Brain Games For Dogs - Claire Arrowsmith

UncleBob

UncleBob

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Title: Brain Games For Dogs
Author: Claire Arrowsmith
ISBN: 978-1-84286-277-3
RRP: £9.99 (but can get cheaper eg £6.99 on Amazon - other book retailers are available
)
Pages: 160

As you might expect from the title, this book is concerned with brain games for your dog. It starts off with an outline of the benefits of brain games; essentially they help provide mental stimulation to supplement the physical stimulation provided through exercise. It also discusses the influence of breed type and the dog's age. The approach is one of positive training and the author discusses the importance of timing, clicker-training and of not using punishment training.

The bulk of the book is then taken up with a number of brain games split into chapters such as puppy, in the home, in the garden etc (I haven't counted the number of games but the rear cover suggests that there are 'over 75'). Each game has a summary box detailing the location, level of difficulty, and any equipment needed.

I have no intention of wading through every game in sequence but the layout does make it easy to browse through and pick out one at a time to try with your dog and see if he enjoys it. Overall a useful addition to the dog book library.
 
HAH

HAH

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I had this one but for puppies. I did try and wade through them in sequence, which might be why I never finished it...But it was good for ideas.
 
Lab_adore

Lab_adore

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I'm looking for games to play with Maxx so he has to use his brain. Any suggestions welcome! He is enjoying 'find' where I put a few bits of kibble under one of three little flower pots and he has to sit and wait until I say 'find' and he noses them to find his treasure :clap:
 
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HAH

HAH

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Love this idea! Always planned to try it but a couple of failed attempts ended in Kipper gleefully running round with flowerpots :facepalm: I’ll post some of the games later :)
 
Lab_adore

Lab_adore

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HAH said:
Love this idea! Always planned to try it but a couple of failed attempts ended in Kipper gleefully running round with flowerpots :facepalm: I’ll post some of the games later :)
Click to expand...
Yes that's how we started too. Maxx would run off with a pot so I made it very clear there was kibble on offer and made him go to his mat and sit and slowly we got there
 
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HAH

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As promised @Lab_adore - not comprehensive and a lot of the games here are ones you know already (we've not done many of these yet, but find it, hand targeting and two up have been good so far):
  • Find it - hide a toy, close and obvious to begin with then can start branching out - and get him to look for it using the cue 'Find it!'. Kipper loves this one, we've built it up over a few months so we can get him to sit and wait in another room or the corridor, hide Mr Fox etc. and then say 'find Mr Fox!' or 'Where's Mr Fox?' and he'll go into focussed searching mode.
  • Leg weave - treat in each hand, legs far enough apart for the dog to fit through - then lure round one leg and back round the other, treating at the end. Once established, introduce a cue and make more difficult with e.g. two people side by side
  • Jump over - start with a stick (bamboo cane or similar) on the floor, encourage dog over it and praise. Slowly raise it over repetitions, until they're jumping. Introduce cue ('jump' or 'over' or similar)
  • Limbo dancing - the opposite of above
  • Nose touch/hand targeting - start with a treat in your closed hand. Offer it to your dog with a clear 'open hand' action (palm upwards, fingers straight out, treat in palm) then praise when dog takes treat. Repeat until confident of the action (takes practise) then do it with a treat in your other hand, and as soon as your dog targets your empty hand praise and reward with treat. Once this is established, start moving orientation of your hand - to the side, up above, down below - making sure the keep the action of opening with fingers out stretched, palm facing the dog very clear.
  • Targeting a marker - doing the above, but transferring the touch to e.g. a post-it note in your palm, with a cue such as 'nose' until really established. Then you can start working on transferring the marker onto other objects close but not on you, e.g. the floor, with a click or 'yes!' and reward when they target it with their nose. You can then shape this to push the door closed, or turn on a switch, by attaching the target to the object.
  • Doorbell dash - introduce a target like a mat for your dog to sit on. Establish this as a target (a whole game in itself!) - then introdce a cue e.g. 'go to to your mat!' - then ring the bell, and send dog the to the mat and reward. Repeat until established then proof by getting a friend to ring the bell when you're with the dog etc.
  • Where are my keys? - tie something like a handkerchief, a big fob or a soft toy to a set of keys, so your dog can easily pick them up. Jingle them and play a retrieve game with the keys; every time he picks them up, reward and finally introduce a cue 'keys'. Then play 'find it' with the cue 'where are my keys?' or similar. Then extend to different areas, and take outside on walks.
I guess there are lots of different ways to teach these - I did hand targeting slightly differently (from a YouTube video?), can't quite remember the mechanics but I don't think I started with a treat in the 'opening' hand, just opened it obviously and as soon as he nosed near it clicked and treated. Then closed it obviously even if not targeted. Slowly refined this until was only clicking & treating for contact, and then started moving it about.

The main thing was the consistency in the movement which I found quite tricky to begin with; an obvious 'hand open' movement with the opening action actually being the signal. Over time, this has become a useful recall tool too - if I want Kipper to come in from the garden I'll call him and then get him to hand target when he arrives. Works 90% of the time (10% a near miss!), and I'm reinforcing it this week as apparently we're using it in training on Wednesday :unsure:
 
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