Using Interactive Games to Teach Advanced Skills

Are interactive toys just fun and games? Well, they most certainly can be fun but used correctly they can be so much more. These games can be used to teach dogs of all ages some advanced and useful skills. With them your dog can learn to discern between paw and mouth behaviors, waiting for the appropriate cue, sequencing of behaviors and problem solving while enjoying every minute of the training process. They can help you enhance your training techniques while having a great time.

The games we are referring to here are specific for the Nina Ottoson toys which have various pockets in which to hide treats as well as bone shape covers to add difficulty to the game. Several of them have spinning or movable parts to add interest. There are some other interactive games on the market but these are by far the most highly developed.

When people first see these games they sometimes say, “Oh, my dog would whip right through those!”  or  “ My dog will just throw it on the floor or shake the treat out”. But these statements truly show that the speaker does not understand the true value of these toys. They are meant to be an activity that you share with your pet and that he can learn from. They should not be looked as a one-time problem solving session but as an ongoing training exercise.

In the beginning, the games should be developed in parts. The bone cover piece should be introduced with a treat beneath it separate from the game board. The dog can be taught (with the clicker) to retrieve the treat with his paw and then with his mouth. Once he can do either, you can put this behavior on cue. Likewise the game boards with moving parts should be manipulated with the paw and with the mouth separately and on cue. When these actions are reliable, the elements can be used together.

At this point, if you haven’t already, you will want to introduce a Wait command to the process so you can control the flow of the training. You should be able to stop and start the dog’s actions on cue.

The next thing that we like to do is to introduce different orders of action. You can have the dog go fast or slow and also perform different actions in varying order. You can also develop a sequence (do 1, then 2, then 3, then stop) that is initiated by one cue. Through all of this training, the dog is developing a variety of skills and problem solving actions. He is learning to be attentive and engaged in the activity. Most dogs find this process interesting and enjoy each step as it develops.

The skills that your dog can learn with these games are directly applicable to other areas of training. Service dogs benefits greatly from the advanced skill sets. Therapy dogs, as well, directly use the skills that this type of training promotes. Indirectly, any training (from agility to tracking to coming when called) is enhanced by working with your pet this way. Every individual skill he develops may be used in another area and the bottom line is that all training builds the relationship between trainer and dog.

These games are great for helping you develop your training techniques and giving your dog a wider set of skills. But perhaps more than that is the fact that they add variety and enjoyment to your traing routine. They’re a lot of fun! So enjoy training with games.