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A fun game I taught Ace last week was to “find it.” All this really means is I hide an object, and the mutt goes and finds it using his nose. Since Ace is mixed with some kind of hound, I wanted to bring out the scent side of him rather than always focusing on his retrieving side.

You could have your dog find anything. Treats or a toy work well. The reason I taught Ace this game was to challenge him to search for an object rather than obsess over it in a game of fetch where he mindlessly chases a ball.

To teach Ace “find it,” I had him sit outside in a baseball field. There were pieces of litter scattered around, and I picked up one piece of paper the size of a gum wrapper. I held it in front of him and said “smell.” At this point he had no idea what that meant but he naturally smelled it. Then I told him to stay and walked about 30 feet out and randomly walked in zig-zags and discretely dropped the paper so he didn’t know when or where.

I walked back to Ace, released him and said, “Find it!”

Since Ace is naturally a retriever, he immediately went to work searching for this piece of paper, first making big circles and then gradually targeting in on where he smelled the paper. He found it within a minute or two and brought it to me. At this point he was already becoming fixated on the paper, so we ended our game. Since then, I’ve played “find it” with Ace once or twice every day on our walks using a random piece of trash like a bottle or piece of plastic. Since it’s pretty easy for him, I’ve been making it more difficult by burying the object in the sand or hiding it on playground equipment or in a bush.

The game doesn’t have to be played outside. Try teaching your dog to find a treat by making it really easy at first. It’s OK if she sees where you put it until she gets the hang of it. Once she figures out the game, you can make it more challenging.

Have you played “find it” or a similar game with your dog?

(Image from flickr.com)

Yesterday was the last day of my 30-day challenge to teach my dog five new commands: bang, roll over, crawl, go long and bucket. Let me stress that although my dog is grasping these new commands, he is still learning. The biggest mistake I made with this challenge was to set a deadline. Dogs can’t always learn something new in a short amount of time, and one of the worst things to do is rush them. A better challenge to try would be to train your dog every day for 30 days or to practice five new commands for 30 days. Even so, Ace is close to having the commands down, as you can see for yourself.

I’ll start with bucket (see the video here). As you can see, Ace has the commands that involve a ball down pretty well. He puts his ball in a bucket now, but I usually have to point to the bucket and stand right by it. The next goal is to get Ace to put a ball in the bucket no matter where I am standing. Because of his ball fixation and obsession with playing fetch, it is going to be nearly impossible to get him to put a ball in a bucket even five feet from me. “Bucket” has been a good challenge for Ace, because when a ball is around, he has a hard time focusing on anything else and ignores even the most basic commands.

I guess Ace is pretty good at “go long.” It would be nice if he could catch the ball more often, but maybe I need to work on my throw! Again, this command is challenging for him because he does not want to leave my side if I am holding a ball. See the video here.

The video of bang and roll over pretty much says it all. Ace is just not too thrilled about these commands and he decided to make that very obvious in the video. Just look at this mutt flop around. We need to work on a faster response, and I need to stop repeating commands so he doesn’t think he can wait until I say a word two or three times.

And finally, crawl. We need some more practice on this one. Ace will crawl, but he likes to keep his butt high. In the video, I kept my hand on his back. I will have to go back to the basics and start with Ace crawling only a few inches at a time. The problem is, he always wants to move so fast. Why crawl when you can run?

So there you have it. Although sometimes it seemed like we were getting nowhere, Ace and I have come a long way from day one. Try teaching your dog some new commands. Dogs can learn a lot if we take the time to teach them.

Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.

With three more days left in our challenge, I better get going.

Ace will now do all five commands. The problem is he only does them … sometimes. And he won’t do them all in a row. He needs a lot more work (probably another month), but at least we are off to a good start.

The hardest part of this challenge is just sticking with it. I want to give up if Ace doesn’t pick up on something right away. But it takes time for a dog to learn something new, and it’s not fair to the dog to expect him to learn something too fast.

With the command bang, Ace will do it about 60 percent of the time. The other 40 percent, he either waits until I repeat the command (bad training on my part) or I have to just put him on his side and then he stays. He still has issues with his head popping right back up (he doesn’t want to miss what’s going on) and the tail is always wagging. Dead dogs don’t wag their tails, Ace!

Ace likes to crawl now! But he likes to keep his back end up so he can move quicker. I’ve been keeping my hand on his back to get him to crawl really low. We have a low coffee table that I should have him crawl under because that would require him to keep his butt down.

We haven’t practiced “bucket” outside with a ball in a long time, but he’s been bringing and dropping his toys in a bucket indoors. It still seems like it hasn’t fully clicked in that dog brain, though. If he understood, wouldn’t he do it right all the time?

Same goes with “go long.” He will do it sometimes. I don’t think he fully understands. Or maybe he just thinks I’m a sucker and will throw the ball when he’s just standing there right next to me. After all, that’s what I’ve done for a year and a half.

And as for roll over, I think it is finally starting to click. He does it outside now every time I ask. But inside he gets confused because that’s where we’ve practiced crawl and bang. So when I say “roll over,” he crawls. This morning, though, he rolled over on command two times in a row. That’s the first time he’s done it right indoors.

So, we’re getting somewhere, but slowly. Whatever it is you are working on with your dog, keep at it.

Today is day 27 of my 30-day challenge to teach my dog five new commands. To see my other 30-day challenge posts, click here.