he just come unscrewed, for him, and really made an effort to catch one. I stayed in there with him until he became consumed with catching one, never said one word to him in there. Then out to the field with some planted quail. I walked him into them, he came along as an obedient dog should. Hitting scent got his attention and before long he was doing his best to rip them out. Most people would not think his best was much to look at, but those would be people that never saw him before. He turned into a very good hundred yard hunting dog. Had the owner started him years before, he may have been a very good dog with more range. now I created a problem in that dog, taking out birds to letting him actually get them. Sometimes to fix a problem you have to create another. If you have access to birds, in this case quail and maybe chukar's, clip the flight feather's, hobble them loosely with a pipe cleaner and just throw a bunch on the ground and then ignore anything he does but keep walking him near them until he decides to investigate on his own. And then keep it up until he wants to catch them all. Do not use pigeons and especially not pheasants. The beating they can give him with their wings could be really overwhelming. if all you can get is pigeons, pull the flight feather's and put a layer of tape around the body holding the wings there or you can fold the wings to keep the bird from flapping its wings. Sometime's to fix one problem it is necessary to create another. Once your dog get's over itself and starts going after the birds right away, the worst problem, if it does, will be past.