Archive for the ‘find it’ Category
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When Ace does decide to bring me a toy, it works best to totally ignore him. When he obsesses over a ball, it is because he wants attention, so I turn my back to him or walk away. I am also encouraging Ace to make eye contact. Whenever there is a toy in the room and I catch him looking at me, he gets lots of attention. I’ve been practicing this in other situations too. When it’s time for him to eat, he doesn’t get his food until he looks at me first. At the park, we are continuing what we were working on last week. I throw the ball only after Ace relaxes and looks at me. Then he has to relax and look at me again before retrieving it. I started a new challenge this week where I throw the ball and then Ace has to follow me as I walk the other way. Then I find a piece of trash or a stick and we play “find it.” This is a big challenge for Ace because he wants to run back and get the ball, but instead he has to find something else. I hide the object about three or four times and then let him “find” the ball. But of course he always remembers exactly where it is! One thing I plan to do soon is go to the dog park early in the morning when there are no other dogs there. Then I will let Ace run around but tell him “leave it” whenever he tries to pick up a tennis ball. Visiting the dog park with so many other dogs there would be too much of a challenge for us at this point. When we do eventually go to the dog park during a busy time, I will most likely bike there so Ace gets a good workout before we even enter the park. (This is day 10 of my 30-day challenge to break my dog’s ball obsession. This is not a challenge to break his obsession within 30 days, but to make working on this issue with him a habit for me. Click here to read about my dog’s fixation. Click here to read my other 30-day challenge posts.)
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) |
