Ambrosius 15 months old in his tracking outfit
Activities.
Here are some activities to do with your puppy/dog so he/she can work with the brain. As you probably know dogs need to be activated, not only physically, psychically. Here you have some tip and ideas that I and Abbe use to do. Since Abbe is a rottweiler (working dog) he needs to have brain-training to get rid of his energy - but I believe that all sorts of dogs need this also, no matter what the breed is.
Click on the below links please:
Ambrosius 15 months old in his tracking outfit
The Seek Game
This
I started with already a week after Abbe had arrived to our home,
and he just loves this game.
I take small pieces of something really good (meatballs, sausage, dog candy). Then I ask him with a very engaged voice "Do you want to play the search-game??" I talk to him in a VERY engaged and nice tone just to get his attention.
When he is looking at me I tell him to "sit and stay" (When he didn't know that command I closed the door to the kitchen.
Then I go and hide the "goodies" and goes back to him. Lets him smell on my fingers and then I tell him to "go and search". When he finds it I give him A LOT OF PRAISE.
We does this "game" both inside and outside the house and Abbe just loves it.
After a while, when the dog knows what the command "search" or "look" means you can try to hide his favourite toys, your gloves or anything else, so that he understands that it is not only candy that he should search for.
IMPORTANT! Let the dog search himself. Do not help him in any other way than repeat the command when you see that he is about to give up.
Start with easy hidingplaces and make it more and more difficult when you notice that he/she is getting better on using the nose.
To open things
There are lots of funny games where your dog gets to use his
brain, teeth and paws to finally be able to eat the treat. All
these kind of games is about the treat hidden into something, for
example:
Toilet roll that
is pressed in both edges, containing a candy that makes noise
when moving.
Turn a
banana-box upsidedown. Such boxes contains wholes that makes it
tricky for the dog to understand that he has to turn the whole
box to be able to get to the candy. The many holes are too small
for the dog to get his head into.... but it smells so good from
them....
Take an
empty cigarrett-box (paper of course) and hide a candy inside it.
A
transparent bowl turned upsidedown. Now the dog can see the
candy, but he can not get to it if he doesn't learn to turn it.
IMPORTANT!!!
DO NOT USE BOXES OR THINGS THAT CAN BE DANGEROUS TO EAT. A PUPPY
WANTS TO TASTE ALMOST ANYTHING....
AND... Do NOT get irritated when you have lots of small pieces of paper in your apartment (laughing). If you have got a puppy, you have to have patience!!!!
To wait for the
"OK-word"
It will be much helpful if you can learn your dog this
immediately. Abbe and I train it daily, and use it often in
"everyday-situations". You choose the words and
commands yourself. I have not translated my "OK-word"
because I couldn't find it in my Swedish-English dictionary...
Coming home from
walks when rain or snow pouring down the paws have to be dried
with a cloth. I put a candy right in front of him and says
"wait". He learned to wait until I have dried his paws.
Sometimes I "took my time", and sometimes I did it more
quickly. It is important to let the dog know that YOU are in
charge - and it is YOU who decide if something shall be done
quickly or more slow...
When I give him
food or anything else to eat I demand that he sit and wait until
I give him my "OK-word". This also trains the
eyecontact with me. Also here in this situation "it
sometimes takes a little longer time" before I decide to say
the OK-word....
I put a
dog-treat on his nose and makes him to lay still and wait for the
OK-word. This you have to practise in a nice and pedagogic way,
because it demands a lot of you dog to handle a situation like
this!!!!! Start with only 2 seconds and make it longer and longer
- but take it easy and have a lot of patience....
It is a good thing for you if your dog learns things like this as soon as possible - then you don't have to have the "hysterical" situations you get if your dog makes the decisions.
Higer level of the
"OK-word"
When Abbe understood what I meant with this word I took it to a
higher level where I demanded that he would make eyecontact with
me before I gave him the "OK-word".
As it was in the first stage all his attention was pointed at the treat....
If you have teached your dog what the "OK-word" means you can now make it more difficult by demanding eye-contact with you.
You HAVE to have a lot of patience now, because it is important that the dog shall find it NICE everytime he/she looks at you. Even thought it is only a glance for a second you have to give the dog praise.
The only thing you have to do now is to say "wait" and then you stay totally still... after a while the dog starting to wonder where the "OK-word" is... and looks up at you. When he does that you immediately gives him the ok-word. You will find that the dog soon makes eyecontact with you sooner and sooner.
The first times it CAN take a while before the dog looks at you. Don't say anything or do anything. Just stay still and wait...
As soon as the dog looks you in your eyes you say the "OK-word". Finally the dog will understand that you require eyecontact with him. This makes the emotional bond stronger between you two and this makes it more easy to train other things.
Bring me the mail
Abbe
sometimes helps us to bring us the mail from the mailbox. To do
this you have to be two persons when training. At our house Abbe
and his master goes to the mailbox. I stand inside the house - in
the kitchen and calls him. When he comes to be we exchange the
mail for a treat and praise. Don't forget to say your chosen
command to the dog!
Start practise this with only commercial.... for it CAN happen that your dog stops halfway and take a little bite... hahaha
Zig Zag-game (agility)
I have just started to teach Abbe this, since i saw a
tv-programme about agility. I thought "I do not need to go
away to a special place to train things like that". I took
five flower-sticks made of bamboo and put them into the ground
with some distance between them. A treat to tempt him with when I
said "zig-zag".... then I drew the treat in front of
his nose so that he followed it between the bamboo-sticks. When
he have walked the zig-zag-road I give him the treat and lots of
praise.
Abbe is rather clumsy with his ever growing rottweiler-body and tall legs so I think this is a good training in coordination. The goal is that I just have to say "zig-zag" to him and that he then will walk it by himself.
Forbidden fruit
This we did at the puppy-course and it is good for the
dog to know. Often things falls from tables or other places and
then it is good if your dog listens to the word "no" or
"wait" (or whatever word you choose to use).
Things that could be dangerous for a puppy to taste can easily fall down, for example needle when sewing...
You need a bowl with something that the dog REALLY wants to eat... This exercise is about to get the dog to walk with you in a hanging leash, pass the bowl without taking anything....
Start walking towards the bowl and if/when you notice that the dog gives his attention to the bowl you say "no" in a low but demanding voice. IF the dog doesn't obey your word you draw shortly/fast in the leash one time and say no again. Don't stop walking at anytime. Repeat this excercise until the dog can walk with YOU past the bowl.
When the dog understands what you mean you can go to the bowl and let him eat the treat..... don't forget that you can train the "OK-word" before he is allowed to take the treat from the bowl....
Higher
level:
To be able to pass a bowl with meatballs without a leash. DO NOT
do this until you are sure that your dog understands the word
"no"
Make it
even more hard:
Put several bowls out and walk the "zig-zag" walk
between them. Afterwards you can allow your dog to eat from
everyother bowl...when you say it is OK.
IMPORTANT! Do NOT demand from your dog to do the harder exercises until he really knows what you expect of him!
The Candy-walk
To make sure
that Abbe will think it is fun with my commands "come
here" I have small pieces of sausage or other good treats in
a plastic bag in my pocket. When he gets too far away from me
when unleashed in the forest I walk my own way. Away from him.
Suddenly I hunker down and puts some of the treat on a stone,
trunk, among leafs and so on.
Then I sit still at this place and scratch there with my fingers. Abbe gets interested in what I am doing... When I notice that he is coming towards me I say the command "come here". When he arrives at my side he thinks that mistress is a good dog who always finds a lot of nice things to eat.....
I allow him to eat it and I promise you that he is keeping an eye on what I am doing..... since it always "happens" to be interesting things at my side when we are out walking.
Start with a place where you don't have to think about if anyone else is coming suddenly. After a while you can take this exercise to places where other people, dogs, children also can appear.
The thing is to make yourself as interesting as possible to the dog. This makes him to WANT to be at your side, since there is always happening exciting things....
When he have eaten the treat I let him sit until he makes eyecontact with me. As soon as he does I tell him to "go and play".... and walks in my own direction and start with the candy-walk again. Nowadays Abbe is very curious on what I am doing, so he doesn't walk so very far away anymore...... hahaha
Too much bad energy
When we
bought Abbe we were well aware of that this is a "working
dog". I myself loves to take long walks in the nature så it
is no problems at all to have a good walk almost every day.
Ever since Abbe came into our home we have walked in the forest almost every day. When he was a little puppy we just went in the car to some nice place and then Abbe did go around sniffing for about 20 minutes. After that he was tired and happy...
Since he is growing more and more each day he demands more and more excercise - not only physical but also psycically. If I just make sure that he gets activated for about one hour a day I have a peaceful dog lying on the carpet sleeping or gnawing on his bone or other toy. Then he is satisfied with small "pee-walks".
Abbe gets very difficult if I don't activate him intensively an hour a day - because rottweiler HAVE to work with his brain to get satisfied. Think of this if you want to have a "working-dog-breed".
"Set the table..."
My instructor at the dog-course gave me a fantastic tip on how you can activate your dog inside the house. She told me that her rottweiler helps her to "set the table". She stands in the kitchen and gives the dog all sorts of things which shall into the living room-table. And the dog carries the things for her.
When starting training at this you have to be two persons. One in the kitchen who gives the dog the things and the command "set the table". The other person sits in the living room, calling the dog and praise him/her when coming.
Forks, knifes (no sharp ones), spoons, plates - all sorts of things the dog can carry.
The really hard - the instructor told me - was when she wanted the dog to carry some pancakes... she took a small basket and put the pancakes in it and gave it to the dog with the command. PLEASE DON'T START WITH THIS UNTIL THE DOG UNDERSTANDS WHAT YOU WANT IT TO DO!!! Otherwise you will never have any food on your table (laughing).
Her dog is now so good at this that she nowadays just tells the dog to fetch things for her. For example she stood at the top on a ladder when she realized that she forgot the screw-driver. She told the dog to pick it up and give it to her.
Guess if we are training here at home.... Ambrosius feels SO GOOD when helping us to carry things. He stretches his body and looks as he really enjoys helping us. Of course he gets a lot of praise and treats!!!
One day I was feeling ill and had a fever, so I couldn't activate Ambrosius as I use to do. He got restless and cranky and then I took about one decilitre of his dry-food and throwed them out over the grassplan. I told him to "look for them" and he really liked this... started to sniff and collect all the little food-marbles. After that he was really tired of being working intensely with his nose.
This is a natural state for a dog. In the wild they go around and sniff for small food to eat, so I believe this is a "freedom-feeling" also.
However, I DO NOT make this a habit since I strongly believe that he should be activated properly in the forest and other places for several hours a day. But this can be a good way to not have a totally bored dog when you for some reason is not able to activate it for a whole day.