Why You Might Want To Reconsider Playing Fetch With Your Dog

Rhiannon
7 days ago
4 min read

A Corgi chasing after a ball during a game of fetch.

Fetch. A classic game well-known by most dog guardians. At first glance, it seems like an efficient and convenient way to burn off some of your dog's energy. And many dog guardians report that their dog loves the high intensity chase.

In reality, however, traditional fetch might be inadvertently feeding into your dog's less pleasant and tricky behaviors such as reactivity, demand barking, and inability to settle despite receiving hours of exercise (like playing fetch) each day. Let's take a closer look at what's actually happening during games of fetch.

Fetch Might Be Too Much...

For some dogs (especially working dogs like German Shepherds, Border Collies, and the Belgian Malinois) the high-paced, high-intensity, and highly repetitive chase can get them stuck in a dopamine loop.*

Despite being widely thought of as the "reward" hormone, dopamine is better described as the "anticipation" hormone. So, when a dog sees their beloved ball, Frisbee, or toy being thrown, they get a surge of dopamine along with other powerful chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol. In less than 60 seconds, they grab the item, bring it back, and it gets launched again - starting the cycle all over again, and leaving no time for that potent concoction of hormones to return to baseline.

Therefore, when a dog plays traditional fetch multiple times a day, or even several days a week, it can be easy to see how they get stuck in states of over arousal - they have a hard time settling down because they have formed an addiction to alertness, movement, a chase, and stimulation. It gets to a point where fetch is no longer a fun game - it becomes an obsessive need.

To put this into a context most people can understand - fetch to our dogs can become an addiction much like gambling or "doom" scrolling for humans.

And when fetch isn't being played they still need to get their "fix." This is where troubling behaviors can arise. The demand barking for more fetch or play. The acute sensitivities and reactivity to bicyclists, cars, joggers, and/or other dogs. Never seeming to "turn off." Jumping, biting, or humping out of frustration.

Over time, the constant elevation of the "dopamine loop" hormones can cause our dogs to suffer gastrointestinal issues, a weakened immune system, and disrupted sleep cycles. This can also cause behavioral issues such as resource guarding, obsessive behaviors, hyper-vigilance, and destructive behaviors in addition to the behaviors mentioned above. Too often these symptoms are mistaken as the root problems, potentially leading to numerous vet visits, misdiagnoses, re-homing, and in severe cases, behavioral euthanasia.

Working-line dogs are especially prone to this fetch-pitfall because of what they were bred to do. By design, these dogs have strong predatory instincts (though the parts of the predatory sequence that are intact varies between working breeds, and will vary within individuals - more on this in a moment).

A herding-breed dog running across a field with a Frisbee as part of a game of dynamic fetch.

... While Being Too Little

Depending on your source of information there may be slight variations in what the predatory sequence looks like, and in general it goes something like this:

Scent, Scan, Search
Eye
Orient
Stalk
Chase
Grab Bite
Kill Bite
Dissect
Consume

As you can imagine, wolves have a fully intact predatory sequence - they engage in all of the above steps. Because of human selection and breeding of dogs, some breeds exhibit more or less of the sequence and some breeds have very little predation instincts. You can likely imagine the difference in what the predatory sequence might look like when comparing a German Shepherd to a Chihuahua, however, it's important to note that there are variations within breeds - you just might find yourself as the guardian of a successful bird-hunting French Bulldog, or a particularly couch-potatoey Malinois.

Working dogs, such as those used for herding, hunting, and pest control, often have higher prey instincts, and more of the predatory sequence intact. Now, looking at fetch, we can see that at most, the parts of the sequence that are fulfilled are: Eye, Orient, Chase, Grab Bite. If being thrown fast enough, a dog may not get an adequate amount of time to fully see or orient to what's being thrown.

At best, traditional fetch still excludes over 50% of the predatory sequence, potentially leaving your dog without an outlet for instincts they're just itching to fulfill. This is particularly important to note for those working dogs whose needs go beyond eyeing, orienting, chasing, and grabbing.

So, while being too much for your dog's nervous system to healthily handle, fetch may also be falling short of your dog's natural needs.

The Fix

Luckily, there are myriad ways to fulfill your dog's natural needs, most of them being just as easy and convenient for dog guardians as fetch - and yes, even for your high-drive working dog.

Here's a (non-exhaustive!) list of healthy ways to engage and fulfill your dog. Instead of traditional fetch, you might try:

Pattern games (e.g., Control Unleashed book)
Nose/scent work and games
Predation substitute training (e.g., Hunting Together book)
Sniff walks
Hikes or walks in new places
Swimming
Off-leash running/exploring (e.g., private dog park, such as Sniffspot)
Free shaping
Positive and fun training sessions
Treat/food puzzles
Herding games (e.g., Better Than Fetch online course)
Triebball
Agility
Structured games of tug, flirt pole, and dynamic fetch (play these sparingly, one to two times a week at most, with clear "all done" signals, and dog's reliable ability to disengage)

It will also be crucially important to give your dog time and space to decompress and rest. To facilitate this, a calm and quiet environment is best, and something to chew (e.g., antler, bully stick, etc.) or lick (e.g., lick mat or bowl, Pupsicle**) can help regulate their nervous system.

If you feel your dog is "too far gone," you don't know where to start helping your dog down-shift their mental gears, and you'd like help developing a customized protocol, I'm here for you. Just fill out this form and I'll be in touch; and you'll be one step closer to recalibrating your dog's brain for a happier, healthier, more balanced life for both of you.