Playing

[bluestorm]

Posted at the same time! It is the same for willow , her drive is low ,one thing the trainer did say is don`t engage play in the house , save it for outside ..

[sami]

Dont worry too much Stuart. I agree all dogs should play but with an abused dog it can take a long time to regain their confidence. Your case sounds very like Leo. When you try to play fight or put something in his mouth to tug he will open his jaws as wide as he can desperate not to hold on to it, it can be quite upsetting he is obviously frightened to show and possessiveness or dominance.

But aside from that he is very happy as I am sure Jazz will be.

As I said before the only way he will play is if he stays on his extenda lead with me running behind him like an idiot and I can tell you I am not as fit as I used to be to be running frantically across a field with a walking stick in one hand and a dog lead in the other!!

[bonanza1]

Not sure if this will help but when we had Remy and needed to replace a torn up Kong Wubba he wouldn't play with the new one unless we walked him with it, we used to put it in his mouth and hold the tassle end to walk him, once he got used to the new one he would start pulling on it gently to get it out of our hand.

Regards

Ian

Walking with something might be an idea if I can get her to hold it long enough she might think of it as hers,.. thanks Ian

[talknerdytome]

We had a very similar problem with Murphy actually, I don't think he'd ever really played before, and it's heartbreaking. We found running at him and freezing, and then running off in another direction made him chase us, and then eventually he played. I also heard that getting toys out at dinner time/when you get home is a good way to get them to play and get excited over toys.