Welcome to Day 73 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
toyless/treatless interactions that are playful and silly
develop your goofiness as we work toward no-toy play that is truly cooperative and joyful
play is the ultimate in relationship boosting, stress busting fun
social and cognitive based enrichment
play and engagement form the foundation of relationships and successful training
lots of these exercises can get pretty exciting, so it might be better that smaller children not take part but help in preparing training rewards.
Children can be great dog trainers but require lots of guidance and support.
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
no formal training sessions today, no contrived enrichment scenarios – make it natural, make it delightful, make it goofy
What do you need?
just you and your pet!
We will talk about human-dog play throughout this program, and have already started with Fun with Food games on Day 32.
Enrichment Goals:
to make the fun about the engagement and interaction and not training exercises, food rewards or toys
to build engagement between dog and human
to build that bond between dog and human
to have a fun and rewarding experience in social situations, between dogs and humans
We are not working on training exercises today but I do want to make sure that we understand that all behaviour is reinforced or punished. Reinforcers increase behaviour, punisher decrease it.
So, if behaviour is happening something is reinforcing it, and if it’s not happening, something is punishing it.
Play is no different. Just like cueing behaviour and your dog responding is a dance of communication, play is too. Perhaps, even more so.
You do behaviour, your dog responds, you respond, your dog responds, you respond and so on and on.
This allows for a wonderfully complex level of communication between two species, forging a most health relationship between our two species.
This is a level of social and cognitive enrichment that’s tricky to replicate.
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
Today’s challenge is about keeping it simple and collecting information from your observations.
What sort of interactions, between your dog and you, make your dog smile?
No treats, no toys, just you and your pet.
Maybe it’s just a passing interaction, a little touch, a fun movement, a silly voice.
There doesn’t need to be any duration to these interactions, a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes is good.
Sit on the floor. Wait for your dog to check you out. Try some different moves and see which ones cause your dog joy and get them wanting more.
Practice those.
Keep it really simple today – get a good understanding of inter-species play, and how we humans often get it pretty wrong.
Applications of Play:
Play is a tricky thing that we think we recognise if we see it, but might not be able to adequately define it. And that’s the case in the literature too.
We think that animals play, but we’re not really sure why. The play research suggests we start by defining play so here’s a simple run down…
play for play’s sake, because you choose to play
play is fun, and that’s enough
play feels good and we want to engage in play (you don’t have to play)
play can sometimes look serious, but there are important differences; the serious parts happen out of order or in the absence of normal triggers relative to the serious stuff
play is creative, spontaneous and improvised
play happens when we feel safe – time should fly, you should feel less self-conscious
And although there might be some agreement on how we might define play, when it comes to deciphering the functions of play, there are lots of differences.
Play probably helps animals prepare for swings in emotion, gets them ready and honed for life and let’s not forget, play is fun! Having fun is a viable function of behaviour.
Dogs and humans play differently and dog-dog play differs from dog-human play (and differs from human-human play). But, like in so many areas, dogs and humans share tons of the basic rules of social interactions.
As is so often typical of us humans, we often approach play in the way we think the dog should play or in the way we think the dog should enjoy playing. And this so often turns the dog off play, changes the nature of games and ultimately causes break downs in communication and relationship.
I spend a lot of time working on improving relationships between pets and their people; that’s what this entire project is about too. I also spend a lot of that time helping people play with their dogs (certainly not the worst job in the world!).
I incorporate play in almost every training and behaviour program I design. My most common problem is that people don’t appear to know how to play with their dogs and sometimes don’t value play’s importance, whether that be toy based games, or just silly, playing interactions.
Our trainers will tell you that that is something that causes me great stress and concern – I take play very seriously, playfully serious and seriously playful!
I believe that play is life, and play is a way of dealing with life. Improving your play with your dog does so much more than just fun with food.
Just because you (think you) utilise reward based training, R+, “force-free” or whatever “positive” label, doesn’t mean it’s a happy, playful learning experience. Teaching playful behaviour isn’t the same as playing.
The beauty of establishing these foundations is that the more you play together, the more you will each shape one another’s behaviour. Your behaviour will evolve, adapt and adjust to your player.
The ultimate goal in play is to get really nice play-interactions, without treats or toys. The two players, dog and human, are participating for the pure joy. That’s coming soon!
Play starts with an invitation and consent, the players make eye contact and ask if they want to keep the game going; play is cooperative so we ask and answer. Play involves mirroring of behaviour and balanced participation.
Today, we continue on the road to wonderful, consent-full, choice-led, partnership based play between dog and human. What could be better than that?
Play Dos and Don’ts
Do
play in really short sessions
get their attention first
invite play
get consent
and keep asking if they would like to continue…
practice – play is like any other behaviour
Don’t
bring too much intensity
push the toy at the dog
make it too exciting when the dog is just starting to show interest
expect too much
rely on food too much
get stuck
play too long
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
My favourite playa, whose capacity for joy, fun and play apparently knows no bounds and has me in amazement and awe (and sometimes bewilderment) every day.
Welcome to Day 72 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
toys that dispense food when pushed, rocked, or manipulated
may be commercially available toys or homemade
food based, cognitive based and sensory based enrichment
may provide outlets for cognitive challenge and puzzling, but care must be taken to avoid frustration
get the family involved in this one – for the most part, the dog will be doing all the work but children might like to help prepare food dispensing toys for their pets
look closely at the sorts of behaviours required to solve the puzzle – most are pretty similar but some will stretch your puzzler’s abilities
What do you need?
Pringles or similar tubes
old tennis balls or other old toys
lattice balls
commercially available treat dispensing toys
Enrichment Goals:
to encourage manipulation of the toy
provide outlets for puzzling and cognitive challenge
to encourage interaction with their environment and help in the development of behaviours/strategies for manipulating the item, acquiring edible parts or dissecting
to encourage feeding behaviours, beyond just eating
to encourage a wide range of foraging and exploratory behaviours by offering toys of different design, expanding the dog’s behavioural repertoire
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
While this challenge is certainly food based, they are also experiencing cognitive, sensory and environmental enrichment, with lots of crossover between categories.
Working out how to get to the food and developing dexterous skills in manipulating the toys are examples of cognitive challenge.
Sniffing out, tasting and chewing food all offer sensory pay off, but so does finding their way through each food puzzle, determining its value, and engaging in the puzzle of getting to the good stuff.
Puzzles encourage pets to interact with their environment – just the very interaction with the toy is encouraging the pet to manipulate their surroundings, to get the things they like.
By offering a variety of puzzles, we want to help the dog expand their range of puzzle-busting behaviours and facilitate your pet applying strategies from other puzzles to new ones; that’s a true cognitive gift and is growing your dog’s brain!
How can we achieve these goals?
provide your dog with a safe, comfy space for working on puzzles
some of these toys can be pretty noisy so think about playing on softer flooring, like carpet for example, and take care with furniture that might get scuffed and beaten up, so consider the area in which you work carefully
remember, there might be mess so think of that for clean-up
try a range of dispensers to assess which your dog prefers and to see which behaviours they need help with
the more difficult you have made the challenge, the higher the value the reward must be so use HIGH value foods to motivate exploration and experimentation and make it VERY easy to get the food (no frustration!)
if your dog just dives in, in full on destruction mode that might also be an indicator that they need an easier challenge so they get to experiment with a broader range of behaviours
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of food dispensing toys:
Some of the first and most widely available ‘enrichment’ toys for dogs were food and treat dispensing toys so they have been around a long time, in one form or another. Many pet owners will be familiar with them and will have seen them in pet shops and suppliers.
Because they are so often referred to as ‘treat’ dispensers, many pet owners might think them relevant only to treats and occasional use. Now, there are a wide range of these toys available, in lots of different designs requiring different puzzle busting skills.
I split food dispensing toys into two broad categories, depending on the type of behaviour they encourage: pacifying and activating.
Stuffables and lickables/lappables, when used appropriately, are pacifying encouraging lapping and chewing.
Activating toys, like today’s food dispensers, will invariably encourage the dog to move about, often having to manipulate the toy with more force and movement.
You can use stuffable toys and fill them with drier food and treats which will encourage the dog to bounce or roll them, providing an activating effect.
Because some of these toys are heavier, wobbly or big, some dogs may be cautious of them. But, I am more concerned about how these toys tend to be introduced. There is often limited means to decrease or increase the challenge so dogs are left to work it out, experiencing frustration and the resulting arousal.
This may not be enriching after all.
Enrichment Options
Food dispensing toys might be homemade or bought.
Because of the home made nature and variable materials used in of the puzzles today, it’s best to supervise your pet carefully when they have access to them.
Know your dog! If you have an ingester, take great care and supervise them closely.
If you are concerned about your dog ingesting non-food items during puzzling, have a pocketful of HIGH value treats and be ready to toss a couple toward your dog, across their eyeline, if you think they are thinking about eating something they shouldn’t.
Making sure the challenge is very doable and they can get to the hidden food rewards quickly is key to modifying their behaviour and expectations during puzzling.
Check all your equipment for this challenge carefully and make sure to remove tape, staples, other fasteners, small pieces and plastic pieces. Play safe!
Care should be taken with bought toys too as they may not be built for chewing or particularly destructive efforts.
Watch your dog closely for behaviours that might eventually help solve the puzzle. Be ready to toss some food rewards to the dog for those behaviours, even if they don’t solve the puzzle. This will help to prevent them becoming too frustrated or destructive.
Homemade Food Dispensing Toys
Make a simple food dispensing toy using a Pringle tube or similar:
You can use any container with a lid too. Just make some holes and secure the lid. If using a larger container, like a lunchbox, you can add some blockers such as scrunched up paper or cardboard toilet roll tubes so that the food doesn’t just fall out.
Use an old tennis ball or other old toy with a hole in (or make a hole):
There are a wide range of toys available in shops and online. Most require that the dog move the toy, either with their feet or nose, to move the toy so that food falls out.
Kong Wobblers typify this category of activating food dispensing toys:
Introduce these toys carefully to avoid the dog becoming spooked or frustrated by their use. This clip shows how to introduce a toy, in this case a Wobbler, that requires the dog to tip and move it so that the food falls out.
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 71 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
food based, cognitive and sensory based enrichment
different dogs have different motivations for chasing, with some chasing any time, any thing, at any opportunity, while some show less interest in chasing as a past-time
There are some challenges here that may cause a little too much excitement for getting the children involved.
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
some of these games will require some crafty prep, while some are quick to set up and you and your pet can engage in them for varying durations
Many normal natural necessary dog behaviours are an annoyance for dog owners, such as chewing and digging. Chasing is an interesting one because in some contexts many dog owners delight in their dog engaging in it, and in some contexts it truly worries the humans. To chasing dogs, of course, the distinction is often arbitrary; it’s hard for dogs, living in the human world, to win!
People often presume that some chasing is fun and beneficial for their pet, for example,:
chasing after a ball
chasing after other dogs when ‘ playing’
chasing animals like squirrels or birds
People often find some chasing inappropriate and dangerous, for example,:
chasing people and children
chasing livestock or larger animals
chasing cars or other vehicles
To me though, chasing is inappropriate when it contributes to such raised levels of arousal (stress), that the dog loses control, some what, which can be damaging to behavioural and physical health.
To the dog, regardless of what he’s chasing and regardless of human rules, his chasing behaviour seems appropriate.
That will mean that chasing behaviour and tendencies require careful management to prevent chasing becoming a human and dog problem.
What do you need?
toys for fetching, tugging etc.
kibble and food rewards
dog lead, cord, rope or similar
flirt pole or the tools to make one
Home-made flirt pole: use a horse lunge whip with a toy tied to it (you may require extra cord so that the flirt is long enough – I use blind cord and it works well)
Enrichment Goals:
to facilitate appropriate chasing behaviour, while maintaining behavioural health and safety
to encourage a wide range of normal, natural, necessary dog behaviours
to broaden the dog’s behavioural repertoire
to help build responsiveness and arousal control in chasing contexts
Why do dogs chase?
Dogs have evolved from predatory animals and on top of that, humans have exaggerated and inhibited different parts of the canid predatory sequence, through selective breeding, to develop breeds of dog that can carry out different jobs.
Chasing features heavily in many dog-jobs so there may be some types who are more into chasing than others, but, note that chasing, to some degree, is part of ALL dogs.
The predatory sequence, above, shows the complete sequence of behaviour intact in animals who are killing to eat. It is likely that the intact predatory sequence is present in some groups and types of dogs, given the jobs they have been selected for over centuries. But, just because a dog chases, doesn’t mean that he necessarily bites, kills, or consumes.
All of our enrichment endeavours, especially those challenges that are food based, should take into account these behaviour sets. Considerations for type and individual tendencies must be taken into account too to ensure that the dog is provided with outlets for behaviour he needs to do.
But, as soon as we start talking about chasing, pet owners get worried; will this make the dog more predatory, they query. I’m not sure what more predatory means, because, truth be told, your dog is already a predator.
By facilitating appropriate outlets for chasing, we are contributing to giving your pet an enriched life.
How can we achieve these goals?
Ascertaining appropriate from inappropriate is important here. There are tons of behaviours that dogs can do, love to do, and will do, given the slightest chance, but that can be harmful to them.
How did that happen? How did such harmful behaviours evolve?
While domestication certainly provides animals with skills (behaviours) that make it easier to live with humans, selective breeding can cause the exaggeration or inhibition of behaviours that require specific environmental, rearing and care conditions. Without responsible humans implementing this care, some behaviours can become harmful for pets and their people.
And to come full circle, this is why structured and intentional enrichment programs are so so so important for pet dogs. Safe and appropriate outlets for dog behaviour, along with careful management to prevent inappropriate behaviour, should be central to our caring for our pets.
Not to harp on about it, but that’s what #100daysofenrichment is all about and why our challenges are so far ranging in scope and detail. Providing a complete picture for pet owners, and subsequently their pets, will be vital in ensuring that pets’ welfare is maintained and improved.
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of Chasing:
Chasing may be food related, social and /or sensory related behaviour. Dogs may chase prey items to eat as part of predatory behaviour and may engage in chasing behaviour as part of play in social, sensory and cognitive enrichment contexts.
Remembering what we have talked about in relation to selective breeding, not all chasing dogs do is for food. Some are chasing because that’s what they have been bred to do, and they don’t appear that interested in going any further.
But, where that arousal increases and increases, any and all dogs can demonstrate inappropriate and dangerous chasing behaviour.
Because of the many functions of chasing, and the risk of it all going pear-shaped, we must provide dogs with appropriate outlets for chasing behaviour so that they get their jollies while remaining helpful and enriching.
Young dogs will invariably be enticed to chase easily and as they age they may become less interested. Predatory type chasing really develops and becomes more coordinated at about 5-7 months, with these young adolescents suddenly showing intentional stalking behaviour, pouncing and chasing with great enthusiasm
Adolescent dogs will also have more difficulty controlling arousal and thinking through behavioural choices, so chasing will often become a big part of their social experience. This can easily get out of control, especially during this developmental stage, and must be monitored carefully.
Short stints of bitey face, wrestling play should be emphasised and facilitated, especially for young dogs; along with monitoring for appropriate play in relation to lots of other criteria. Chasing play should be minimised.
Dog-dog play is not really going to be discussed throughout the #100days and will certainly not feature as a main approach to canine enrichment.
Your dog’s brain on chasing
Chasing requires the body and brain to work hard; physical exertion including increased demands for oxygen leading to increased respiration, heart rates and blood pressure. While that demands lots of brain input, so does the behavioural aspects of chasing.
Chasing requires the body to rise to some serious challenge. Another way of describing this, is stress. In dog training, we sometimes refer to the amount of stress the dog is experiencing and how they’re coping, as arousal. Neither stress nor arousal are necessarily bad.
Indeed, just the right amounts of stress and arousal are good and are definitely rewarding, triggering the dog’s reward systems in their brain. Dogs chase for chasing’s sake.
So far, chasing is pretty fun.
But, the longer your dog is chasing and in this state of increasing arousal, the closer it can become to chasing becoming more harmful.
As arousal increases, less input comes from higher, thinking parts of the brain as the more reactionary, emotional parts direct the action.
This means that chasing can start out appropriate, with the dog able to make thoughtful choices (well, as thoughtful as dogs ever are) about how he participates in chasing behaviour.
As that arousal increases, he is less well able to choose and more likely to react. This means that intense chasing can become inappropriate, leading to dangerous and harmful behaviour, directed at inappropriate triggers and associated with moving through predatory behaviours quickly and possibly uninhibited.
The reward and protective systems in the brain, that produce all sorts of pleasant neurochemicals, can even lead to the dog essentially becoming addicted to high octane chasing, and the situations that allow it.
Intense chasing in social situations and exerting repetitive fetch games may not be the sort of fun we want for our dogs at all.
Play Safe!
Only play chasing, active games with your dog when they are well warmed up. Ideally, you should run through a warm up routine with your dog which will include activities and stretches. At the end of each chasing game, there should also be a corresponding warm down once chasing games are over.
Bring the excitement down, after all that, with lots of sniffing and then some lapping and chewing on stuffables or similar. Remember, think rollercoasters!
Chasing must be functional
Chasing must be functional for it to be beneficial, in that, there must be some pay-off to chasing; the dog shouldn’t be chasing and not actually catch something, eat something or have some social interaction.
This is why I do not consider chasing a light or projected image enriching and instead frustrating and arousing, not in a good way. Not to mention, the risks such games may pose where a dog is predisposed to reflection/shadow chasing, or other compulsive behaviours.
Make sure the dog gets to catch their ‘prey’, easily and without frustration in every chase.
Enrichment Options
Chasing is something most dogs will want to do in some capacity, and it’s up to us to make sure they get to do it carefully, while still having fun.
Don’t get hooked on allowing your dog to chase inappropriately, even if you think they’re having fun. A tired dog is not necessarily well behaved, they might just be tired! And if your dog is doing a lot of chasing to the point of physical exhaustion, I think we might need to find other, more rounded-out outlets for both you and your pet.
Option 1 Chasing Toy Games
Chasing toy games, like fetch, can still be part of your dog’s day to day life and activity, but, play in Rollercoaster Games.
This will help your dog get his chasing jollies, while avoiding the pitfalls of exertion and increasing arousal.
Stop now and go back to Day 57; start living and playing Rollercoaster Games today!
When you play, mix it up. Lots of breaks and, just as importantly, lots of variety to the game…never just fetch, fetch, fetch, fetch…
Add in lots of toy searches to encourage sniffing, which will help the fetcher recover from some over arousal; more on Day 62.
Take care with fetch games, and mix it up; here and here.
Option 2 Flirt Poling
Flirt poles are like cat fishing rod toys, but for dogs, so bigger and sturdier. You can buy commercially produced flirt poles (for example, here) or you can make your own.
Use a horse lunge whip, which are available from many pet and equine outlets, and tie a toy to it – simples!
Depending on the type of whip, you might need to add some cord to the whip. I use the big lunge whip when out and about in lots of space and a smaller crop, with cord to tie to the toy.
Take care to use a soft, light toy so that it won’t do too much damage if it hits you or your dog, or won’t hurt them when they chase and grab it.
Flirt pole with care
Flirt pole fun requires care because it’s likely to cause big spikes in arousal and the subsequent loss of control, leading to problems all over the place. As such, flirt poling should be introduced carefully with rules in place.
This is an old video with a baby-Decker but outlines the rules to keep the fun in flirt pole!
Introduce the flirt pole carefully, not just to establish the rules and appropriate behaviour, but also to prevent the dog becoming overwhelmed or scared. And if that’s the case, there are particular guidelines that should be followed to help the dog deal with something potentially scary:
If you don’t have the tools or inclination to make a flirtpole, don’t worry, we’ve still got you covered!
Take your dog’s favourite soft toy and tie to a dog lead or cord (you can buy chaser toys too, like this one!). Make sure that there’s no metal parts of the lead in contact with the dog’s mouth or body when he chases or grabs the toy.
Present and play with the Chaser in exactly the same way you would a flirt pole.
Option 4 Food Chasing
Chasing must be functional for it to be beneficial, in that, there must be some pay-off to chasing; the dog shouldn’t be chasing and not actually catch something, eat something or have some social interaction.
That makes chasing games versatile and perfect for food and toys.
Kibble Chasing
Food that rolls along the floor makes for a great chasing target! Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be kibble but works best if it’s a drier, harder food, especially if on hard flooring rather than carpet or grass.
Elastic Recalls games can be a great way of having a dog work for their meal, while improving responsiveness and engagement; more on Day 43
I play a couple of games with Decker: kibble chasing where I just fire kibble around the space and Goal Keeping, where I try to get the kibble through his legs, along the floor. Try out which ones your dog enjoys!
Kibble chasing, with care, can be nice for a pair of suitable dogs to play too:
You can go all in on this chasing challenge with the next one!
Tie some food on a string or cord and attach to the back of a remote controlled car – switch it on and let the fun begin!
You will need plenty of space for this one and probably food that is easily visible for your dog too. Because we want chasing behaviour to be functional, and to prevent the car being damaged or your dog being injured by it, always use food tied on a long cord so that they dog can easily catch it.
Raw feeders, with whom I have worked, have loved using this game to feed wings, legs, and bones. A good chew is an excellent way to wind down after a hunt!
Option 5 Chasing, at rest
Doesn’t sound like it makes a whole lot of sense, right?
We can provide dogs with some chasing jollies, even when they are lying down or even on rest or restricted exercise.
Pouncing and eye stalking
Play with your dog, on the floor. Have them lie down or sit and sit on the floor or on a low stool, opposite them.
Move a toy, ideally longer, softer and wiggly, from your left to your right, along the floor in darting movements.
Allow your dog to eye stalk it, following it intensely with their eyes. Suddenly stop the movement and allow them to pounce, paw or jump on it.
When they do, have a little game or allow them to chomp and chew it.
Handball
Teach your dog to roll or drop the ball in a stationary position. This is no different than teaching fetch, except your dog is lying down or sitting throughout.
Chasing at rest games offer fun chasing games when perhaps exertion is not possible or appropriate. They offer a ball-fix for the addict, without causing too much out of control exertion and arousal.
Option 6 Chasing Over Sized Balls
Lots of dogs, Decker included, LOVE chasing, biting, chasing, biting over sized balls – balls they can’t quite pick up and carry, like Jolly Balls, Boomer Balls or Running Eggs.
Just like with flirt poling, dogs can get super wound up when chasing these toys so the same care is required, with a very clear end-of-game cue established.
Check out Decker’s level of nuttiness when playing Boomer Ball, with a clear “take a break” and “finished” cue at the end.
This is established by playing very short games, so the dog has access to the ball for very brief play, and then swapping it out (establish a release cue first) for a really tantalising stuffable.
Jolly Ball fun is a big favourite of Decker and he gets to play out some real predatory behaviour; watch him chase-bite-shake his “prey”:
Your dog might already play this game with you, whether you like it or not!
Play Keep-Away games using a particular signal, such as a phrase or action; I say “I’m gonna getcha” and make grabby hands.
And make sure to play only where you have established a solid release cue.
Don’t chase your dog if they get some ‘forbidden’ item! Instead move in the opposite direction and pretend to be very interested in some other activity or, for more urgent situations, create a diversion by, for example, tossing food rewards, pretending to get ready for a walk or to leave, or rustle packaging in the fridge. Continue all evasive action until the dog approaches to check out what you’re up to!
In this clip, I ask Decker which games he would like to play. A couple of times, he asks me to play the Keep-Away-Monster:
Incorporate two-way chasing – let the dog chase you, while they have the toy in their mouth, as well as you chasing him. In play, the dog should have the toy more than they don’t!
Chasing can be fun and provide a range of behavioural outlets for your pet, once we take care and manage inappropriate chasing behaviour and potentially damaging effects of chasing behaviour.
Dogs likely direct chasing behaviour inappropriately due to some arousal spike, and of course, reinforcement history.
Chasing in ‘play’
Dogs might have had a lot of practice chasing in ‘play’ with other dogs, especially during adolescence, and/or exposed to high-arousal environments, especially during this developmental period, in association with other dogs. This is largely why I am not at all a fan of daycares, dog parks, play groups or “social events”. This is not socialisation.
These dogs likely become ‘addicted’ to the highs of chasing and their behaviour may become increasingly difficult in anticipation of interacting with other dogs. Their chasing behaviour may involve effectively bullying other dogs, and their approach to dealing with arousal may impact other parts of their life and behaviour in general.
If high arousal play and social interactions are likely among dogs, especially where there are size or age differences, and especially when chasing features or has featured, we may have increased risk of a phenomenon known as ‘predatory drift’ occurring. When arousal is so high, it’s easy for some dogs to slip into more reactionary, ‘primitive’ behaviour resulting in predatory type behaviour being directed at non-prey items like other dogs or even children; triggers which may behave in a manner that triggers predatory behaviour (e.g. running around, squealing and so on).
Predatory chasing
Chasing may occur in appropriate contexts too, even though we find the behaviour undesirable which may include livestock chasing. At this time of year, lambing makes sheep more vulnerable, but pet dogs chasing sheep and other livestock is becoming a considerable problem for farmers. And, it will become a more serious problem for pet owners unless we can improve responsibility and accountability.
Sheep may become distressed at just the appearance of an unfamiliar dog close to them, so it won’t take much to cause these largely helpless animals to panic. Although some may be injured or killed by the dogs attacking them, many more die and become terribly distressed as they crush at gates and exits, over heating and suffering at death.
I am sure we can agree that this is not acceptable on any level, and unfortunately will continue to establish the poor tolerance of dogs in society, even further.
Any dog can and will chase livestock so all dogs must be confined securely and managed carefully where access to livestock is possible.
We must also look at wildlife chasing as possibly being inappropriate in a lot of cases, for many of the same reasons.
A dog, chasing wildlife such as squirrels or birds (or livestock), may develop a strong reinforcement history for this behaviour and even more so should they catch their quarry, catch and kill it or catch, kill and consume it. The more wildlife chasing the dog does, whether they are successful or not, the more difficult the behaviour becomes to manage.
Chasing & Fear
Lots of dogs will develop inappropriate chasing behaviours because chasing ‘makes’ the scary trigger go away. The dog, of course, doesn’t understand that the trigger is going on its way anyway, but as they practice this behaviour, it is reinforced and becomes more and more established.
This is regularly associated with dogs who lunge, vocalise and chase vehicles, cyclists or joggers.
This behaviour often crops up during adolescence so may be founded in higher arousal or poorer arousal control. These spikes in arousal may be associated with being out and about, in anticipation of some social interaction and fear or worry.
Tips for dealing with inappropriate chasing:
prevent inappropriate chasing with suitable confinement or restraint
exercise the dog in other areas to reduce triggering
provide the dog with tons of appropriate outlets for chasing behaviour and normal, natural, necessary dog behaviour
carefully play Rollercoaster Games and supervise dog-dog play closely, where relevant
establish below threshold conditions – where can you hang out, where the dog is not intensely focused on them. The dog should be able to choose engagement with you, take food rewards and carry out simple behaviours. If they can’t, the subject dog needs more distance and less intensity.
have short counterconditioning sessions at that safe working distance (example here)
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 70 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
Every Sunday during #100daysofenrichment is Sunday Funday! This means you and your pet repeat your favourite challenge or challenges from the week.
You can do it exactly as you did first time round, you can try a different option, build on your progress already established, reinvent and rejig it…what ever you want to do with the last week of challenges!
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 69 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
Saturdays during #100daysofenrichment are all about emphasising the dog in all our dogs; all about sniffing and doing dog things.
Last week, Day 62, we had lots of fun with searches and scavenger hunts…this week, we are going to build on that, get our dog tracking, following a trail we lay for them.
Your dog is already really good at this but now we are going to ask him to search for something we know is hidden, along a particular trail.
This adds new skills to his repertoire and gets them working through the scent-puzzle systematically.
Safety First
When choosing a search area, check it carefully before bringing the dog in and beginning the search.
Check for cables, sockets, glass, sharp objects or corners, machinery or moving parts, nails or staples, hot surfaces, slippery surfaces, hazardous substances, distractions from scents; even things like doors or steps can cause the dog to bring their head up suddenly, striking it.
Always play safe!
Hunting…
Today we are going to hide food and toys, laced with scents. If you don’t have hunting scents, don’t worry, you can do the food drag hunts with your pet, or practice some of last week’s toy searches.
Keep it simple, and think of how the air might flow through a space to understand how your dog will detect and narrow in on odour. We talk a lot about this on Day 55 too!
Today’s challenge is about teaching your dog how to track, rather than air scent; about helping your dog learn to keep their nose to the ground and follow a trail.
Treat Hunts
Use softer, smellier treats for this challenge.
Beginners:
Stage 1
set up when your dog is out of sight
walk in a straight line and drop a treat in each step
have a little jackpot pile of treats, out of sight, at the end of the trail
Let your dog practice this set-up a few times, until he is working his way down the trail to the jackpot, systematically. This is a basic version of our scavenger hunts from last Saturday.
Stage 2: reduce the number of treats in the trail to every second or third (or even fourth) step toward the jackot
Stage 3:
instead of dropping treats along the trail, smear a treat into the ground so that their are only traces of the treat every couple steps
lay a straight trail, in the same manner as Stages 1 & 2
let your dog track to the jackpot
Stage 4:
set up as you did for Stage 3
tie your smelly treat to the end of a dog lead, shoe lace, cord or similar
drag it along the ground and smear it a little at regular intervals
have the whole treat at the end, just out of sight, as the jackpot
Check out one of our wonderful CBTT trainers, Lucie from Lucie’s Pooches laying a trail. Wile E. shows us how it’s done!
Work through the stages exactly as above, except for more advanced challenges, add in a turn to the trail.
Prey Hunts
Hunting a scented toy can really be a big thrill for lots of dogs! Use hunting scents, that can be purchased from hunt supply outlets, and come in a range of different options, from fowl to mammals, to cater to your dog’s likes.
Add just a few drops to each side of a plush or soft toy. This will absorb the scent and each time the dog bites the toy or manipulates it, more scent will be released, increasing the sensory experience.
Tie the toy to the end of a dog lead or cord and drag it slowly along the ground, in a straight line. Hide the toy just out of sight and allow the dog to have a game with it or carry it around once he has found it.
It’s best to have one or two special toys that you use like this and that you put them away in a tin or plastic container, with a lead, when not being played with.
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 68 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
Now it’s your turn to get creative! Every Friday is Freestyle Friday. We’ll give you the ingredients for a puzzle or enrichment device and you build it.
Rules:
you must use all the ingredients
you can add anything else you like, or nothing at all
You can add food or toys or anything else appropriate, if you like. Or you can use this as it is.
We can’t wait to see what fun and brain games you and your pet get up to with this one!
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
next Sniffing Saturday, we are all going on sniffari – for that, this week collect at least one item from every place you go. Bring it home and store it in a bag or box away from your dog – keep it hidden in an area to which your dog doesn’t have access.
And for Freestyle Friday you will design your own enrichment device with the following ingredients:
face cloths, blankets, towels and similar
We have lots more fun and brain games for you for next week. Start getting ready…
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Welcome to Day 67 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
taking puzzles to a new height, literally, changes the challenge greatly
you really can suspend any puzzle, and today, we are going to build on the puzzling abilities developed on Day 53 in Part 1 – you can start there, if you like, to help your dogs gain the skills
food and cognitive based enrichment
get the family involved in this one – kids love making puzzles for pets and these challenges offer lots of opportunities for children to use their imagination to come up with the best puzzle for their pets.
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
Suspended puzzle prep will probably take you about 5-10 minutes – having a collection of puzzle stuff is a good idea…it will resemble a pile of rubbish or recycling!
What do you need?
a range of food rewards
a toy or toys that your dog loves
dog lead, cord, show lace, rope or similar (you could even use a bamboo stick, pole, broom or similar)
balls or toys with holes – the more holes the better!
plastic playing cones, with holes
plastic milk cartons, with handle
cardboard wine bottle carriers
fabric shopping bags (make sure that the bag is fabric only and not coated in or made of plastic)
Enrichment Goals:
to encourage a wide range of foraging and exploratory behaviours
to do more feeding related behaviour than eating
to encourage the development of strategies (behaviours) for getting the food out of the suspended devices
by varying the design of suspended bottles we will facilitate carrying out a range of different behaviours, broadening the dog’s repertoire
While this challenge is certainly food based, they are also experiencing cognitive, sensory and environmental enrichment, with lots of crossover between categories.
Working out how to get to the food and developing dexterous skills in manipulating the suspended puzzles are examples of cognitive challenge.
Sniffing out, tasting and chewing food all offer sensory pay off, but so does finding their way through each food puzzle, determining its value, and engaging in the puzzle of getting to the good stuff.
Suspended puzzles encourage pets to interact with their environment – just the very interaction with the bottle is encouraging the pet to manipulate their surroundings, to get the things they like.
By carefully layering the challenge, so that they don’t give, we want to help the dog expand their range of puzzle-busting behaviours and facilitate your pet applying strategies from other puzzles to new ones; that’s a true cognitive gift and is growing your dog’s brain!
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
give your pet plenty of space for working on suspended puzzles and bear in mind there will be mess, so think about spaces that are easier for clean up
the more difficult you have made the challenge, the higher the value the reward must be so use HIGH value foods to motivate exploration and experimentation and make it VERY easy to get the food (no frustration!)
if your dog just dives in, in full on destruction mode, that might also be an indicator that they need an easier challenge so they get to experiment with a broader range of behaviours
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of Suspended Puzzles:
Suspended puzzles are a great way to expand your puzzling-arsenal and carefully increasing the challenge will really stretch the dog’s puzzling abilities.
These puzzles offer lots of different possibilities for expanding the dog’s behavioural range, truly engaging them cognitively.
Suspended puzzles are truly adaptable – there really is no limit to how they can be adapted to suit different puzzling levels.
What I tend to see, though, when puzzles are given to dogs, is that well-meaning owners go waaaaay over board, coming up with the most elaborate designs to really challenge their pet.
Suspending puzzles can be quite a change for many dogs so taking it easy and increasing challenge very gradually is more worthwhile.
While it’s great to go for challenge, it’s important that enrichment remain enriching. That means that the challenge must be made appropriate and doable for the individual puzzler.
Our job is to adjust the puzzle difficulty so that our dog uses a range of behaviour and gets to the goal pretty quickly.
This is the true way to improve the dog’s confidence in puzzling (and in life) and help them expand their behavioural repertoire.
Because of the home made nature and variable materials used in suspended puzzles, it’s best to supervise your pet carefully when they have access to this puzzle.
Know your dog! If you have an ingester, these may not work.
If you are concerned about your dog ingesting non-food items during puzzling, have a pocketful of HIGH value treats in your pocket and be ready to toss a couple toward your dog, across their eyeline, if you think they are thinking about eating the bottle.
Making sure the challenge is very doable and they can get to the hidden food rewards quickly is key to modifying their behaviour and expectations during puzzling.
Check all your equipment for this challenge carefully and make sure to remove tape, staples, other fastners, small pieces and plastic pieces. With bottles, remove the lid and plastic ring before giving to your pet. Play safe!
Enrichment Options
Suspending puzzles increases challenge suddenly and drastically. It’s important to work incrementally to help your dog develop skills (behaviours) to solve these puzzles.
Increase or decrease difficulty by lowering and loosening the line, and by working against a wall or surface or have the puzzles freestanding.
Beginners:
puzzle is suspended at or lower than your pet’s chin height
the line is looser
puzzle is suspended against a wall or surface
Intermediate:
puzzle is suspended at or slightly above your pet’s chin height
the line is tighter
puzzle is suspended against a walk or surface
Advanced:
puzzle is suspended at or slightly above your pet’s chin height
the line is tighter
puzzle is freestanding
Option 1 Holey Balls
Balls or toys with holes are great for suspended puzzles as they allow treats to fall out the more the dog manipulates them.
Easier:
Suspend the puzzle against a wall, piece of furniture or other surface. This makes it a little easier for the dog to spin and win!
Make sure to use treats or food rewards that easily fit out the holes in the toy used otherwise your dog will try to bite and tug at the ball or toy.
Work through the beginners, intermediate and advanced levels.
Be on the look out for anything with holes, grids or gaps in, as they can make great props for suspended puzzles. These kids sports cones are a great addition to your puzzle equipment and are available in toy and sports stores.
Easier:
Suspend the puzzle against a wall, piece of furniture or other surface. This makes it a little easier for the dog to spin and win!
Make sure to use treats or food rewards that easily fit out the holes in the cone or item used otherwise your dog will try to bite and tug at it. Frustration isn’t enriching!
Work through the beginners, intermediate and advanced levels.
Plastic milk cartons make really challenging puzzles, especially when suspended by their handle.
The smaller cartons are easier for dogs to solve, especially when full or almost full. A larger carton is more difficult and will require more skill and problem solving.
Easier:
Suspend the puzzle against a wall, piece of furniture or other surface. This makes it a little easier for the dog to spin and win!
Use a smaller carton with more food that fits easily out of the opening to prevent your dog biting and tugging at the carton too much. Frustration isn’t enriching!
Work through the beginners, intermediate and advanced levels.
We have added various challenges to this puzzle here by suspending multiple cartons, of different sizes and suspended in different ways with one hanging from a dog collar.
More challenging:
Suspend your puzzle freestanding or from the back of a chair for a little extra challenge.
Wine bottle carriers make great puzzles and we will be using them again, later over the #100days. Today, we are going to suspend ’em!
This puzzle is best left hanging and freestanding. Here, I’ve hung it using a dog lead from a table.
You can add food, toys or stuffables to the winebox and the different partitions make it trickier to reach the goal. I have added a silicone muffin pan, upside down, with treats on top. Puzzle in a puzzle!
Using a fabric shopping bag can really add to the challenge of suspended puzzles. Because they are floppier, unlike the winebox, they are little more difficult to manipulate and get their head in and out of.
Like our suspended basket puzzle on Day 53, this is a great one for dogs who have a favourite toy that they really like to work for; using a fabric bag is trickier. But you can add a stuffable or another puzzle with food rewards – versatile and challenging!
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 66 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
understand how learning and behaviour work so that you can teach new behaviours responsive to environmental cues
the key to teaching is not in training new behaviours (the dog can already do and is already doing them) but to get behaviour under stimulus control, so that we can ask for behaviour
stimulus control is hard to achieve, even though everyone believes their dog knows sit or down etc.
cognitive based enrichment
while children might be able to participate with some of these exercises, there will be lots of canine excitement and activity with some of these games so they might not be safe for kids
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
training exercises can be practiced in individual sessions of 1-2 minutes at a time; have as many sessions as you can!
Today we are going to look at what teaching and training dogs is really all about, while giving them new skills to navigate their world.
Your dog can already do most of the behaviours you want to train – dogs can lie down, they can walk, they can return to you. We want them to do behaviours under certain conditions, mainly when we ask them.
We are teaching dog to carry out specific behaviours at specific times.
While most people behave as if their dog’s behaviour is reliable on verbal cues, this is least likely to be the case. Dogs are much better at learning about environmental, context, body language cues than they are about words so words are likely the last thing they will learn about.
Good thing too as today’s games are all about context and environmental cues!
What do you need?
food rewards – you can use your dog’s regular food, a training mix, commercial treats, home prepared treats such as cut up meats, cheese, vegetables or homemade treats such as liver or tuna cake
depending on which training games you work on, you will need your dog’s lead, his bed or mat, and even your doorbell!
Enrichment Goals:
to teach the dog the meaning of stimuli around him, improving clarity and predictability
to teach alternative, more appropriate behaviours without the need for punishers or aversives
to teach the dog that their human won’t nag or coerce
to build that bond between dog and human
to have a fun and rewarding experience in social situations, between dogs and humans
to learn about learning – this is just another puzzle to your dog…”how do I train the human to make rewards available?!“…it’s all human training, for dogs!
While training exercises certainly fall into the cognitive enrichment category, they can provide so much more.
Improving clarity helps to boost your relationship with your pet, enhances your ability to communicate with one another and builds trust. This is a level of social enrichment that’s tricky to replicate.
When we talk about enrichment being enriching, this is never more clear than when we start to teach behaviours intentionally. It’s the human’s job to set the dog up for success by making sure the behaviour is doable and that rewards are fast-flowing.
There’s no test at the end of this and you and your pet are not under any pressure. Learn to enjoy the time together, whether you achieve the goal behaviour or not. That’s what’s enriching here…the social and cognitive outlets such exercises provide (for both species).
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
although you can use any reward that your dog will work for, using small food rewards that are quick to eat are best for some of these exercises so we can have lots of fast repetitions
keep it simple and split behaviour – reward approximations toward the final behaviour, rather than hoping that your dog will offer the goal behaviour quickly
take your time and work in many short sessions
try for a couple of minutes at a time, 5-10 rewards each session, and then take a break
plan each session – what behaviours are you looking for and rewarding?
watch the clips and try out the exercise
portion out your dog’s daily food and allot some for training exercises
make a training mix by adding in something yummier and leaving it all to ‘cook’ together in the fridge; the smells will mingle, harder foods will soften a little, and everything will become more valuable
remember to adjust your pet’s diet accordingly to accommodate the extra calories from treats added, where relevant
split your food rewards into little bowls with just the right number of rewards in each bowl so that you are ready to go; stick bowls of rewards in places where you may need to teach and reward behaviours so that you have rewards ready to go
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of Transferring Cues:
You say “sit!”, your dog sits, and you give him a treat…that’s the way this is supposed to work, right? Let’s look at what really happens when behaviour happens.
Traditionally, dog training was approached with a “better do as I say, or else…” and we believed that our function, as trainer, was to bark ‘commands’ at the dog. But, now, thankfully, we have a much better understanding of how behaviour works.
First lesson, behaviour is not in the dog, behaviour happens in the environment.
What we mean by this is, is that the dog is not bold, difficult, untrainable, dominant, aggressive, dangerous…
But, the dog might exhibit x behaviour in certain environmental conditions. Basically, even when you feel that behaviour is inappropriate, the dog is responding in an appropriate manner according to the environmental conditions you have set up for him.
Wait, what?
You, the human, are responsible for the environmental conditions to which your dog is exposed. The buck stops with you. If the dog is carrying out behaviour you don’t like, or not carrying out behaviour you would like, this is down to you.
In dog training, we refer to A-B-C or antecedent – behaviour – consequence.
The antecedent or A (might also be referred to as a cue, conditioned stimulus, discriminitive stimulus) happens before behaviour and it tells the animal to do that behaviour because that makes a particular consequence available.
The consequence or C, might be a reinforcer (something that strengthens behaviour) or a punisher (something that weakens behaviour).
You control, for the most part, which As your dog is exposed to and which Cs your dog has access to – As and Cs are in the environment, not in the dog.
To ‘fix’ problem behaviour, you need to know what’s happening before, the A, and what’s happening after, the C and then prevent access and exposure.
When we are teaching a dog to do a behaviour when we ask, we are really just setting up the antecedent, that triggers the behaviour, and transferring the meaning to the antecedent to the one you want to use.
With that in mind, think of how you can rearrange your dog’s environment to prevent unwanted behaviour, making it less efficient and less rewarding.
This also opens you to think in terms of the desired behaviour; instead of thinking about stopping behaviour, instead, think what would you prefer the dog to do?
By preventing unwanted behaviour, you can fill that gap with a new reinforceable and desired behaviour.
Your dog is behaving all the time, and is responding to antecedents (or cues) all around him. For training to be efficient and effective, we want to choose to teach the antecedents the dog is most likely to learn. Words don’t feature high on that list.
Bunny learns to go to her crate when her owners go to the door, instead of barking and jumping up. A person approaching the door has become a cue for her to return to her crate and remain their, awaiting reinforcement.
Instead of punishing this behaviour, we think, what would we prefer the dog to do? She can’t pursue, jump up, and is less likely to bark, from her crate.
Today’s challenges look at teaching the dog new antecedents: when <something> happens in the environment, do this <behaviour>. This greatly speeds up teaching and makes it easier to apply learning.
Enrichment Options
All our games today will help your dog transfer one set of antecedents for another, that makes carrying out the behaviour more efficient and appropriate.
When you think of a new, more desirable behaviour, think of the emotions behind the undesired behaviour and how you can build in more appropriate emotions with the new behaviour.
What does the dog already associate and expect with the new behaviour? Instead of activity and arousal, maybe we can associate calm focus, high value rewards and quieter activities.
Many dogs burst out the door, with arousal and frustration. To combat that, many teach, or attempt to teach, the dog to wait inside the door but this often contributes to building frustration and an even bigger burst out the door when released.
Instead, teach the dog that just outside the open door is a sniffing station and very soon, the opening door is a cue for the dog to whip back around and focus on their human, instead of bursting out.
Dogs get pretty excited about greeting new people; they want to greet face to face, but we make that difficult by standing up and being tall.
To dogs, greeting calmly and with all four paws on the floor are pretty arbitrary rules.
Jumping up tends to be taken very seriously by pet owners. It’s important to remember that from about 3 weeks of age your dog has been practicing jumping up, so it’s well rehearsed long before you bring puppy home.
The simplest approach is to greet the dog; hook the dog’s collar (so you don’t get a bloody nose) and greet the dog. The jumping dog may just need to greet.
Jumping up can be associated with being over-aroused and not quite able to handle the situation; this clip looks at that:
We can prevent the dog jumping up by carefully slotting in a new antecedent arrangement before the old, established one. This prevents the dog being exposed to the established triggers for behaviour.
We are also asking, what would we prefer the human to do?!
In greetings, you might have two problems: the dog jumping up and the human rewarding that behaviour with lots of attention and interaction.
By giving both the greeter and greetee a job to do, more desired behaviour, what we would like them to do, makes it easier to train both dogs and humans.
Transferring the dog’s usual cue for jumping up, the arrival of a person, to a sit behaviour or other four-on-the-floor behaviour sorts one side of the equitation. But let’s train the human too.
We can teach the dog to sit when faced with a person with their arms folded across their chest.
To add a new cue, add it before the old one. In this case, fold your arms and say “sit”, reward when the dog sits. After a few repetitions, your dog will be sitting when you fold your arms.
You can choose any four-on-the-floor behaviour – it doesn’t have to be sit. You can replace jumping up and greeting with any preferred behaviour.
Albi is learning to go to his crate when a person enters the kitchen door, rather than jump up in excitement:
If you need help helping your dog to become more comfortable and handleable when fitting walking gear, see Day 17.
Stop access to rewards:
Truth be told, I am not a big fan of just ignoring unwanted behaviour. It’s likely that, for many dogs who are very excitable when they see their lead, that bringing the lead out, putting it away over and over in response to their behaviour, will likely cause their frustration to increase.
So, for that dog, I want to just get their lead on and go!
What would you prefer the dog to do?
Sit for lead on:
Show the dog the lead, ask for a sit. When the dog sits, toss the reward so that it’s easier to attach the lead, while he’s eating it.
Probably my favourite application of cue transfers is playing doorbell games. Teach your dog that the sound of the door is a cue to do some behaviour, such as go lie on your mat.
To rearrange the environment, you might try disabling or covering your door bell so that the dog doesn’t have reactions to the bell, further rehearsing that behaviour and slowing training.
Your dog, at this stage, probably has a strong emotional response to the sound of the doorbell.
We want to reduce the strength of that association, while helping him form a more positive association with the doorbell sound, and teach him a more appropriate alternative behaviour to do when he hears the doorbell.
This must be built very gradually and carefully, because his current response is so strong and may be distressing for him.
For a full covering of doors and greetings behaviour and planning, see our Christmas Bite on these topics and practice before you really need it!
Doorbell = Snuffle Party
Teach your dog that the doorbell signals a snuffle party! Instead of your dog running to the door, they run to you and their Sniffing Station to snuffle for treats; then you can bring your guests in calmly and quietly.
Establish a Sniffing Station with a snufflemat, a snuffle puzzle, or simply scattering treats on the floor, on a blanket or towel, or in their bed.
Practice in short sessions of just a minute or so at a time.
Begin working close to the door so your dog can quickly check that there’s nobody actually there. But as their comfort increases, you can move your Sniffing Station to the spot you want your dog to go to when the door bell sounds, such as another room, a confinement area, a crate or their bed.
Be exciting as you bound to their Sniffing Station – it’s a snuffle party after all!
Use a recording of your door bell or a similar sounding bell. The one I use can be found here.
You gotta practice door management games before you really need them but they are simple to work into your daily routine and require only 30-60 seconds practice per day.
Start with a recording of a neutral doorbell – one that he won’t have heard before and doesn’t associate with his door or guests coming in. There are a variety of doorbell sounds available on YouTube, for example, this search.
During training, use one of these consistently.
Level 1:
use a neutral doorbell recording
reward with high value rewards
play these training games in lots of different rooms
Stage 1:
play the doorbell recording
immediately feed a high value food reward to the dog
repeat 5-10 times per session
You must get your timing right for this to work. Don’t move toward the treat until after the doorbell sound has played.
When the dog predicts that the doorbell sound makes a treat happen you are ready for Stage 2. You might be able to tell that the dog has developed this association by testing him; play the doorbell sound when he is not looking or is in another room. He should come looking for his treat!
Stage 2:
play the door bell sound
cue the dog to “go to bed!”
reward him when he is in the bed
Practice in short sessions of 5-10 repetitions. When he will go to his bed upon hearing the doorbell recording you are ready for level 2.
This clip shows the basic work required for this training exercise:
Level 2:
work exactly as you did for Level 1, except use a recording of your own door bell
use at a lowered volume if the dog has an aroused response to it
When the dog will go to his bed upon hearing the doorbell recording, move onto Level 3.
work exactly as you did for Level 2, except have a familiar person ring the door bell
practice with the door open and in a spot that allows the dog see what’s going on; have the dog on lead
As your dog improves, you can close the door and have the familiar person outside and once happy with that you might be ready to add an unfamiliar person knocking or ringing!
Sometimes, it’s important that our dogs are safe and confined during certain activities. Maybe you are injured and cant have your dog jumping up or getting under your feet; my favourite application of this is in baby prep. We can teach your dog to go to their bed or crate when you are carrying an infant (which starts out as a doll wrapped in a blanket).
Living with more than one dog can be tricky, especially when all the dogs are adults. Adult dogs are more likely to be competitive with one another, and squabbles among dogs who live together are often to do with access to resources.
We often tell off one dog if they aggress when another dog approaches. But, all we end up teaching that dog is, that unpleasant things happen when the other dog approaches.
Instead we can teach them that good things happen when the other dog is around.
We teach the dog that if their buddy gets a treat, they are about to get a treat too. This helps them feel better about proximity with the other dog and teaches them that they don’t need to compete…yummies are coming!
Contrary to popular belief, dogs don’t need to fight it out and you don’t have to ‘support the hierarchy’ (whatever that means!).
We will teach them that the presence of the other dog makes good things happen and that they will get a treat after their pal. No need to barge in, cause a squabble or lose out!
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 65 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
simple and fun games to boost engagement and choice
your dog chooses to walk close to you without a lead, so that it’s easier when they are on lead
engagement games, like these, teach the dog to choose you, even when you don’t have treats or toys, and even when there are distractions
we start with simple training games and build toward more and more engagement
cognitive based enrichment
while children might be able to participate with some of these exercises, there will be lots of canine excitement and activity with some of these games so they might not be safe for kids
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
training exercises can be practiced in individual sessions of 1-2 minutes at a time; have as many sessions as you can!
Because today challenges will be pretty exciting, make some time, after each session, for some lapping and chewing on stuffables.
Think Rollercoaster Games!
We have talk lots and lots about engagement because I believe this is the key to teaching all sorts of behaviours, but more importantly the foundations upon which a wonderful relationship is built, with your pet.
We can formalise some of our engagement games, while still having fun, and teach our dogs to choose to walk with us.
Remember, engagement is about the dog choosing to engage, that they are working to attract your attention, and that you’re (both) developing a meaningful connection.
Engagement, for me and the dogs I work with, including my own, is about the dog choosing to engage, wanting to engage, finding me the most rewarding, over all the other things.
And that’s the key; the dog wants to be involved and to participate.
What do you need?
food rewards – you can use your dog’s regular food, a training mix, commercial treats, home prepared treats such as cut up meats, cheese, vegetables or homemade treats such as liver or tuna cake
if you are working in an unsecured area, use a long line for safety and to prevent your dog practicing not recalling and having lots of fun, in the environment, with out you
Enrichment Goals:
to teach the dog to choose you
to teach a nicer loose leash walking position
to teach the dog that choosing their human makes the magic happen
to teach the dog that their human won’t nag or coerce
to build that bond between dog and human
to have a fun and rewarding experience in social situations, between dogs and humans
to learn about learning – this is just another puzzle to your dog…”how do I train the human to make rewards available?!“…it’s all human training, for dogs!
While training exercises certainly fall into the cognitive enrichment category, they can provide so much more.
Working on choice-led engagement exercises helps to boost your relationship with your pet, enhances your ability to communicate with one another and builds trust. This is a level of social enrichment that’s tricky to replicate.
When we talk about enrichment being enriching, this is never more clear than when we start to teach behaviours intentionally. It’s the human’s job to set the dog up for success by making sure the behaviour is doable and that rewards are fast-flowing.
There’s no test at the end of this and you and your pet are not under any pressure. Learn to enjoy the time together, whether you achieve the goal behaviour or not. That’s what’s enriching here…the social and cognitive outlets such exercises provide (for both species).
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
although you can use any reward that your dog will work for, using small food rewards that are quick to eat are best for some of these exercises so we can have lots of fast repetitions
toys and your engagement, fun and play will work as excellent rewards too
keep it simple and split behaviour – reward approximations toward the final behaviour, rather than hoping that your dog will offer the goal behaviour quickly
take your time and work in many short sessions
try for a couple of minutes at a time, 5-10 rewards each session, and then take a break
plan each session – what behaviours are you looking for and rewarding?
watch the clips and try out the exercise
portion out your dog’s daily food and allot some for training exercises
make a training mix by adding in something yummier and leaving it all to ‘cook’ together in the fridge; the smells will mingle, harder foods will soften a little, and everything will become more valuable
remember to adjust your pet’s diet accordingly to accommodate the extra calories from treats added, where relevant
split your food rewards into little bowls with just the right number of rewards in each bowl so that you are ready to go; stick bowls of rewards in places where you may need to teach and reward behaviours so that you have rewards ready to go
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of loose leash walking (LLW)engagement games:
You can easily see the value of engagement…it gets you great recall, it gets you nice loose leash walking, it gets you working around distractions.
All while providing the dog with choice. The choice to engage.
Today’s games will focus on engagement for loose leash walking. Your dog will choose to walk with you and you will make that rewarding – simples!
When engagement happens, the dog is fighting to engage regardless of the presence of distractions and triggers and regardless of whether you have treats or toys.
How ever you define it, engagement is chosen by the dog, rather than cued; engagement is not contingent on you having food rewards or toys.
The key to engagement is that you are not trying to get it, you are worthy of engagement and your dog fights to engage!
You can see that engagement is the foundation to teaching all the other behaviours; it’s what we build our relationship, with our dog, on and with.
Engagement is a two-way street
Making engagement happen starts with the human. If we want our dog to choose us, regardless of what else is going on and regardless of whether you have treats or toys, we have to work to prove that engaging with us is the best!
When the dog is engaged, choosing you regardless, he pushes into the learning and interacting process; he is more than meeting you halfway.
Reinforce engagement
Reinforcement strengthens behaviour, so your dog’s disengagement is information telling you that you are not making sufficient reinforcement available for engagement.
We tend to pile on the encouragement, excitement, food and toys trying to get our dogs to engage. When their attention wanes, we attempt to get it back by offering access to reinforcers. Ask yourself, what behaviour are you really reinforcing?
Engagement makes good things happens. Engagement means that the dog accesses behaviour they like to do. Reinforce behaviour with behaviour.
What does your dog like to do? Make that happen contingent on engagement.
Enrichment Options
We’ve introduced engagement games already in relation to sniffing, on Day 34 and lots of formal and informal engagement exercises on Day 59.
Loose leash walking is a task that most pet owners and dog trainers alike find difficult and tedious. You only need to look at the array of equipment that has been developed to give humans better control of dogs when walking. People really want to be able to walk their dogs without being dragged about and that is perfectly understandable.
But, there needs to be some compromise. Dogs need the opportunity to sniff, explore, observe the world, especially when they might have only limited access to this world each day.
Marching around housing estates and urban areas, on a tight leash, may not be providing for their needs and as such, expecting them to be able to trot along side us slow and boring primates, may be a step too far in terms of expectations.
If that’s what we want from dogs, we will need to put the work in along with providing them with outings that are more to their tastes.
Loose leash walking training doesn’t need to be all marching and no fun – I use tons of different games to help trainers help pet owners but today, and largely with my clients, I set the foundation in engagement and watch the loose leash walking happen as a result.
Option 1 Follow Me!
This is my favourite puppy game to introduce engagement, loose leash walking, polite greetings, to prevent biting and foot chasing, and to have fun with your pup! But, this is a great game for pups of all ages 🙂
I like to use Follow Me! indoors or in more enclosed situations so this can be a great rainy-day game, playing Follow Me! around the furniture and up and down the hallway.
This game is simple, you walk and when your dog catches up with you, you reward. You don’t have to do or say anything, just move in the opposite direction to your dog.
For puppies, this exercise can start while they are still on vaccination hold. You can practice off lead and then with the lead dragging so that puppy gets used to the weight of the lead.
Follow-Me! is a great game to teach children to play with puppies, to help reduce puppy jumping and biting. It also helps children develop awareness for where puppy is and how to walk calmly with puppy.
Set up a Follow Me! course in the house with some furniture and keep your dog’s interest by changing direction – you move in the opposite direction to your dog…they go right, you go left and so on. This will keep them moving with you and make it fun and exciting.
You can add simple behaviours like sit or hand targets to Follow Me! exercises. This is especially useful for puppies and dogs who jump up, mouth, bite at feet or trousers by teaching them an alternative behaviour to concentrate on, and to ask for your attention.
When you stop moving, as your dog catches up, you can lure them into a sit or down, use a hand signal for sit or down, ask them to sit or down, or present a hand target down low. Soon they will be offering this behaviour, when you stop moving and without you asking.
Playing Follow Me! exercises, allowing the dog to choose their human over other distractions, can help to build excellent engagement and starts to create nice loose leash walking position.
This game takes the foundations established in Follow Me! games and formalises it a little. Instead of the dog just catching up with you, we raise our training criteria a little – now, we are rewarding when they walk beside you a little, engage with you, stick close to your leg.
Identify the Reward Zone – an area on one specific side, somewhere within leash range of your knee – every time your dog hits that zone, YES! and reward.
Practicing this game in lots of places will help your dog learn to choose you, to walk nicely and still have access to the environment, should they wish. Just reward where you want your dog to be!
Starting with just a few engaged steps at a time, you can build and build to nice loose leash walking that functions in your day to day life with your pet.
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
AniEd Ireland 