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How to stop your dog counter surfing

When cute little puppies grow tall enough, or clever enough, they discover the joys of counter surfing. Since dogs reliably choose to do what’s most rewarding for them, if they find anything on that counter, they’ll do it again. And again. As long as there are treasures to find, the dog will keep finding them. We imagine there are quite a few family holiday stories that feature a naughty dog stealing some of the featured feast off the table or counter. It may be funny and fondly remembered over the years. But it’s not fun at the time. Not to mention panic-inducing, if it was the centerpiece turkey that’s gone down the dog. Stop your dog counter surfing forever.

Nip it in the bud

Ideally there will be absolutely nothing on the counter the dog finds attractive. If they try counter surfing and get nothing, they have no reason to try again.

Don’t assume that because your dog can’t reach the counter they can’t steal stuff from it. The memory of Hope’s French Bulldog Teddy up on the kitchen counter is burned into our memories. He stood 12 inches tall. The standard counter height is 36 inches. Did he jump? No. He got onto the kitchen chair. Climbed from there onto the table, and then across to the counter. He only did it once (that we know of), but it’s legendary in the family.

Realistically, few of us can completely clear counters, table tops, and other flat, reachable surfaces. Even in the throes of training a new dog, you still have to live your life. Until your dog gets the message, if you can’t completely contain the stuff, contain the dog.

If the counter-surfing canine only has access to the attractive surfaces when you’re there, you can use every interaction as a training opportunity.

Send the message

To counter counter-surfing, set up the scenario. Have a dog bed nearby. Stand at your regular cooking position and start cutting up a carrot. Or celery. Something your dog likes and is allowed to have. If your dog intrudes by sticking their nose under your arm, putting their front paws on the counter, or trying to get at the carrot, stop what you’re doing and cover up the “work” with your arms and upper body. If you have to lie on it, do so. Don’t say anything to the dog. Just stare at the dog bed.

If you tell your dog “Off!” or “No!” or even “Uh-oh” you’re still telling them what to do. The objective is to have the dog make good decisions even if you’re not there to tell them. If you always tell your dog what to do, you’ll always have to. Over the course of your dog’s lifetime, that would be exhausting.

If you put in the effort to teach them good decision-making now, over the course of years you’ll both be much happier.

Stand firm

At first, with the carrot and counter covered, your dog won’t understand what’s going on. They may paw at you, try to burrow under your arm, or even start whining. This is the part where you must be patient. Waiting is the absolute hardest part of dog training. Don’t say anything. Don’t move. Just stare at the dog bed.

As soon as your dog has all four feet on the floor, or looks at the bed, toss a piece of carrot into the bed. As long as the dog is behaving, keep tossing pieces of carrot in the bed. Just by your actions, you’re teaching the dog that their place in that bed is highly rewarding.

If they get the carrot piece and then come bounding back to jump some more, cover up and repeat. Single-minded dogs may take a few sessions to get the idea. But they will get it.

Stop your dog counter surfing forever

Eventually, if you’re patient and consistent, you’ll have a terrific companion for your kitchen endeavors. You can even look forward to spending some companionable time together. If you want to give your dog a chew toy on the bed while you’re preparing food, by all means go ahead.

Throughout your dog’s life, even when they know the house rules, make a point of rewarding them for good decision-making. If you see your dog glance at the counter and then walk away, reward it. That’s a sure sign that the training has worked and your dog really does know better.

Doing It Right Looks Different

What kind of feedback is your dog getting? Are you making sure that doing it right looks different from doing it wrong?

Let’s say you’ve been practicing a particular behavior with your dog.You’ve been working on it for a while, but your dog just isn’t getting it. It could be anything from the simplest position change to a complex trick. You keep trying, but you’re getting a little frustrated and about ready to throw in the towel.

And then, giving it one more try for the day, your dog does it right! What do you do to mark the occasion?

Just move on and think to yourself “Finally!” Or do you
Stop and celebrate?

If you picked A, pick again. Our trainees hear it all the time: “Doing it right has to look different than doing it wrong.”

How do they know?

When you regularly play training games with your dog, the two of you often act as a team. If your dog could talk, they could probably finish your sentences most of the time. But they can’t talk. And they don’t understand what we want of them until we teach them. You have to let your dog know when they’re right.

2-Minute Dog Training Games are built on understanding that dogs learn through the timing and placement of rewards. No reward tells your dog “Sorry, buddy. That wasn’t it.” When they get a jackpot the message is clearly: “Yay for you! You did it!”

Dogs want to get things right and earn that jackpot. Knowing their effort will be rewarded motivates them to keep trying. If at first they don’t succeed they know to try, try again.

For instance

Torque, Hope’s French Bulldog, loves doing Rally Obedience stuff. There was one upper-level sign he just wasn’t understanding. It was the “Send Away Sit / Return / Follow Arrow” signs at the Master level, for Rally people. He just didn’t “get” that he had to go near the cone (6 feet away), turn around and then sit. Even teaching the segments separately didn’t work. Putting a target near the cone didn’t work. He just wasn’t getting it.

They practiced it about every couple of weeks for several months. There was no urgency, and Hope tried different targets, signals, commands. But it wasn’t happening. Torque knew it wasn’t right because he didn’t get any treats. But he was willing to keep trying because we didn’t hammer at it, tell him he was wrong, or enforce any kind of punishment.

Doing it right looks different

Then came the day when he did it. Perfectly. The first try. Hope stopped everything and gave that boy a jackpot of treats, an ear massage, and quit for the day. Doing it right looks different, and he’s done it right every time since.

Make it a big deal

If it’s a big deal when the dog gets something right, and nothing when they don’t, the dog has a reason to keep trying. Dogs love having a “job” and “working” with their people. But there’s no reason to keep doing it if their efforts gain them nothing.

Quite a few of the comments on our videos are similar to “my dog isn’t interested.” Or “my dog won’t listen.” And to each of these we ask – what motivation are you giving your dog? Do they get anything special for listening? For being interested? If doing nothing and doing something all get the same treatment, why would they bother?

It’s on you

There’s a saying among dog trainers that “Every dog is trained to its owner’s level of comfort.” Most people quit trying when their dogs learn the bare minimum to live comfortably. As long as their dog doesn’t chew their shoes and potties where they’re supposed to, they’re satisfied.

And if that’s all you want, that’s fine. It’s between you and your dog. But if you want to have a real companion who loves doing “stuff” with you and has a big, happy life, you’ll strive for more. And make it look different when you get it.

Let your dog freestyle

Do you ever let your dog freestyle your 2-Minute sessions? Or do you always have a goal in mind when you’re playing training games?

We agree with Apple CEO Tim Cook: “Let your joy be in your journey – not in some distant goal.”

While we do teach our dogs the skills they need to compete in dog sports, that’s not the focus of training games. Giving your dog the biggest, best, happiest life is the reason for this joyful journey.

Cue your dog’s creativity

Just for the fun of it, grab a bunch of random household stuff you don’t really care about. Nothing breakable, please. Then toss it on the floor and let your dog loose. You don’t even have to have any treats. Just let your dog do whatever they want for a couple of minutes.

Sometimes, they’ll come up with a whole new game. In one of Simon’s freestyle sessions he showed Fran he liked to make towers of toys. She’s now working on a container-stacking game.

Other choices

It’s also possible that absolutely nothing useful will come from the play session. Faced with some random objects, Hope’s Torque decided the most fun thing would be to destroy cardboard tubes. That’s what he wanted to do. That’s what he did. And he had fun doing it.

At first your dog may not understand the concept. They may look to you for direction. It takes a while for dogs who have always been under instruction to understand they’re free to do whatever they want.

This is where you have to be patient. Which, as we all know, is the absolute hardest part of dog training. You can encourage your dog to check things out, but try not to interact with any of the objects. If your dog starts moving among them, or sniffing them, encourage the dog. But don’t interfere. Let them figure it out.

Building confidence when you let your dog freestyle

Making decisions helps dogs build confidence. In these freestyle sessions where anything goes, they’ll learn to explore more. Often in dogs’ lives they’re not allowed to go where they want, do what they want, check out interesting things.

These improvised sessions counter-balance both the regular routine and the strict structure of most dogs’ days. It’s another way to enrich their lives. And it’s fun.

Teaching “Fetch!”

You might think there are two kinds of dogs in the world. Those who love to play “Fetch!” and those who just don’t get it. In fact, the two kinds of dogs are: 1) those who love to play “Fetch!” and 2) those who don’t love it yet. Teaching fetch the 2-Minute Trainer way will make up for that!

It may take a little time, patience, and slobber to get there, but you can if that’s your goal. Like all of our dog training games, you break it down into small steps and teach one at a time.

The game of “Fetch!” is really not as simple as it looks. There are a lot of small steps that all add up to a complete game.

The first step is for your dog to love playing with a toy with you. The “with you” is the important part. If you’re not part of the play from the outset, you never will be. It doesn’t matter what toy you start with, as long as it has someplace for both of you to hold on. Balls don’t. Balls on ropes do. Bones don’t. Plush toys do.

Getting the grab

If there’s a toy your dog already loves that fits the bill, you’re ahead of the game. If you have a dog that doesn’t much care about toys, you may have to work a bit to get there. To get your dog to play with a toy with you, start by being annoying. Swish the toy back and forth on the floor in front of your dog, being sure to contact their front paws as you go. Keep it a slow, back and forth motion. With some excited dialog: “You gonna get it?” “What’s that?” “Get it!”

When your dog does grab the toy – and it may take some time to get the grab – play tug! (A word of caution about tug. Be sure to tug back and forth. Up and down motion could injure your dog’s neck or spine.) If your dog drops the toy, you drop it, too. Encourage your dog to “Get it!” If they do pick it up, start playing tug again. If they don’t, go back to your swishing. To graduate to the “Fetch” part, the toy has to be valuable to the dog, they have to want to get it without you holding it.

Make tug the best game ever

Once your dog loves playing tug, the next part is easier. In the middle of a game of tug, drop the toy and run away from your dog. At first, just go a step or two. When you turn around to look at your dog, they should be right behind you. Grab your end of the toy and play tug! The tugging game will be your dog’s reward when they “Fetch!”

The fastest way to get a dog to come to you is to run away from them. It also works with human toddlers. It takes guts to run away from your dog when they’re on the loose and headed for traffic, but it does work. Chasing after a dog is every dog’s signal to play “You Can’t Catch Me!,”, which is never what you really want to play.

If your dog has dropped the toy, or isn’t following you, run back to the toy and excitedly say something like “You forgot something!” “Where’s your toy?” “Get it!” When the dog picks it up again, say “Good Get it!” and run a couple of steps away.

Be patient. If your dog has never played “Fetch!” or is inconsistent in either carrying or bringing the toy, keep trying. It may take a few 2-Minute sessions for them to get the idea. Hope’s French Bulldogs have never been natural retrievers, or toy fanatics. But each and every one learned to love the retrieve, which is Obedience parlance for “Fetch!”

And you’re teaching “Fetch!”

Once your dog loves playing tug with you, and loves chasing you to play tug, you can progress to “Fetch!” Show your dog the favorite tug toy and then toss it away. As soon as you throw, turn around and start to run away. Again, if your dog drops the toy, or doesn’t get it to chase you instead, run to the toy and encourage your dog to pick it up. When they do, run a few steps, turn around and play “Tug!” See that: you’re teaching “Fetch!”

Be patient. If your dog isn’t a natural retriever, they have to learn all the parts of the game and come to love each and every part. When it all falls into place, you’ll always have it. “Fetch!” will be a part of your repertoire forever.

The Dog’s Shell Game

Both you and your dog always win when you play the Dog’s Shell Game. It looks like the con-artist’s street corner version, but it doesn’t cost a thing.

This isn’t a training game per se. It’s just a fun game to play with your dog that lets them use their natural ability to sniff. It’s a game that lets your dog just be a dog, and you go along for the ride.

How to play

All you need is some rather smelly treats and three cups or little bowls. We’d recommend using ones that aren’t breakable. And are washable. Because dog spit.

You can play anywhere you have enough space to sit on the floor with your dog.

Start by letting your dog sniff the treat. Then line up your cups or bowls and hide the treat under one of them. It’s perfectly okay for your dog to see what you’re doing.

Leaving the bowls flat on the floor, shift them around a few times in random order. The beauty part of this game is you don’t have to remember where the treat is. It’s up to your dog to find it.

Find it!

Then just let your dog go find the treat. They should use their noses to locate it. If they knock over the cup, that’s fine. Some dogs don’t make a beeline to the treat because they may not understand it’s a sniffing game.

When they indicate which bowl, pick it up and let them get the treat if they were right. If they chose poorly, just say something like “That’s not it! Keep trying!” It’s up to you whether you set that bowl aside or reintroduce it into the game.

Do it again!

After they find the treat the first time, they’ll know better what the game is about. It’s fun when they catch on and sit watching you move the cups around. See if your dog watches the target bowl or the whole set up. If they watch a single bowl, they’ll probably go right to that one when you release them.

Once your dog knows how to play the game, you can replace the treat with anything that has a scent. If you’re into Nose Work, you’re familiar with having dogs sniff out the essential oil scents used in the sport. You can use a cotton pad with just a few drops of scent. Just be ready with a treat to reward your dog so they’re not tempted to eat the cotton pad.

No fooling

Unlike the con artist, you’re not trying to fool your dog. You want them to succeed by using their natural scenting ability, like the “Find It!” dog training game. On a sniffari walk, your dog meanders from place to place, checking out the surrounding odors. The Shell Game has the added benefit of making you a vital part. Whenever possible, you want to be included in your dog’s fun.

Dog Training Game – Automatic Sit

The “Automatic Sit!” is one of those games where you have to work a bit to make it fun. Remembering that your dog feeds off your energy – if you think it’s boring, it is. If you think it’s another fun game you can play together, it will be.

What is an “Automatic Sit”? When you’re walking with your dog, every time you stop your dog sits. It’s simple. It’s easy. And it’s a habit that most people don’t bother to develop for their dogs. But it’s an important one, especially for city dwellers. If your dog sits every time you reach a curb, or a driveway, you know you have time to check traffic before moving on. Just that simple. And possibly life-saving.

First things first

Does your dog know the word “Sit!”? Most people will swear they do. But most people are wrong. Keeping in mind that dogs learn things in context, do a little test of your dog’s understanding.

Your dog probably knows “Sit!” when you’re face-to-face. And you have a treat in your hand. You probably lift the treat up as you say “Sit!” Or you may simultaneously bring the treat up while you push on your dog’s butt. If any of that is familiar, you need to take the test.

With your dog at your side, your hands empty of treats, and hanging straight, say “Sit!” to your dog. If they do it, that’s great! Your dog really knows the word. If they don’t, you’re allowed to look at your dog’s butt, but not repeat “Sit!” If they still don’t do it, you need to expand your dog’s understanding of “Sit!”

Easy peasy

Getting your dog to understand “Sit!” is simple. But you have to actually do it. Dogs learn by the timing and placement of rewards. If you enter a room and your dog is sitting, say “Good Sit!” Give them a treat. That’s it. If you say “Sit!” and your dog instantly does it, reward! Keep repeating the word “Sit!” when your dog’s doing it.

Dogs are capable of understanding hundreds of words. The catch is you have to teach them. Unlike toddlers and children, dogs can’t pick up vocabulary by overhearing conversations or understanding context. Expanding your dog’s vocabulary requires your conscious decision to teach them. They’ll pick it up quickly, given the opportunity.

Once your dog’s “Sit!” is rock-solid, it’s time to take it a step further with the Automatic Sit!

Step at a time

This part’s easy, too. For one of your 2-Minute Training sessions, with your dog at your side, take a single step. Tell your dog “Sit!” when you stop. Take another single step. Say “Sit!” when you stop. Rinse and repeat. Single steps for just a minute or two.

If your dog doesn’t do it immediately, or seems confused, just wait. Give them a chance to think. If the halt-step wedding-march is confusing for your dog, there are a couple things you can do to clear it up. Always start moving with the foot closest to the dog. This is an Obedience hack. If you move the foot closest to the dog first, they know they’re supposed to move with you. If you move the opposite foot first, they know to stay. Dogs are smart.

You can also cue them when you start moving and when you stop. “Let’s Go!” even for the single step. And “Halt! Sit!” when you stop.

Always useful

That’s really all there is to teaching your dog the “Automatic Sit!” When your dog is doing great in your 2-Minute session, take the behavior with you on your next walk. At first, remind your dog to “Sit!” when you stop. And “Let’s Go!” when you start moving. Sitting at stops will become your dog’s good habit quickly.

Training your hyper dog

If you’ve been told your dog is too hyper for training, you’ve been sold a bill of goods and should demand your money back immediately. No dog benefits more. The whole point of training is to have your dog know how to act, in public or private, regardless of how revved up they are.

Nothing about dog training should be boring, calm, tedious, or rigid. It should be fun and fast, noisy and full of laughter. Your dog should know it’s okay, even good, to get excited. Dogs are all about fun. Training games are just another way to play with them. It has the side benefit of turning them into great companions who know their boundaries and listen to their people. Even when their excitement level is through the roof.

Rev ‘em up

If you’ve ever attended or watched an agility competition, you’ve seen handlers playing tug with their dogs as they wait to go in the ring. The objective is to get their dogs excited to run. The most successful dogs are not only excited and fast, but also paying attention to their people. Dogs are capable of listening, even in a high energy state.

Some of the training games (Touch, Throw Your Dog Away) are designed to get your dog excited. When you want your dog’s most intense focus on you – play a fast, fun training game. As long as you’re part of the equation, excitement is exactly what you want.

Don’t calm down

Stop telling your dog to calm down. It doesn’t work and it isn’t going to happen. Replace that mentality with one that works. Teach your dog to channel that excitement into something that makes you both happy. While not every hyper dog is destined to be an agility, obedience, or dog sport competitor, they can all learn to channel their energy so they don’t make you crazy.

We know what we’re talking about. We have Boston Terriers. And while not every Boston is hyper, we’ve been lucky enough to have a couple (okay, all) who are. Booker, at 11 years old, is now retired. He also has multiple Obedience, Rally, and Agility titles. That didn’t happen because we trained him to be calm. He’s not capable of being calm. It happened because he learned how to channel his energy productively.

Listen through the buzz

How do you get your hyper dog to play training games? All dogs, even hyper ones, always do what’s most rewarding to them. It’s up to you to be the most interesting thing around. Up your energy level. Talk in an excited voice. Move suddenly. Run away. Engage your dog. Have incredibly high-value treats.

Getting your hyper dog to pay attention for a 2-Minute Training Game isn’t hard. Two minutes. That’s all. And concentrating hard for those two minutes will probably tire out your hyper dog for quite a while. Thinking can be exhausting. Especially when it’s a new challenge you’re asking your dog to meet.

Set limits

Just as you want your hyper dog to get excited to play with you, they need to understand there are limits. That’s where setting the timer for your 2-Minute Training games comes in. The dog will learn that the game is over when the timer goes off. Dogs like routine. They love knowing what to expect. It won’t take long for them to know that the timer’s ring means the game’s over.

Show your dog what the timer’s ring means. Say something like “That’s all!” when it goes off. And stop playing immediately. Put away the treats and the clicker. Turn off the timer and leave the training space. Even if you’re playing in the kitchen, leaving the area will reinforce the idea that game time is over.

More benefits

Enforcing a limit will also teach your dog to switch gears and reset their emotional state. Since we tend to train each of our dogs individually, in turn, the dogs who are not playing are in their crates. This helps them differentiate between playtime and relaxing time. If you can make the break between “work” time and “relax” time a physical difference, it helps the dog. Move into another room. Take a walk. Make a clear differentiation between the two modes.

Your hyper dog can’t help being that way. Exuberant, energetic dogs can be challenging. They’re also fun, affectionate, and eager to play with you. Take advantage of the traits you love. Teach them control to take care of the others.

2 Keys to good dog training

The two qualities needed for successful dog training are patience and consistency. Good dog training isn’t fun to watch. That’s why lots of the dog trainers with huge numbers of views on social media are really awful trainers. Awful meaning violent, punishment-based, and full of noise and motion.

When one of our videos gets some traction on social media, one of the comments that pops up over and over is “can you do a video showing how to teach this?”

We could. But no one wants to watch somebody standing around looking at their dog. That’s what most of positive reinforcement training is. We’re teaching our dogs to think and make good decisions. We don’t tell them what to do, we present opportunities for them to try things and figure stuff out.

Patience and consistency

Say you want to teach your dog to pick up an object – anything from the required-in-obedience dumbbell to a can of beer. Training starts with you putting the object in front of your dog and standing there staring at it. You wait for any interaction with the object (look, sniff, poke, move, lick) and when it happens, mark it (either with a click or a “Yes!”) and reward close to the object.

A couple of interactions with the object could be all you get the first time you show it to your dog. It takes time for your dog to realize the object has value. So that video is you standing there looking at your dog maybe looking at a thing. Not great video, but a good first step.

Short attention span

In this age of instant everything, advocating slow and steady is, at best, an outlier. That’s why your training sessions should be short. Hence, 2-Minute-Trainer. Staring at an object for two minutes while your dog thinks is okay. Longer than that? Deadly dull. And unproductive.

Even active behaviors, like loose-leash walking, start with “nothing to see here.” First you teach your dog the basics of the game. Lots of treats for not much motion. Thinking is active, difficult, and intense. But not exciting to watch.

That’s why we write detailed descriptions of our dog training games. It only takes a second to read “Choose a three-word phrase. Say the third word five times, giving your dog a treat as you say the word.” Doing it, and having your dog love hearing the word, takes a bit of time. Doing it with your dog is fun. Watching someone else do it isn’t.

Patience pays

You and your dog can do any of the behaviors and tricks we show in our videos. Some tricks only take moments for dogs to learn, especially if it’s based on something they already know. Some of the tricks take weeks, or even months. The total time working on it may be less than half an hour, but that’s two minutes at a time, maybe once a week.

If a dog trainer promises fast results, it’s almost guaranteed to be punishment-based training. Yes, it’s faster. Yes, it works, sort of. Punishment-based training doesn’t change the dog’s behavior, it suppresses it. The classic example is the housebreaking scenario where the dog is punished for pooping when you find the poop. So they hide where they do it. They didn’t learn what you meant to teach. They learned to avoid punishment.

Great results

Patience and consistency will get you and your dog wherever you want to go. Sometimes the goal changes based on what you learn about your dog with your training games. You’ll probably lean into the things your dog really enjoys and learns quickly. The stuff neither of you truly cares about will be shuffled off to the side.

You’ll know your dog better and you’ll have a bigger, happier life together when you play training games. And we hope you’ll send us the links to your end-product videos. Those are lots of fun to watch.

Play “Throw Your Dog Away!”

We get puzzled looks when we ask people how they play with their dogs. Or if they play “Throw Your Dog Away.”

It’s odd how many people don’t really know how to play with their dogs. We’re not talking about “Fetch!” games. For the most part, you being there isn’t even necessary. The person part of “Fetch!” could be easily replaced by an automatic ball launcher. It’s not you the dog is engaging with. It’s the ball. Or whatever toy they’re fetching.

There’s no doubt the dog is having fun. The person’s “fun” is more about finding joy in seeing your dog getting some exercise, having a good time, and probably even smiling at you. There’s also the dealing with the slimy toy part. And the clean-up that follows, especially on rainy days.

Strive for engagement

The good part about playing “Fetch!” with your dog is that you’re there. When we ask students if they play with their dogs, one of the answers we always hear is “My dog has a ton of toys. But he/she doesn’t play with them.” That’s because, past puppy stage, dog toys that just lie around aren’t very interesting.

When dog puzzle toys started appearing, they were marketed as “interactive” toys. We’re still trying to figure that out. Once you fill the compartments with treats, your part is over. The dog interacts with the toy, not with you. And that relationship ends as soon as the treats are uncovered and consumed.

Bond by playing together

If the whole substance of your time spent together is you either telling your dog what to do, or watching while they do stuff, it’s a pale reflection of what your bond could be. Some of the most satisfying moments with your dog are when you’re so in sync that it’s like you read each other’s thoughts. Whether that’s heading to the kitchen at the same time to get a drink, moving as a unit around a Rally Obedience Course, or even just yawning together and heading for bed, it’s a pretty great feeling.

So what game can you play, just the two of you, to build that relationship? There are lots of little “kitchen games” that help. Touch, Watch, Puppy Push Ups all work. All of those are great for attention and focus. But what if you just want to have some fun with your dog? No pressure to achieve anything. Just playing around? It’s time for “Throw Your Dog Away!”

How to play

First off, know that this is a vigorous game and can get quite loud. Also painful. One of our puppy class people loved the game – until those sharp puppy teeth put a gouge in his arm. Puppy teeth are razor sharp. Exercise a bit of caution if your puppy doesn’t have excellent bite inhibition.

All you need for this game is you and your dog. That’s it. Not even any rewards. Your dog should love playing this game all by itself. And it’s easy. You’re probably already doing parts of it.

Get down to your dog’s level, whether that’s sitting on the floor, bending over, or kneeling. Start ruffling up their fur and talking excitedly. You want to build up your dog’s excitement to play with you.

Then, when your dog’s engaged with you, put a hand on their chest and push them away – “throw” your dog away. At first your dog may be a little confused, but they’ll come around quickly and rebound right back for more.

Silly dialogue

When we play this game with our dogs we keep up a constant dialogue. As the dog’s coming back for more, we say ridiculous things like “What are you coming back for? Do you think I want you? I’m going to throw you away again!”

Most dogs, once they figure out you’re playing, do an adorable little lift onto their haunches and bounce back at you. Dogs love the direct engagement and contact.
That’s all there is to the game. Your dog bounces at you and you bounce them right back. As mentioned, this game can be very stimulating, especially for puppies. Keep an eye on your dog and if the arousal level is too high, it’s time to lower the temperature. A quick game of “Watch!” or “Touch!” should do the trick.

Pay your dog

“Pay your dog!” is a phrase we use in every single class we teach. It seems that most people are worried their dogs will gain weight if they’re trained with treats.

We hear it all the time. “That’s a lot of treats!” “When can I stop rewarding with food?” The constant objection is that dogs will get fat with reward-based training. A more thoughtful use of food would benefit the dogs. Rather than worry about the dogs gaining weight, see the advantage of using the dog’s most valuable currency to teach them.

Dogs will, absolutely reliably, do whatever’s most rewarding for them. Why not have a meeting of the minds and make what you want the most rewarding thing? Why would you refuse to use the tool that works best?

For instance

This week one of our training game videos went a little viral. It’s Torque’s trick “Troll Under The Bridge.” Lots of people commented, more than we’ve ever seen. People seemed impressed, but “But will he do it without food?” was a pretty common question. Our reply is “Probably. But why should he?”

Let’s try a little perspective on the issue. Would you want to work without pay? Even if you love your job, your office, your colleagues. Would you still do the job for nothing? Most people will give a hard “No!” So why does anyone expect their dog to do their job without payment?

For your love

The answer we hear a lot is “But I pet him and tell him he’s a good dog! Isn’t that reward enough?” Again, put yourself in that position. A hearty pat on the back and “Good job!” is nice to get from your boss. But a bonus is better, more memorable, and means more to most of us.

If you’re worried about your dog gaining weight, remember it’s you who controls your dog’s calorie intake. There’s absolutely no reason you can’t make your dog’s regular food part of the “trail mix” of treats for training. When you measure out your dog’s food for the day, just put a scoop of it in a separate bowl. Mix in some higher-value, shelf-stable treats, and you have your training treats for the day.

Not a lifetime commitment

When your dog is learning something new, is having trouble with something, or is particularly distracted, it’s a good idea to reward often and for smaller steps in training. The rate of reinforcement should be higher for new or more difficult games.

Once a word is cemented in your dog’s vocabulary, you probably don’t have to reward them every time they do it. When dogs are learning our warm-up Puppy Pushups game, they get rewarded for every change of position. Once they’ve been playing a while and enjoy the game, the treats may come after several position changes. Randomizing rewards even becomes part of the interaction. Dogs trained with positive reinforcement will try all kinds of different things to get you to cough up the goodies.

Establish a pattern

One of our students has a large, young dog in a house full of young children. To keep everyone safer, they decided early on that “Down!” was a very valuable behavior for their dog. If she was lying down, they didn’t have to worry about her jumping on the children or their friends. Every time the dog obeyed “Down!” she was rewarded.

Fast forward several months and “Down!” is the dog’s default behavior. It’s so firmly established in her mind that she’s “good” when she’s “Down!” that when she’s confused, or unsure what she’s supposed to do, she lies down. She’ll do it even when she doesn’t get a reward. Because she knows it’s a good thing to do and she values being good.

Dogs just want to be good

Given a choice, dogs want to do the right thing. They may not always know what that is. It’s our responsibility to teach them. Since dogs learn best through the timing and placement of rewards, it’s a no-brainer to use rewards to teach.

If you’ve been stingy with the treats, think about why that’s so. Concern about weight is valid, but just one of the factors to consider. Find low calorie treats your dog likes (Popcorn? Carrots? Celery? Green Beans?). Use higher-calorie options sparingly, and use a portion of your dog’s regular food for training.

There are certainly other rewards dogs find worthwhile, including toys and praise. But if your dog’s number one motivation is food, use it to accomplish your training goals. Pay your dog for work well done.