Play makes your dog brighter!

Following on from the `punishment makes your dog shut down thread...

Daisy sees the world in terms of Fun and Not Fun. She is driven by Play
Because her idea of heaven is for someone to play with her, she has become easier and easier to train and picks up new moves etc. really quickly. I can lure her with a ball..and then reward her with it.
I have found that she will try to work out what I want if there is a prospect of her Ball being thrown for her - the same as Shaping with a clicker/ treat.
It`s all a big game to her, and she tries to work out what I want - and she is so pleased when she `gets it`.
When I got her she was confrontational, tense, ready to fight. Play has turned her into a clever girl.

What are your experiences of using play to train?

Eddie loves his 'sniffer' game where I hide bits of kibble around the garden for him to find. I taught him 'wait' while setting up the kibble. He was so keen to get the game going that I had no trouble telling him to sit and wait. He will sit and wait for ever while I set up. He will also sit and wait for anything now.

I try to make all the training fun. He especially likes 'find the toy' where he has to find the toy I ask for. Each time he brings me the correct toy we play ball for a bit and he has his ball ready and picks it up when I say 'good boy, well done'.

So I suppose this is similar to what you mean?

Absolutely! It`s all about having fun and learning together. I think we sometimes make training too much `I say - you do`. This way the dog wants to learn along with us.

Aww thats lovely

It has taken me a good 2 years to get Ben to actually LIKE to play, but he is enjoying doing tricks for his ball - although he isnt totally focused on it
I would say that playing is a new dimention to his training that he really likes

Mia, again not big into toys but for agility we taught her that the end of the exercise is to go to the ball then she gets rewarded. She is getting the hang of tuggy tho and will do a few tricks for it

I think anything where you are interacting with your dog in a fun way and using their brain

I have a fun little game my two love when I cant think of anything to train - its like lazy free shaping
'do something' and they get a treat for any trick they ancy doing 'do something else' and they have to do a different trick
Its fun watching them thinking about it

My dogs have two favorite activities, riding in the car and playing. I feel that both these pasttimes help to increase their intelligence and alertness.