Month: August 2026

Keep It Simple: How Small Tweaks Can Refresh Your Dog’s Favorite Training Games

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“’Tis the gift to be simple.”

Whether you know that line from the Shaker hymn or Copland’s Appalachian Spring, we’d bet everything in our wallet (about $9.53) that the tune is now running through your head. You can thank us for the earworm later. It’s not only hypnotic, it’s also true. Clear communication with your dog requires simplicity. Even the most brilliant dog on the planet (mine, of course!) can’t do calculus. But they do love variety, as long as there are familiar elements involved. You don’t always have to buy new toys or invent brand-new games. Dogs are wonderfully uncomplicated creatures. If you run old plushies through the laundry or rubber toys through the dishwasher, they feel brand-new. Or stash a few neglected toys in a closet for two weeks—out of sight means “brand-new discovery” when they reappear. Here’s how to refresh your dog’s favorite training games.

Works For Training Games, Too

The wheel is already invented. You just need to give it a little spin.

Let’s say your dog’s favorite training games are:

  • Put Your Toys Away
  • Touch!
  • Boxey

If you change just one variable, it becomes a whole new game. Your dog still recognizes the setup, so they won’t feel stressed—just intrigued.

This morning, Hope and Torque played “Put Your Toys Away.” Torque knows this game inside out, but lately he’s just been going through the motions. To mix it up, Hope stacked his toys in a new pile, used a different bin, and placed it on the opposite side of the room.

Torque fired right up! It was a brand-new game. He got momentarily confused looking for the usual spot, but he didn’t stress—he just looked around, spotted the new bin, and figured it out. And because this new bin had shorter sides, he decided to be a little cheeky: he dropped a toy in, looked right at Hope, grabbed it back out, and dropped it in again. That brilliant sense of humor was naturally rewarded with a “made-me-laugh” cookie.

Refreshing the Classics

  • Touch! It’s a staple, but familiarity can breed boredom. If you rely on “Touch!” to get your dog’s focus, refresh their interest. Smear a tiny dab of peanut butter on your palm before offering the cue. Suddenly, the game is ten times more interesting.
  • Boxey: This one offers infinite variations. Change the size of the box, turn it on its side, flip it upside down, or line up multiple boxes to see if your dog offers a new behavior for each one.

Do you have a training game that’s gone a little stale? What simple tweak can you make today to refresh your dog’s favorite training game?

Dog Training Games – You Can Quit. But You Can’t Give Up

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Quitting means whatever you’re doing isn’t working right now. You’re setting it aside to revisit later. In dog training games, it simply means the cue isn’t connecting, you’re on different wavelengths, or one of you is just having an off day. So, on any given day you can quit but you can’t give up.

Because giving up means you’re done. Whatever goal you set will never see social media virality. You and your dog are never going to get that ribbon, those titles, or that sweet internet validation.

Quit Every Day

Training game sessions aren’t marathons.

Comedian Rita Rudner put it perfectly:

“One of my friends told me she was in labor for 36 hours. I don’t even want to do anything that feels good for 36 hours.”

Your dog doesn’t either—and neither of you has to.

You don’t even have to end on a good note. Your training session may have been wildly successful, or a total drain-circler. It doesn’t matter. You quit for now, reset, and try again another time.

We see our students get frustrated when the mechanics of a training game elude them, or when their dog just isn’t catching on. Honestly? It happens to us all the time. When we’re developing a new training game, the first session is rarely a success.

We try out a new concept, holding a mental image of the goal. Unfortunately, even our 10+ year-old dogs still can’t read our minds. So when there’s a disconnect, we quit, drop a “We’ll have to think about that one,” and move on.

Different Dogs, Different Games

It happened just the other day. Fran decided to teach Simon, her eight-year-old Boston Terrier, to “Push” a drawer closed. He already knows how to push objects along the floor, but this was brand new.

Hope and Torque had already worked out their version of the drawer push, so Fran attempted to copy what worked for them.

The objective: the dog uses their muzzle to shove a slightly open drawer closed. Torque learned it in just a couple of two-minute sessions because it built on his strength—using his enormous French Bulldog noggin to go charging in.

Simon’s head isn’t all that huge. And he prefers using his paws, not his face. He kept batting at the open drawer until he knocked it off the track entirely.

Rather than pushing through and spiraling into frustration, Fran opted to quit the session until she had a clear plan. It might include revisiting “Gimme Your Face.” Or the new plan might mean changing the game so Simon can use his paws. “Shove” can be a Simon game; Torque can stick with “Push.”

Giving Up Shouldn’t Happen

So, give yourself permission to quit (for now). Taking time to regroup and assess where you are should be a regular part of your process.

If you’re stuck because your dog doesn’t understand, don’t throw in the towel. Table the discussion for later. Let it rattle around in the attic until an answer pops into your head, or ask other dog people what worked for them.

Quit for today. But never give up on your good dog.

Fading Out Treats in Dog Training: When (and How) to Stop Rewarding

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The questions about fading out treats start the first day of class when dog owners notice the treat bag they brought is half empty. And class is only 10 minutes old.

“When can I stop rewarding my dog?”

Never.

“Do I have to give a treat for everything, forever?”

Not forever. But much longer than you think.

“Won’t my dog get fat?”

Use their regular daily food for rewards.

“I don’t usually carry treats on a walk.”

Time to start.

“Isn’t it bribery?”

No. It’s paying your dog for doing their job—just like cashing your paycheck.

Getting Some Perspective

Training your dog with positive reinforcement does not lock you into being a Pez dispenser for the rest of your dog’s life.

For the umpty-millionth time: dogs learn by the timing and placement of rewards. That is the learning phase of training.

Once your dog actually knows their stuff, then it’s time to worry about fading out treats.

The strict definition of “your dog knows it” is that you’d bet a full paycheck that your dog will obey a cue quickly and accurately. Then your dog will smile proudly and give you the “See! I did it!” look. You tell them what a wonderful dog they are, pet them, and get on with your life.

What happens if you stop too soon?

If you attempt to randomize, fade out treats, or neglect the reward part prematurely, you leave your dog hanging without feedback and nowhere to go.

  • Imagine handing in a 20-page paper and getting it back from your teacher with no grade, no comments, and no way of knowing how you did.
  • Uncomfortable at best. Demotivating for sure.

Failure to Communicate

Those treats you’re so anxious to do away with are your training currency—more precious than gold. They speak to your dog loudly and clearly:

  • The dog does something right? Have a cookie.
  • Not quite right? No cookie. Try again.

That is clear communication. The dog gets what they want when we get what we want. There is an unmistakable yes/no response, and dogs love knowing what’s going on.

Wait for the Magic

We have one student with absolutely amazing Miniature Poodles and a miserly nature that makes us crazy. In the last decade, we haven’t been able to convince her to be more generous with the treats—even when we take the leash for a demonstration and get the instantaneous performance she envies.

It’s not magic; it’s the fast reward that acknowledges a job well done.

Finally, with her newest puppy, we’ve managed to convince her to at least smile at her dog. We’re chipping away at her fossilized treat pouch, hoping it will open soon.

She’s never seen the magical transformation that happens: at some point in training, dogs begin to value the training game just as much as the cookie.

The “Transfer of Value” Effect

Transfer of value is a real thing. If a dog gets a reward every single time they go to their “Place,” pretty soon they’re going to love diving onto their place. It works for every training game, all the time. Pairing the game with the treat merges the value of one with the other.

Dogs always love the training games you like because:

  1. You play them the most.
  2. You’re happy about playing them.
  3. You remember to reward consistently and often.

Your dog will love any training game you practice. And once the dog performs reliably, you can start substituting other forms of reward.

Always Acknowledge a Job Well Done

Even when your dog is old, gray, and arthritic, they’ll still love playing training games. Booker’s training games have evolved into just games these days like putting his foam blocks away (he’s 13), but he still loves doing stuff. And he gets that treat most times when he does the stuff right.

Your job, throughout your dog’s life, is to let them know they’re a good dog. That you love them.

And that they’re worth all the paychecks you lost to their naughtiness.