Dog Park Etiquette: Ball Thieves

This is one of those points of etiquette I never thought I’d have to write about. I don’t know, it just seemed to be common sense, but it actually came up the other week.

And just to be clear, Larry has both been a ball thief and a ball thief victim, so I know this issue from both sides.

I know, its your dog’s favorite ball, and he is not happy. He is chasing the other dog (which might be exactly what the other dog was looking for) or he has come back to you, sitting and whining. Either way, your dog is unhappy because he ball is in the mouth of another dog.

If the other dog comes back to you with the ball (this happens rarely, but it does happen), you can ask the dog to “drop it” or “leave it”. Sometimes the other dog just wants to play fetch as much as yours does.

More likely, though, if the other dog wants to play fetch, it will go to it’s owner to drop the ball. That person should get your ball for you and return it. Usually with a smile and an apology, which you should wave off. After all, dogs are dogs.

If the ball thief does not go to a particular person and just keeps running like it’s a game, you need to locate the dog’s owner and ask them to get the ball back for you. (They should already be on top of this, but if they’re not, simply politely ask.)

It is always the job of the owner of the ball thief to get the ball.

Grab hold of a strange dog and try to pull a ball out of its mouth. This is not safe for you or the dog, and will likely upset the owner. And by no means should you bonk the dog on the head with the ball chucker, or in any way attempt to discipline a dog that is not yours.

You are human, you should deal with the human.

This is pretty simple- it is your job to get the ball back from your dog and return it to its rightful owner.

Sometimes this means chasing your dog a little bit when you’d rather stand around talking with friends. That doesn’t matter. Its just like with toddlers. Your “child” has taken something that belongs to another “child”. It is your job to make sure that the toy gets returned.

Apologize to the owner whose dog your dog took the ball from. Most of the time, they will be gracious and wave it off.

The important thing to remember is that it is YOUR job to deal with YOUR dog.

Stand 50 feet away, ignoring your dog while talking with your friends. When you finally notice that your dog is a ball thief and that the owners of the ball are trying to get it back from you dog, you should not proceed to yell at them and try to call your dog while they are holding it.

At that point, you need to walk over and remove the ball from your dog’s mouth and hand it to them.

If you’re feeling a little hostile (which you might be if it looks like people are bonking your dog on the head with a ball chucker) and you’re afraid the dog will pick up on that, ask the people to release the dog so that he can come to you, and you’ll get the ball back.

Like I said, I never thought I’d have to write something like this. But not too long ago, this situation occurred. The ball thief was a giant Rott- a sweet, gentle soul, like most Rotts I’ve met, who just did not want to give the ball back.

How owner was busy standing around with her friends, watching the other dogs they were there with and ignoring this one completely, until she started yelling at the people trying to get their ball back. (I have no idea how long the dog had had the ball, as I didn’t notice the situation until the yelling began.)

Whether the dog was ever bonked with the chucker, I don’t know. One side accused, the other side denied.

What I do know was that there was no attempt at communication between owners until yelling began. And that is what put both sides in the wrong.

The first group shouldn’t have detained a strange dog to try and get their ball back. The owner should have been paying enough attention to her dog that it never had to come to that.

The owner of the Rott and her friends then took their dogs and stomped back up the hill to go home. I understood why they were upset, but at the same time, I wasn’t sad to see them go.