Joxer was my Smooth Collie. I adopted him through Collie Rescue in October of 2001. He had been in rescue for 8 months or so when I adopted him. They think he was perhaps 2 -3 years old when he came to them.

Joxer had a lot of issues when I brought him home. He was afraid of many things in life. He was scared to death of children. The squeak sound of squeaker toys. Balls of any kind. Loud beeping type noises, like when your microwave beeps when it's done. Or most other electronic devices that make loud beeping type noises. Anything dropping or flying through the air. Do not throw a toy!

We had a LOT of things to work through when he came to live with me. We had to break down things into small pieces and find places to begin.

Some things we managed. All of the toys with squeakers got stored away and we never brought out again until after Joxer was gone.

Some things we were very careful about his exposure to. We had to be careful about when we did our walks to avoid kids catching the bus for school and school letting out in the afternoon. If we were out walking at those times, we were certain to stay far away from the schools in our neighborhood at the time.

If the neighbors across the street were playing basketball in their driveway, we sometimes would get stuck not being able to get back home if we were already out on a walk. If we had not left yet, sometimes we had to wait until they stopped. His fear was severe.

Joxer really had no idea how to play with toys at all when he came to me. None.

I decided to work on his fear of balls. Fortunately, he was HIGHLY food motivated. He would do just about anything for treats. Unfortunately, when I brought him home, he really had not had any training and did not know how to do anything.

When it came to balls, we started slowly. Balls could not be moving at all. And could not be raised in the air. Balls had to be on the floor and very still.

I literally started by just associating treats with balls nearby. Gradually working the treats closer to the ball. Eventually, he would nudge a ball to get the treat positioned just slightly under the ball.

Sometimes he could take a treat off from the top of a ball. He gradually got used to balls moving slowly. And never in the air, at first.

I had a few tennis balls with holes drilled in them so I could put treats IN the ball. A home-made puzzle toy!

He learned to nudge the ball and get the treats to fall out.

Over time, I was able to roll balls across the floor without frightening him. And very slowly, I was able to raise balls over his head, drop balls on the floor, bounce balls and even throw balls (never at him, of course).

He did overcome his fear of balls over time. But it took baby steps along the way to get there.

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