This golden is really intense after these snowballs. You’ll note that he catches several of them.
Retrieving is so intrinsically rewarding that the dog will continue doing it, even if the object dissolves into the snow. Some dogs catch onto the trick and give up on it.
I don’t think I have to tell you that this what I think a golden retriever should be!
I used to have a dog back in the ’90’s that would do that.
She would only chase and play fetch for frisbees and snowballs, not anything else. Throw her a tennis ball and she might fetch after it once, then just sit and watch it after that. But for snowballs and frisbees she would keep playing until she could hardly walk (she had a spinal problem that made her back legs weak). The pet store that sold her to my (obviously naive) brother told him that the dog was a purebred beagle, but she was, in fact, a mutt of many breeds.
We have these snow ball sessions at least three times per day when it snows! One of us will stand in the middle of the dog “island” in my condo complex and toss left and right until we can’t anymore (it’s always one of us who calls it quits, never Baxter). In that video, Baxter was pretty slow…it was 7 AM this morning. We had our last session of the night around 9 PM and he was tearing around the island after those snow balls.
Just for fun, here’s a picture from last winter with a far more beautiful backdrop:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanninepc99/3322957711/in/set-72157614318710441/
Not only will our golden mix catch and search for disappeared snowballs, but she’ll also insist on carrying them during walks. Then, she gets all sad and pouty when it disappears, or is eaten down too much. All is well when I give her another snowball to carry.
It’s strange, she’ll catch snowballs, but can’t catch a treat to save her life.