How to Teach The Basics of 'Treibball' or 'Push Ball': A Great New Game for Energetic Dogs!

'Treibball', 'Herding Ball' or "Push Ball", is a new sport from Germany that is a lot of fun for both handler and dog. The equipment needs are minimal and dogs of any size can be trained to play.

In this video, Jessie & Lucy introduce you to the basic skills needed to play. It's a great rainy day activity to burn mental and physical energy! Ball should be your dog's shoulder to head height, and Yoga balls work well. If your dog keeps popping the ball, try a hard plastic 'pig ball' or horse "Jolly" type ball.

If you want to work on the more advanced skills, instead of where I use the 'wait', practice sending the dog to a mat or foot target behind the ball, teaching directionals (left, right) and ball selection.
Enjoy!

Link to video of dog playing the Treibball game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBJ9DVp9dyM

Treibball rules:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5839548/treibball_a_new_dog_sport_fr...

Want to ask questions?
Check out this discussion group:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/treibball/

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• treibball
• push
• ball
• bc
• dog
• training
• soccer

[collbonz]

awesome. now I know what do work on with my BC mix this spring. he's going to be 1 and I was waiting to give him a sport until his legs were fully formed. this is perfect for a herding breed like him. great videos!

[supernaturalbc2009]

@collbonz Glad you like it! Check out my other videos about teaching a paw target as they will come in handy later for send outs and when working with multiple balls. It's a great sport of ages and sizes as it is not as taxing on them physically as other sports can be.

[crocheter0808]

This is one of the better videos I've seen on teaching Treibball. I have two Border Collies that would LOVE this game. We play "herding" with a Jolly Ball now, but they have very little self control when it comes to balls...of all sizes, which is what has held me back from teaching this to them. They go into orbit when they see a ball. How would I work on that self control, since that is a very important part of this sport?

[supernaturalbc2009]

@crocheter0808 Start with w]training the presence of, but not with any interaction with the ball. The ball should be far enough away that the dog can focus on you and be successful. Move it closer incrementally. Eventually have the ball right nearby but ask for other related behaviors such as 'go around'. If the dog can't focus, start with placing the ball on a chair or box above nose level, then lower it as the dog learns to control self.

[supernaturalbc2009]

@crocheter0808 Next ask for a nose push once in ten times. Then twice in nine etc. Only progress if the dog uses self control. Using a paw target or mat also helps give the dog a different focus than the ball. Train that separately without the ball present, then with it at a mistaken as before. (see one of my videos with the rat terrier on shaping a paw target for distance). Good luck!

[edwardtheinsane]

I am going to try this with my dog! If I don't ever plan to be in competitions, I assume the same techniques would work if I used soccer balls or something? He already likes those type of balls.

[supernaturalbc2009]

@edwardtheinsane It's actually easier with larger balls, especially if your dog bites the smaller ones. otherwise you have ti go bcd and proof for the biting. As they get more excited about it, they tend to bite the ball.

[amazingmutts]

Love it! My Siberian Husky loves to herd everything, but just started to herd our basset hound, Sara. It's kind of funny but Sara isn't too thrilled about it. I've been wanting to look into treiball and came across your video. I'll start working with her on this soon. I think she'll love it!

[lsw004]

This is a really great video! Nice work!

[pacificprospector]

Concept training becomes handy when you have a novel situation and can use known cues to talk your dog through the new scenario without the dog ever having done a similar scenario in the past as in service dog training. It's pretty cool!

[pacificprospector]

@Butterfort I know people that use the same cues for the same behaviours in different sports, while others make up different ones for different sports as they are worried they might mess up the already known cues. It depends on the level of training you plan to take your dog to. The more different scenarios the dog learns a cue, the more they are likely to start understanding them as a concept. (right or left, for example).

[pacificprospector]

@Pandaraze I love it as it takes little space or equipment ad can be done pretty much anywhere. Dogs seem to really enjoy it!

[Pandaraze]

This is great! I've been looking for an easy and fun hobby for me and my BCx, and this seems just perfect!

[Butterfort]

This is a wonderful video. :D I do have a question though, I have an eight month old lab x collie, and would love to do Treibball with him in the future. He currently knows "far" and "out" for agility training, which is where he will go around and object, in two different directions. I was wondering if I should just apply "wait" to these commands, or if I should make an entire new command for a Treiball "go around" and "wait"?

[alomaro]

Great Tutorial!!!!Thanks!!!

Saludos

Omar