SearchIndoor Games?
Unfortunately the weather has not been behaving and its been a rainy week. Soleil is not very fond of the rain, its hard enough to get her to go outside to do her business let alone burn off some extra energy. I was wondering if anyone had any fun indoor activities that they do with their dogs. Things that don't include tennis balls flying around the house and 85 lbs of Dobie running full speed down that hall. The only thing I have come it with a "find it." "it" being her favorite red Kong that I make her sit and stay in one room and hide it around the house. She investigates each room till she finds it and brings it back. She loves the game but I have a smaller house running out of hiding spots. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks! ;D
How do you even start to train them to find something? How do you communicate to them what you want them to do--like smell something out? I didn't even know how to teach my dog to fetch. All I learned to do, and this was from an AKC kennel club class, was to train Tara to heel, sit, stay, and come. I wish I knew how to make the dog snap back into place after coming and being given the heel command next. I made mine walk around me and sit. I've seen this technique in one of the shows I have attended and it looked spectacular to me rather than the walk around the owner routine.
I have been trying to play find it with Snoopy, but he gets distracted and finds something else to do. Then later that evening he will bring it to me as if I had just told him to find it. It has also been cold here and we are also trying to find things to do around the house. To burn energy when it is cold out, Snoopy walks on the treadmill. I have been still taking him on walks daily but he has alot of energy to burn off, even after a walk or 2 miles on the treadmill. Just this morning I was looking for him to put him out and when I found him he was standing on the treadmill wanting me to turn it on for him. I put him on it one time and ever since he always just goes and stands there until I turn it on, he is so smart. He is kind of acting a little wild in here now and needs something to do.
I wish I knew how to make the dog snap back into place after coming and being given the heel command next. I made mine walk around me and sit. I've seen this technique in one of the shows I have attended and it looked spectacular to me rather than the walk around the owner routine.
The walk around technique is the easiest for the big dogs to do and learn. The way I teach the snap back into heal position on the left side is; Dog starts out in front of you in the come to or front position whatever word you have taught for it. Then I take a step back with my left leg holding a treat and luring them straight back and then turn into heal position while bringing your left leg back into heel. Their are many variations of this finish. One thing that is important is to give it a different command and use it while teaching. Our command for this type of finish is just that "finish". The other type of finish where they go all the way around your body we use the command "around". One thing I see many people do is use the same word that they use for the heel as they do for the left finish. This can be very confusing for the dog. In this utube video we are practicing rally but we do have a call front from heel position then a left finish right after it will give you some kind of an idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeAzUpZTiz4&feature=related This particular dog is not as trained as my other and a little more challenging to work with in some areas like her left pivots and such.
How do you even start to train them to find something? How do you communicate to them what you want them to do--like smell something out?
You can start with showing the dog the food. Making them sit and wait if able or someone hold them. Try short distances to begin with until they really get the hang of the game. Either hide the food while they are watching under something and then release them and tell them find it. The other way would be to drag the food along the ground and make them use the nose. You could also do short tracks like they do in tracking and put a piece of food every step to begin with then graduating to hardly any down the trail. At the end of the tracking could be a favorite toy or a jackpot of favorite treats.The idea is to build the drive and pretty soon this becomes a really fun game for them.
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I play the find it game with my dogs quite a bit in the winter. Although our house is quite large 4000. sq ft, I play it only 2 rooms of the house so finding different areas is challenging. What I started to do is put it off the ground, they found that challenging. You know how many times I play this same game with them in the same areas they ALWAYS love it. If you have kids you can try having them hide as well. You can also hide things under cups and have them sniff out the right cup. Although it is not energy burn off it mentally challenges them which is just about as nice. Let me know what you come up with as I'm always looking for winter games for my kids.