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Permalink Reply by Beth on January 24, 2014 at 3:03pm

Jack LOVES to play keep away, both with us and with other dogs. We have a game of tag where I run and slap him, then I go and hide my eyes and he comes and slaps me with his front paws and runs off again.

I have heard all my life to never ever play keep away with a dog because it teaches them to run off. However if your dog has a good "stay" and "leave it", they seem to understand perfectly well the difference between playing the game and waiting for you/dropping it when it's time for the game to end. And they are born knowing how to run off.... You just have to know your dog. If your dog frequently steals things that aren't his and won't give them back, this should not be encouraged. But if he plays this game with his own toys and will gladly give them up when the game is over, you should be fine.

Maddie never plays keep away. She only likes to chase, not be chased.

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Permalink Reply by Appa and Iroh on January 25, 2014 at 9:51pm

Yeah, Appa only does it with her toys and knows when enough is enough.

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Permalink Reply by Ivy on January 24, 2014 at 4:21pm

Ein loves to play keep away as well. I use a phrase so she knows when she can run "chasing". Then "all done" when the game is over and she needs to give back the toy or sock. It seems to have avoided any bad habits.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy & Sir Bentley on January 24, 2014 at 6:51pm

I agree with Beth.

We taught Bentley at a very early age to "drop it".

When he dropped the toy, we praised him and said "thank you"

Then we gave the toy back to him.

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Permalink Reply by Jen Giammona on January 24, 2014 at 7:41pm

Linus does this with just about everything which makes it both funny and annoying to try to play with him. Sometimes you want to just play fetch or tug and he just takes the toy and runs off. It's really funny though, he'll do it in the yard when we play fetch with a ball too. He'll take the ball and make like he's going to drop it and then he'll run off with it. He's so silly.

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Permalink Reply by Laura Rochette on January 24, 2014 at 8:32pm

Lucy only plays keep away with her toys (thank goodness she understands which are her toys!) and she has a funny little, playful growl to go along with it. When we are outside and I have her ball or frisbee, she will chase after it when I throw, but bringing it back is beyond her--she never caught on to "fetch." I just follow her until she gets tired of carrying it, then we start all over again! She's a hoot.

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Permalink Reply by Vicky Hay on January 25, 2014 at 6:32pm

Weirdly, I once had a cat that would do this. Possibly it's carnivore or predator play?

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Permalink Reply by Lee Gordon Capraro on January 27, 2014 at 10:03am

That's just part of the game for her.

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Permalink Reply by Sirius_Blaidd_Cardis on January 27, 2014 at 10:43pm

Blaidd does this too! He'll bring his tennis ball and sit behind me while I'm on the computer. If I don't notice him right away he growls at me to grab it, but as I reach for the ball, he picks it up and runs about 3 feet away. Only way I'm allowed to have it is if he has two toys - the ball and another for in his mouth. That means it's fetch time!

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Permalink Reply by Di, Pazu, and Mochi the Bunny on January 30, 2014 at 6:22pm

Pazu loves this game too... but it's funny when he has a toy in his mouth and I grab another small toy and start playing with it and drop it in front of him. Pazu hesitantly puts down the toy he has in his mouth and as I reach to grab it, Pazu then proceeds to shove both the small toy and the original toy into his mouth.  

Basically he has shoved up to 3 toys in his mouth just to play "keep away" with me.  It's so cute and funny! 

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Permalink Reply by Appa and Iroh on January 31, 2014 at 12:17am

lol, Appa has done this once or twice. Usually if I bring out another toy she'll forget all about the one she's carrying (easily distracted, for sure) :)

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