With my dog, it's sticks. Yes he loves to chase balls. But I can hide the balls when I'm not in a playful mood. But I can't hide every stick. Unfortunately he has trained my friends to throw a stick when he barks. And he gets upset when I don't understand the throw command.

I had a Lab once who began (with no prompting or training on my part) to pick up his toys when he was done playing with them. However he also decided on his own that the bathtub was his designated doggie "toybox". He did that most of his adult life...

Dreyfus is my ball obsessed Golden...don't plan on relaxing at the beach if you take him...he knows the THROW command and uses it OBNOXIOUSLY! If we're at the beach we're on HIS time so CHILL doesn't work like it does at home. At 9 years old though he can chase that ball all day long, he'll break for a couple minutes...long enough for you to get comfy and then he's commanding you to throw it again. He's such a great boy!!

Our wonderful former border collie mix, Lady, spent most of her sixteen years rescuing abandoned tennis balls. We used to spend a weekend each fall at an inn near the summer community tennis courts on Hancock Point. Each time she walked past them she would stop, sniff the air and suddenly disappear into the dense brush adjacent to the courts. She would emerge in seconds with a ball, drop it at our feet and then repeat the process. Her recovery record over a three day period was 32 tennis balls. She amassed an amazing fortune of tennis balls over the years some of which we are still finding around the house a year after she has been gone. They became her passion as playthings and, in her younger years, she would play a form of hockey with my husband in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. He would attempt to score on her by kicking the ball past her. He rarely succeeded. After she caught it she would place it on the floor and roll it back to him by pushing it with her nose. She would do it for hours on end until we actually put the ball away... and then sometimes she would go find another one in her "stash" and roll it into the kitchen to continue the game.

Our current dog, Isla, is a frisbee fanatic. If she catches sight of it, she jumps straight up in the air and heads for the door. During a round of play, if she misses it, she will pick it up and shake it vigorously as if to shake off the bad mojo before bringing it back. We have to put it away when we get home or she will carry it around the house, eventually leaving it as a broad hint in places where we are bound to see it (my pillow, the toilet seat, the kitchen table, on the stairs). She will also hide it in her crate so she can cuddle with it when we are at work.

He must be the long-lost twin of my sister's Golden. But I think part of our Chewy's problem is he doesn't get enough attention. Sure, he won't leave you alone if you're in the yard with him, but he eventually settles down and follows the "rules" of the ball game. When I would get tired of playing, I used to put his ball on a fence post, just out of his reach. That would keep him occupied for a while. Eventually, he'd jump and stretch enough to get it down, but, until he did I could lie out in the sun in peace and quiet.

Poor guy. He's a great dog, just not interacted with enough. I miss him.

Even funnier, his "little sister" fox terrier likes to latch onto his tail when he's playing ball. She'll grab on and tug away- when he gets fed up with her, he simply sits down. She either moves, or gets squashed. They seem to have worked that out well...

I too share my life with a ball obsessed working breed, australian kelpie x with border collie. she is an amazingly intelligent girl, i can control the ball game with the very slightest sound or gesture, and she could, and has, played all day. even after going daily to the local park and she is worn out, once home she may find a bit of plastic or a rubber band or a ten cent coin, to her these are all great toys to chase and she will spit them at you repeatedly!our fox terrier x joins in, taking great advantage of her distractedness to chew at her hind limbs and yip with excitement while she waits for the ball to be thrown. i wouldn't swap my girl for the world but i do wish there was an off switch!