Never forget the importance of play!

I did!

And it occurred to me last night after training, after he wouldn't play with the tuggy with me, that I am so intent and determined to get him to be the best he can be - I've forgotten to play with him at home.

His poor face when I took him out on the drive looked like "Oh no not training" then the joy of seeing his face light up when I brought out his 2 ft tuggy made my eyes water. Seeing him bomb up and down the drive whilst I chased and play bowing and when I sat down he came and sat on me - but wasn't going to give his tuggy up at all I've never seen so many bum wiggles!

I thought all my training was bringing us closer but it wasn't, it was keeping us at a distance.

We had a glorious half an hour of tug and chase on the drive and then to finish it off he came to heel whilst a car drove down the drive (it's a drive that leads to other houses - but not a road) and then I allowed him to follow where the car went after it was parked and take a treat from his favourite neighbour.

So before you forget - play with your dog!

I love playing with my dog. Last night the laundry pile was all over the bedroom. The bed had to be re made and there were toys all over the place.
I then re made the bed. Chucked the laundry back in the corner, got in bed with my Potty Lottie and we had a good old snuggle.
I normaly shout "Come ere while I beat you up" and she knows we are going to play. Get some funny looks if we start playing silly ******s in the forest and get caught though.

i would agree. it is best to keep training periods short and interesting. and a dog is still learning things while at play. its all about enjoying each other which sounds to me like you do that well with your dog. all the best.

We play before we train, during training and have a mega big play at the end, we do lots of training in short bursts with lots of play

I'll do that when I next take him out - things have been so stressful lately that I have just forgotten and gone all scatterbrained - hopefully, now I remember, we'll be back on track!

He does get a play with the dogs at training before class - wear down some of his energy and go to the loo because it's an hours drive there and back and he always gets to play afterwards - well I say always, we've been there twice

If he's not enjoying training as much maybe he would prefer a different reward? Have you tried using play t the reward so training is really fun? If he lives his tuggy, it's a great toy to use as a reward

No he's food motivated - I've tried toys before and he's just ignores it or goes too silly..

He had sausages, cheesy bites, fish and lamb treats last night.

i did think that with ben too - but i was wrong
if he enjoyed his tuggy then you can ask for somethig simple like a quick sit then more tuggy
or pull out the tuggy when he has done something really good

it actually makes them enjoy the games more because they kind of have control over them too

although it has taken ben a long time to get him to heel when i have a ball cos he wants to face me - got it for a few steps now

No he's definitely food motivated, I think the lab in him takes over when it comes to food..

I've tried taking tuggy's on walks and he pays no attention to it - plus he's clicker trained so it's easier for me to mark that behaviour and treat him for it with food.

I was commenting more on our bond than the training though - our bond has suffered because we haven't played as much as we used to - meaning he goes deaf..

I had a rescue collie tthat didnt know how to play but I taught her to play using clicker training . just treat it as any other excercise and start by clicking an rewarding for just acknowledging the toy ok so it took me a few weeks but i did end up with a "manic player"