The dog likes balls

I feel a little queasy. My dog and I walk around our neighborhood one maybe two times a day. Everytime he sees a ball, any ball, a basketball, a soccerball, some other dog's tennis ball, a child's dodgeball-type ball...any ball he sees he goes after which often includes lunging on the end of his leash, pulling my arm. He pulls hard-I have a bulging neck-disc to prove it-and I cannot let him have just any ball he wants. I feel that if there is a ball in someone's yard it is not his ball to have so I usually pull him along.

For about a week now he and I have been obsessed with a whiffle ball on the other side of a chainlink fence. It just sits there deserted by its owner. Pickles is crazy for it. The first time he saw it he reached through the fence and whined for it. The next time he attempted digging under the fence for it. The third time he stuck his nose through and then dug a little underneath. I let a couple days go by and then yesterday we visited and the ball had moved. The dog was able to reach through the fence and inadvertently batted the ball further away and I could tell the physical contact excited him somewhat. He started to dig and I pulled him away. Today we walked by a different yard and he went nuts for one of those heavy plastic children's bowling balls that was loitering in a yard. We kept walking. We walked by our friend the whiffle ball and he stuck his nose through and wanted to dig. we walked on.