After you throw the ball, wait until the dog has his mouth on it. Once he does, your job is to move away from the ball, clapping and smooching to attract him in your direction. If you walk toward him, you’ve just initiated a chase game, but in the wrong direction. After all, he has the ball, he has your attention, and you’re moving toward him. What’s any good dog to do? He’s going to take off away from you because you’ve initiated the first steps of “tag, I’m it!” by running toward him. But if you can override your own natural tendency to get sucked into his version of keep away, you can
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