training two dogs to play

Question
I mean I would like to train both dogs to fetch and catch taking turns as I have not got a lot of time to play with them individually account of my work. I am the olnly one there so I have to play with them both together instead of individually.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I have a 11 year old yellow lab that loves to play frisbie and catch balls. I just got a 6 week old golden retriever puppy. They seem to get along great my yellow lab acts like a young dog again. My question is how old should my golden retriever pup be before I try to train him to play with me and my yellow lab. I would like to train both dogs to take turns. What are the best ways to do that and is it possible. I know some trainers say you should play with your dogs individually but that is difficult to do because the yellow lab feels left out. I had another golden retriever that died a month ago at age 6 they were very close but I still had a hard time getting them to share playing frisbie and catch epecially the yellow lab as he played by himself untill he was 5 years old. And after the other golden died I statrted to play with him a little bit alone because he missed the golden. I still try to play with the yellow lab while I have the pup but as I said before I would like to play with both and teach them to take turns. Truly hope you can help me.

         Yours truly Vince
-----Answer-----
I would play with the older dog first, and let the younger pup watch, either from his crate, or tied up. He will learn how to play by watching your older dog. When your older dog is tired, then you can put him in the house and play with the puppy. I don't think your older dog will mind! ;^)

What do you mean by "I would like to ... teach them to take turns"?

Answer
I doubt you're going to be able to teach them to take turns, unless you can teach them both good, solid, down-stays and teach them to only fetch when you say their name before the command. Frankly, that would take just as much (if not more) time as playing with each of them individually.


You could try playing 'two-ball' (or 'two-frisbee') with them. With that, you throw one, and when they bring it back to you, you throw the other one. They should drop the first one when they go off to get the second one, which allows you to pick it up and throw it again once they bring the other one back to you. You might also try a four-ball or four-frisbee approach, where you throw two at a time, but in opposite directions. The idea is that one dog will run after one, and the other dog will run after the other, but it doesn't always work out that way; sometimes they both run after the same one.