I taught my kelpie to catch a tennis ball by bouncing it on the ground so that it lollipopped close to her face. She was already fetching very well by this stage. The bounce gave her time to watch the ball before it hit her face.
It didn't take long for her to start attempting to catch it, and now I lollipop the ball with no bounce and she loves catching it. I have a rubber ball that she fetches, and she will do her best to catch it on a bounce rather than scrap around on the ground for it.
If inside the house, I have a soft toy that I throw for her. She will jump up very high and try to catch it with both her mouth and her paws. She's much better at catching the soft toy, and sometimes amazes me at how she snatches it out of the air when I was actually throwing it past her for a fetch, not a catch!
