Besides the unlimited amount of loving attention and food, most dogs will also love balls and the endless game of fetch.
Even the breed of dogs who doesn’t like to play the game will be intrigued with the unique look of the ball. However, compared to those who love to play fetch, they’d rather keep the ball.
Perhaps you are wondering why your dogs love the ball so much. Apparently, their perception towards the balls is different compared to human.
The eagerness to chase them can be traced during the early history of mankind.
The Predatory Behavior of the Dogs
To help the early dogs survive in the wild, they highly rely on their predatory skills. These behaviors are innate and considered necessary for their survival.
With this unique instinct, their hunting skill was gradually developed. Humans started domesticating dogs 15,000 years past; they were normally trained to help the early humans to hunt and to retrieve food.
Dogs that were originally good at retrieving stuff were the dogs that were originally bred. Their skills have been inherited by their puppies that created their inherent skills to chase objects especially balls.
The predatory behavior of the domestic dogs is not as prominent compared to their wild counterparts.
We will discover a wide range of dog breeds that has that predatory instinct, but through selective breeding, that predatory nature has been customized.
Thanks to this customization, we humans were able to enjoy having a canine companion that is built to fulfill several tasks.
Herding dogs still possess that instinct, but their tamed instinct also encourages them to protect the animals that are being herded.
There are dogs that are also designed to retrieve knocked out fowls, but they will retrieve them gently and will not leave any visible teeth mark. There are pointers who have predatory skills that are limited to pointing.
Spaniels, on the other hand, are intended to locate the birds allowing the hunter to shoot the animals.
How Dogs Perceive the Ball
Although their predatory behaviors have been tamed down, their instinct to chase something that is moving is still deeply engraved on their system.
Since today, there are not a lot of animals that they can chase; they will need to find an outlet to release their true nature. They may play Frisbee, chase bikes, dig holes, and chase balls.
Dogs look at the moving balls as a substitute prey that fills their predatory needs. Some dogs will even tear the balls apart but only in a playful manner.
Once the owner decided to toss the ball, the movement of the ball is unpredictable, and erratic that resembles the movement of the cornered prey.
Notice how the dogs will shake the balls once they catch it. The brisk shake that they do is intended to break the neck of the prey. The furry layer of the ball that resembles the fur of the wild creature will also be removed, and other dogs will break it into pieces.
This behavior is not a sign of aggression; however, it is still the responsibility of the owner that the predatory instinct of their dog will not lead into troubles.
