Hi Guys,
Well I've been reading a lot and the stuff that makes the most sense tells me that this dog has strong pack hunting instincts and she needs to chase, catch, shake and kill and chew on her prey. We play tug of war and ball to work out her chase catch shake chew kill instints, then we work on "give" so now she can hand me the ball or drop it so I can throw it again, and I think "give" is starting to work because she was (is) crazed about playing "tug". I even got the rope in my teeth yesterday and we played tug with our faces about a foot apart growling at each other...

We can be playing ball and if I suddenly point to a gopher mound and look at it attentively, she'll drop the ball, put her nose to the ground and start digging throwing dirt ten feet behind her. Her predatory instincts outweigh "ball" any day.

I think maybe I should try a fishing pole. There was some great swimmer wearing a harness and a guy with a flyrod with 10 pound test line and the swimmer could not get away. Anyway a whippy pole makes it possible to control a large animal with light line. I can see using a casting rod with 30 pound test on this dog, then I can real here in from 150 yards out...
Jim