Training a dog to play catch isn't that difficult if you've got just a little time and a lot of patience. Dogs live to please their people, and this is a great way to help them do it!

Steps

1. If possible, start working with them when they are still puppies.
2. Choose an object small enough to fit into their mouth but too large to swallow.
3. Begin rolling or tossing the object to them from just a few feet away. They will normally mouth the object to establish what it is. Where we feel objects with our fingertips, dogs use their mouth.
4. When pup finally picks the object up, do whatever you normally do to get pup's attention with the intent of calling her to you.
   • The goal here is to get the dog to come to you and bring the tossed object with her!
5. Practice this exercise several times each day and soon your dog will be fetching from long distances and providing copious amounts of exercise to you both!

Tips

• Keep the practice sessions short at the beginning, on the order of five minutes. You may need to go even shorter with some breeds. Puppies have proportionally short attention spans just like human children. Don't turn "fetch" into a drudgery.

Warnings

• Whatever routine you decide to practice, stick with it until it becomes a conditioned behavior (see: Pavlov). Asking the dog to do different things on subsequent throws will only confuse it during the early phases of its development.