Games to Train Your Dog

Games to train your dog

There are many reasons to play games with your dog. For one most important reason, it will strengthen your relationship. People who regularly play with their dog develop understanding, respect and communication with their dog. Games are activities you do with your dog that require the two of you to communicate and work together in some way. Dogs are social creatures, playing games is an important element in developing social relationships. Playing games is a fundamental way of ‘modeling’ a real life. You can teach a dog to obey by playing games that make following your instructions fun.

Besides that, it will keep the dog from getting bored, which will keep him from things you don’t want him doing, and make him healthier.

Games to play:

• Hide and Seek: Put your dog on a sit or down position to wait. Then you go and hide in another room or behind a door. Call him when you are ready. Act very excited and give him a treat when he successfully found you. Start with an easy place and slowly move to more difficult to find places. This is fun and will also teach your dog to wait until called.

• Fetch: Some dogs are natural fetchers, others are not. But it can be trained and have fun. Start be throwing a toy/ball or stick to shorter distances for a start, and command “fetch”. When he manages to fetch it, praise and reward him a lot, eventually he will know the game. Also, practice “drop it” in this “fetch” game. If your dog refuses to return the ball, which is quite common, or drops it too far away, end the game in disgust.

• Drop it: One way to train “drop it” is to give the dog large items to hold, then offer a very desirable treat for exchange. Wait patiently until the dog notices the attractive treat, and drop the thing and exchange for the treat. If the dog picks it up again, try another exchange and practice again. When the dog is dropping the toy regularly, start giving the cute “drop it” before each treat.

• Clean up your toys: Get a box to collect a number of toys, Scatter a few toys on the floor. Through shaping and teasing, get the dog to pick up the items one at a time, and place them in your hand. Once the dog is lifting the items high enough to get your hand underneath to receive, you are well started. Reward each “gift” with a treat. This is a “return for refund” game. Try different shapes of items which are safe for your dog to pick up. Each item retrieved is dumped into the bucket. You will be surprised; your dog will end up helping you to clean the house!

• Find it!: Put your dog in a down-stay position, show him the treat or his favorite toy, then let him watch you put it behind a door, a chair or under a towel. Then tell him to “Find it!” When he does, give him lots of praise. And of course, he gets to eat a treat. You can repeat this by varying the places and treats. Over time, hide the treat where the dog can’t see it, like in another room. Release her, and let her get the treat. You can increase the distance and difficulty level. This is especially good for dogs that have learnt “stay” but are nervous about having their people go out of sight.

• Simon says: If you have the right attitude, you can make obedience training a game. Let your dog prove how clever he or she is by sitting when you say “sit”, lying down when you say “down” etc. Try it when your eyes are closed, your back is to the dog, or you are in a different position like lying down or even standing on your head! For advanced learners you can try to mix up “drop it”, “take it”, “get it”, “hold it” and “leave it”. You’ll be surprised with the results if trained properly and with patience.

• Give him a problem to solve: :Bored dog? Put a treat inside a cardboard box and let your dog work to get it out. Make it easy at first – start with a box without a lid and let the dog see you put the treat in it. Work up to more difficult ones. Depending on your dog’s skill, you may end up with pieces of box all over the floor but you’ll have a very happy and busy dog throughout the process.

• Playing soccer: Need exercise? Did you know you can teach your dog to play soccer too? Start the game by gently kicking the ball along the ground toward your dog. Encourage him to get it. The ball is too big to pick up with his teeth, so it will take him a few minutes to figure out that he must push it with his nose or bat it with his paws. Give him lots of praise as he begins to catch on. As he gets better at it, you can include more people in the game. For breeds too small to handle a soccer ball, soft rubber balls can be used.