Canine Golf Ball Retriever

[Schnee]

So I like to practice my golf swing in my back yard and hit balls. My 7 month old border collie also loves to grab my golf balls when I go to hit them. She's really smart and learns trick really quickly. Anybody good with training dogs want to give me some tips on how I can get her to get the balls for me. I'd really like to train her to sit while I hit the ball and then go run after it. Right now, if I put a ball on the ground she'll grab it right away. I need her to stay so I can hit the ball, and then have her run and go get it. Any advice?

[CCUgolfer23]

My dog does the same, but she is just not starting to bring them back to me. But she still tries to steal them from time to time.

[CHARGERS]

Adopt a Lab, the come already trained!!!!

[Schnee]

Well we adopted our puppy rory! She's actually a border collie-lab mix so she's built to retrieve! We got her at 8 weeks old though so no pre-training. I started working with her with training treats. Seems to be working a bit better. If I get her to do it ill post a video.

[Jbird33]

Sit behind her, hold the collar. Throw the golf ball. Don't let her go until she sits still, and don't let her get a ball until you let her go. Let her go and call her name at the same time. This is what you will "release" her on later on. It will take a while until she learns this is what you want. Oh, and general obedience needs to be good before you start this, she absolutely needs to know sit, stay, here, etc. P.M. if you are serious about it, I have trained more than a few dogs in retriever field trials, where you are dropped from competition if the dog "breaks" or leaves before you send it. It's easy, just takes a while. Border Collies are known to be intelligent, and I am sure she will get it. Saying that, I second the lab comment!

[Jbird33]

Re-reading what you wrote, it really sounds like you need to work on OB the most now.

[Senna]

Mine will go get and bring back the ball but anything over a 20 yard chip and he just cant see it flying through the air.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

When I was in high school the kid next door had a Doberman who would fetch golf balls. He'd hit wedge shots from the empty lot between his house and ours into the edge of the woods across the street.

Of course he hit balls faster than the dog could shag them so the dog just kept shuttling back and forth bringing back the first ball he saw. Then the kid would go get the rest when he was ready to quit.

Great workout for the dog, that...