Tag: fun dog training

What is enrichment? According to Merriam Webster, it’s “to make rich or richer especially by the addition or increase of some desirable quality, attribute, or ingredient (the experience will enrich your life). 

Have you seen those feature stories about enrichment at the zoo around Halloween? Where all the elephants get pumpkins to play with? Or the polar bears get huge ice blocks filled with treats in the middle of summer? That’s enrichment. We’d also call it lagniappe, but we like taking our vocabulary out for a spin once in a while.

Making training game sessions part of life is enrichment for both your dog and for you. It’s something special – time you focus only on each other and playing together. It enriches your bond with your dog. Builds understanding between you. And, in a non-coercive, non-punishing way, teaches your dog all kinds of things that will make your lives together easier.

Any game will do

Some days you may not feel like playing any particular game with your dog. That’s okay. Gather a few different objects from around the house – plastic drinkware, mixing bowls, pillows, cardboard boxes, paper towel (or TP) rolls. It can be anything that your dog can’t ruin. 

Take one object and put it in front of your dog. If he’s a regular 2-Minute game player, he’ll go check it out. Click and reward! See what he does with it. Does he paw at it? Good touch! Click and reward! Does he sniff it? Good sniff! Click and reward!

Sniffing game

If your dog loves sniffing stuff – you’re ahead for this game. Hope is now teaching her French Bulldog Torque to use his nose instead of his paws or mouth to explore. He’s never been a “sniffy” dog, and it’s a skill he may need if the world ever returns to a semblance of normalcy and he advances in Obedience competition. 

She’s using a drop or two of essential oil on a cotton pad. 

• First step: he sniffs it. Click and reward!  
• Second step: Hope hides the cotton pad under something (in this case, it was a clean, empty tuna fish can). Torque finds it. Click and reward! 
• Third step: A second clean tuna can is added – can he still find it? (We’re not here yet!)
• Fourth step: A third can is added – and now we’re playing the Shell Game!

Useful? Maybe not

Not every game we play with our dogs has to have a reason, or an objective – but it’s fun to try. If you have no intention of ever competing in any dog sport, your dog may never use her “Shell Game” skills. But learning the game enriched her life, and you had fun with it. 

Enrichment can be anything that’s not part of your regular routine. Mix it up! At the Dolphin Research Center, sometimes the trainers just float around the lagoons on inner tubes, tossing ice or gelatin cubes for the dolphins to play with and eat. It’s just for fun. There’s a lot of laughing during these sessions – both from the dolphins and the trainers. And strengthens the bonds between animals and people. 

You can increase the quality of your dog’s life with enrichment.

Remember back when you were a kid and one of the best things about going back to school was getting your new school supplies? How you were absolutely convinced the “right stuff” would set you up for success?

Embarking on a dog training adventure is absolutely nothing like that. All you really need is you, your dog, a plan, and a sense of humor. And treats. (Pay your dog.) Patience helps, too.

It doesn’t matter

One of the most frequently asked questions we get is about the stuff. Harness or collar? How long should the leash be? What if I don’t have a balance disc? 

None of that stuff matters. You have everything you need. 

Studies have shown that all collars have the potential to cause neck injuries in dogs. And many dog “experts” claim that harnesses just encourage dogs to pull, because it doesn’t hurt the dog to pull.

The goal is to get your dog to walk nicely beside you, regardless of what it’s wearing. That’s one of the reasons we train our naked dogs in our homes, or in our fenced yards. If your dog can go anywhere it wants, and do anything it wants, but chooses to stay with you and play your game – you’re doing it right!

Safe space

If you’re just starting to develop your teamwork, play your training games in a small, boring, confined space. If you’re the most interesting “thing” around, your dog is going to be fascinated with whatever you do. You know your dog can’t go anywhere. And you know you’re only going to be playing a game for a couple of minutes. 

Once you and your dog develop a habit of playing training games, your dog will race to your training space. They love playing games with you. Our training space is usually in the basement. And our biggest headache was keeping the dogs from dashing down the stairs whenever we opened the basement door. 

So we made that into a training game, too! Now we approach the basement door, tell the pups to “wait,” go down a couple of steps, come back, and reward! Good wait, doggos! Nice job! 

You have the right stuff

Anything and everything can be an occasion for a training game. If you find yourself aggravated because your dog is standing on your lap when you’re trying to watch TV, make it a training game. If the dog is lying in the doorway, make it a training game. (In that case, we’d highly suggest making it a “stay!”) 

Being ready to play games all the time, everywhere, will make your life, and your dog’s, happier. Not worrying about the “right stuff” lets you build your dog’s wardrobe with the fun stuff you love. Not that we know any collar addicts. Just mentioning it for a friend.