Puppy that Doesn't Play?

Have you tried separating the puppy from your other dog for special time with the people in the house (walks, obedience classes, special playtime) without the distraction of the other dog?

Hi,
 
Yes, I have separated him.  He is very trainable, very obeident, and very calm.
 
But, I can't get him to 'horse around' with me. It's like he is afraid to do anything but obedience tricks with a human. He looks at me like he's confused if I try to play with him. But if I give him commands like sit/come/lie he obeys. He loves being hand fed. In fact, he can have a whole bowl of food, and he would rather have me make him site for one piece of kibble thant to eat out of his bowl.
 
Cheers
PDXmom

I'm not sure what you mean by "horse around"-- encouraging dogs, particularly dogs that will be very large, to roughhouse with humans is generally a really bad idea. He may have previously been firmly discouraged from doing so. But, it is possible and often necessary to teach dogs to play fetch and tug of war. Pick a "special toy" and encourage him to interact with it, praising and giving him food rewards for doing so. You can find detailed descriptions of methods of "backchaining" the retrieve on line if you search. You can also buy "bridging toys" that can be stuffed with food to encourage food-motivated dogs to interact with toys (see [linkhttp://www.cleanrun.com]www.cleanrun.com[/link]).

I have to admit that once I tried to get him to do a little mouth play. But mostly by horsearound I have tried fetch, tug of war, playing with kong toys and other toys, batting the ball/toy around. He is simply not interested. Even when there is food in the Kong toy.
 
Got any ideas on how to play with such a pup? I've read the books and just can't seem to get him to do anything other than chase and nip, which is a behavior that I don't want him to do.

I think fetch is a good one to concentrate on - we tried and tried to get Wesley to fetch (read a lot about it and tried a bunch of things) - no luck...  until we bought squeeky balls (the colorful stuffed ones that are part of the games where the dogs put them in and take them out of a cloth cube).  Then, all of a sudden, Wesley was interested in the balls.
 
Then we had to deal with the fact that he would run off and guard the balls (definitely not the desired outcome) - so, we started handfeeding him his dinner between fetches (so, I throw the ball, he chases and brings it back and drops it for me - then he gets a small handful of kibble) - if your pup enjoys hand feeding, this might work for you.  I make a big deal of the fact that the bowl is on the counter...  If he started to wander away, I would shake the bowl and speak in a high pitched way acting like I was having all the fun with the food.  Eventually, he was fetching perfectly during dinner.  Then we started working in other places in the house and treating intermitantly.  Now - Wesley is fetching nearly perfectly in the house - and throwing the ball again is plenty reward for him bringing the ball back to me (although once in a while I still give him a treat for dropping the ball at my feet)...  He is not perfect outside yet - but I am sure that will come with time...  I know this is frustrating, our dog isn't really into playing with us either - but, he is 1000% better than when we got him 9 months ago.  Give it time and keep at it!

Thanks schleide. That sounds like a good suggestion. I'll give it a try this week.

Keep us posted - if this doesn't work I am sure others with more ideas will help too!  Good luck!

Hi everyone! having a similar prob with my dobey. he loves playig with his toys with people indoors but not outside? He just refuses to learn fetch, he'll sit and wait for me to throw it, i do so, he chases it, gets it, i call him to come back 'fetch', he ignores me and runs off with it! lol its like he has no interest to play at all with me outside apart from the chasing and nipping and jumping at me.. He's nrly 2 so its getting annoying.  
He likes to tug of war and sorta fetch indoors..
 
Its probubly me doing something wrong but any suggestions?
 

I clicker trained my basenji to play tug.  I think he was about 6 or 7 years, so it can be done, even with an older dog.

Do you have any idea of the dog's early background?  Often if a dog has been in a difficult situation -- they may learn what they NEED to learn to get along to 'please' the humans, but they truly may not know how to 'bond' with a human.  He's trying to 'please' you with obedience, but it sounds to me like the concept of 'fun' is NOT one he associates with humans.
 
That's going to come with time.  But spending one on one quality time with this dog -- encouraging this dog to just plain have FUN with you -- one on one with family members.  Just plain chilling and cuddling -- BONDING TIME. 
 
For some dogs this can take a LONG time.  But when the bond occurs it will be a strong one.  Just be patient -- when a pup has had a rough start, the inner puppy sometimes gets confused and this one thinks fun is ONLY to be had with other dogs.
 
We took a basset/beagle mix a year ago -- VERY similar -- she would 'play' with other dogs but not with us.  Humans were obviously ODD to her.  She tries to be obedient but truly listening TO humans and bonding with them has been TOUGH.  But she's come a long way and she's going to be a marvelous dog.

Some dogs just dont like to play.  Our pom loves getting petted and scratched, but it's impossible to keep up a game of fetch with him.  He used to do it when he was a puppy, but he just doesn't seem interested anymore.  Likewise, I used to be able to get him to chase me around outside by shaking a branchfull of dry leaves.  Now he just stares at me like, are you crazy? I'm not doing that.

If I were you I wouldn't encourage the puppy to nip your heels.  It could become a very bad habit, and when he's older, it'll become painful rather than cute.

Schleide's idea to train fetch using food is very good.  Personally I wouldn't bother if the dog just doesn't like to fetch.  But that would be the way to do it if you're set on teaching your dog to fetch.

Callie, You have described our 6 year old adoptee to the letter.  He does not, absolutely will not play--he's totally lacking the typical toy poodle sense of humor.  Along with that, he glances away when we look at his face, and he is NEEDY beyond belief, at all of us for reassurance constantly.  He doesn't know what to do with himself.  Time and patience are what we are giving him, along with obedience training and love. 

Update on our new pup - Marley
 
His worms are gone and he is feeling much better. and. . . . he plays now!
 
He even plays fetch. I think that he learned by watching the older dog play fetch with us. I'll tell you our older dog, who is very well trained/behaved and very happy, has been an excellent mentor for our new puppy.
 
Cheers
pdxmom/Monique