My Schipperke won't play fetch

My schipperke won't play fetch. It's always confused me. She'll follow the ball as I play with the other dogs. She'll even lean towards me as if to anticipate my tossing of the ball. She'll gladly take the ball if it's handed it to her, only to scurry off to a corner, frustrating the other dogs (they dare not take it from her). Don't even think of tossing the ball to her. She'll simply watch it bop her on the nose, look up at you, and walk away with a hurt feeling in her eyes.

This particular quirk has confounded me for some time. She's actually a very playful dog. She likes to be held. She likes to have her belly rubbed. She particularly likes to push back with her feet while on her back, prompting me to grab her feet and rock her back and forth. She loves this game.

Still, it seems like a dog should want to play fetch.

Another quirk, this one more concerning, is that sometimes when I reach to pet her, she hops back, only to come back waiting for me to reach out for her. My first reaction was that this was part of a suspicious streak common in skippies. She does it less often with my wife, so I haven't been too worried.

Well, the other day I figured it out - she likes to play chase - alot! Alot!

I'll reach for her. She'll lurch back. I'll wave me hands in a big scary gesture, and make like a monster, coming after her. The next several minutes are spent taking turns chasing each other around the house, culminating in a huge round of hugs and happy dog.

So the other day, I came up with a new game to play with our dogs. I get the tennis balls out, toss them out across the floor. I play soccer with the other dogs while Zim and play chase with each other. The other dogs are happy as I kick the bright yellow balls around the room, scurrying around to catch the balls. Zim is happy as long I can maintain a good game of chase while all this mayhem is going on.

After a good round of this game, the dogs are happy, and Zim happily comes up and sits next to me on the couch, content that her owner finally figured out how to play a good game of chase.