Play is your Dog’s favourite way of learning.

Dog training should always include play. Play is you Dogs favourite way of learning and improves the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of your Dog. Fact!

So should training and engaging your dogs favourite way of learning involve lots of control with just ‘click and treat’ positive reward based training? No. Far from it. It needs much more. Many studies have been held to analyse the movitvator of play in Dogs. One such Study published by Bradshaw, Pullen et al (2014), demonstrated successfully the need within Dogs of all ages, to have play in their lives. It is a vital part of the continued learning, fulfilment and flexibility of thinking in our dogs. Even in our Seniors!

It’s why I am such a strong advocate of the the Absolute Dogs games-based method of learning. Yes, I have my Institute of Modern Dog Trainer professional training certification, but that more traditional positive reward Course is just the start of any Trainers learning. Just working on a control element of your dog’s learning, is not nearly enough.

WHY?

Dog training should always include play. We’ve bred them that way. There are many studies that show the development of our children brains as vital to include play. We now know that our Dogs (and many companion animals) are no different. Science showed that due to the power of evolution, domesticated dogs have one or sometimes two additional genes that produce this result. A Study by vonHoldt, Shuldiner et al (2017) found a common, underlying shared genetic preference in both humans and dogs. We know that Dogs brains are made up of the same names structures as ours too. I really want my Clients to have a happy and healthy, long lasting relationship with your dog. Play is vital for this!

HOW?

Think of your working on your dogs play drive as a recipe book. Not every flavour or combination of play is going to suit your dog. Dogs are not born with the instinct as to how to play with us. We are a different species. We can’t just put a toy down in front of a dog and expect them to know what to do. Yes, that means retrieving a ball too. You have to show them what to do and they have to want to do it. In a style that suits your dog. Basically, you have to work with the dog in front of you and find their style using a variety of textures, shapes and styles of toy.

A big way to instigate play without even needing to buy toys is to use their daily food allowance. Known as the ‘Ditch the Bowl’, take the total amount of your dogs daily food intake and look at it, not in just a ‘Serve it in a bowl’ ritual but a change to use this vital source of value in your Dogs eyes for play. Engage your dogs natural instincts to follow, sniff, run, jump and engage with their human in a fun way. You can make play exciting and have lots of movement or you can focus on working with your dog on brain engagement play where they have to solve problems in order to win the food.

There are so many adaptations of how to engage your dogs brain, it would take too long to mention everything. Working on games that build calmness, self control, confidence, thinking whilst getting into overexcitment and out of it. Above all, it is so much more than click and treat, right?

WHERE?

An example of how to generate play is as follows. Instead of just putting food in a bowl for your dog, take small amounts and go into a space where you can roll food along the ground for your dog to follow. When they turn back to you, reward them by praising them and roll food in different direction. Feed your dog wet or raw food? No problem! There are now wet and raw food squeezers available from A-OK9. Another way is to use sniffing games. Use games that involve learning some problem solving like hiding small amount in ramekins or tupperware boxes around the room then bring your dog into that room and point to where they may need to sniff to find it. When they succeed, make a big fuss of them.

Another key point, Dogs don’t just want to play and hunt for food, they like games that allow them to interact with you in other ways too. Play is both an art and a science, which won’t always come completely naturally or look totally polished. Also, it can be very easy to accidentally put too much pressure on our dogs when we play, which can create huge amounts of frustration. There are fantastic toys that are designed to awaken the instinctive joy in playing, catching, chasing and of course, tugging. The range of toys that I love for all dogs are sold from Tug-E-Nuff. I offer a selection on my website HERE and cover the art of playing and training in both my classes and my One 2 Ones.

What do I do now?

There are hundreds of ways to build your dogs life through this type of Play enrichment. your dog wants to work for reward, it’s an intrinsic part of their DNA too. We made them that way. Just like it is in ours. Let me help you to learn how to boost your bond with your dog. Contact me for Class and or One 2 One information about how to learn the joy and fulfillment of not just having a tug toy or a ball. Get in contact HERE for more details, alternatively, check out the Classes or One 2 One page to see the solutions that I offer HERE

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