episode 11: how should i play with my dog?

Don't listen to this episode or any of them with your small children ;) 

This episode will center around PLAY with your dog!
We want to explain how you might motivate your dogs to play with you and how you can use it in training. 

General tips for motivating play: 

1. Stuffed toys - Kongs, treat dispensers, putting food into any type of toy should help your dog be motivated and excited about toys 
2. shape the dog to play - use food to reinforce them for interacting with toys, toss the toy, the dog picks it up - click/treat, toss again, the dog brings it back to you - click/treat 
   1. go slow, if your dog even just looks at the ball/toy you can click/treat for that, as they walk toward it or put their mouth/paw on it click/treat 

What are the perks to playing with your dog?

• play/toys are great secondary reinforcers (not food) - when you don't have food, you can use the toys as a reinforcer to reward behavior that you like 
• in a multi dog household, food may not be an option if there is resource guarding going on, so toys and play can be used as reinforcers for multiple dogs at a time 
• tug can be used to reinforce dogs for being close to you (reinforcement zone); make sure you're letting them win multiple times in your play sessions - NO this does NOT make the dog think they're better than you/dominant (eye roll), tug is cooperative
• play builds confidence 

How can we teach our dogs to let things go? 

• Jimmy presents the treat as the dog has the toy in their mouth while saying "thank you" and when they drop it you click and treat, this technique adds the cue a bit earlier than adding a cue to other behaviors we've discussed
  • as the dog is tugging, reach for your treat, say "thank you", when they let go you click and give them the treat 
  • this really is considered a lure, but usually you can fade it very quickly 
  • when the dog catches onto what "thank you" means and they drop it when you say that, you can then reward them with the toy they've just dropped or another toy you have with you; MAKE SURE your timing is spot on and you're giving them the toy back immediately after they drop it 
  • you want your dog to trust that they will get the toy back, especially early on in the training, this will help decrease the likelihood of resource guarding from the dog 
  • you can also add a "last one" cue to let the dog know that the game is about to end

How do we teach owners how to teach the dogs to have an "off switch"?

• whatever cues the dog to get excited - getting on knees, talking loud to them, etc - needs to be generalized to the dog until you say or do whatever you choose as your cue to start playing 
  • teach a clear cue so they know exactly when it's time to start playing 
• also making a clear cue to tell the dog the play session is all finished - Anna uses her hands and waves them at the dog while saying "all finished" - this might take a couple times for the dogs to understand, but once they do it works really well 
  • you can either just let them take their toy and go lay down, or give them a treat puzzle/stuffed toy to give them something else to do when the play session is over

Any rules for playing with your dog? 

• Katie and Jimmy have a rule that if a dog bites/nips her (even unintentionally) she is done with the game and gets up and leaves the situation, don't reprimand them, just stop the game 
  • this doesn't have to mean that they are done playing all day, but just for a few minutes 
  • For Rowan, because he didn't play very much as an adolescent, Anna actually does let him rest his teeth on her when he plays - this isn't a hard bite or a problem for Anna right now
  • so this is up to you and what you want for your dog 

Teach your house guests about what cues you've taught the dog so they people and the dog are set up for success. 

Katie learned a lot about play from the book Culture Clash. 

Make sure you work on your recall as well when you are doing any kind of chase playing so your dog doesn't always learn to run AWAY from you. 

Don't punish your dog for chewing on the wrong shit, DO reward your dog for chewing on the right shit. 

Let us know what your rules are for playing with your dog!!