Does your dog try to run with the ball when you try to grab it, or does he try to play tug?

If he is running you should practice Come; Sit; Stay, then pet on the head.

If he is playing tug you should get a tug toy, play tug, and practice Out, or Drop, manually opening his mouth with your hand on his snout in the begining. Then Sit; Bite.

Try to seperate the game of fetch with the innapropriate behavior. Then when you play fetch use the commands you tought in a different situation and only accept the correct behavior. You can be more lax at first, and give praise, but as he learns what you want become more strict before you reward him.

Hope this helps....let me know how this works.
dylan Reviewed by dylan on . Dogs & Fetch Okay, so my Golden Retriever is a year old on Xmas day. He's a great dog, has never chewed things up, doesn't bark bad, doesn't bite, and hardly jumps up on people (still working on it with him)...oh, and did I mention that he's SMART. Was house trained at seven weeks old. I have been working more and more on fetch with the tennis ball. He knows "find it" "bring it here" etc etc...everything except DROP. I have read and tried just about everything...pressure point, having him on a lead, Rating: 5