I'm looking for inspiration. Once the kid's in bed for the night (and the OH is at work), Ella and I sometimes become stuck at home. She's had plenty of exercise during the day but we like to do a little more "brain training" before bed. We've done the basic hand touch and targeting with random objects but I'm looking for ideas of different bits and pieces to play around with in limited space and creating little noise. Any suggestions or favourites?
Oh this would be a good thread to get lots of ideas going.... Poppy and I just started this game today which I saw somewhere... Get a muffin tin and 12 balls (I've used those balls you get for ball pits). Put a bit of kibble or cheese or carrot or whatever in some of the holes and place balls on top of all of them. They they sniffs out the food. I was amazed that on the first time she did this she only lifted the correct balls! We've also done a similar idea with three cups and a piece of something hidden under one (a bit like a magicians tricks). Her sense of smell is amazing. And she is very smell orientated, in fact to the point I'm finding it hard to build up any kind of retrieve because she smells something and gets distracted! The third indoor game we've been playing is getting her to follow me round and in and out of furniture but that's more about me trying to do precursor activities to walking to heel. @snowbunny how do you teach identification of toys?
We play Hunt the Thimble (ball) which as well as being a fun hunting game also trains stay and the release cue. I'd like to know how to teach identification and reading cues!
You're basically teaching a "fetch" cue, but giving it a different name depending on the toy. So, start with one toy, say "bone" and train a fetch with that. The train the fetch with another object, say, "teddy". Then do the two at the same time. You should set it up so it's easy to start with, say the toys at a large angle and face the fig towards the one you want, then bring them closer over time. I've not actually done it myself that way, but I would if I wanted a strong behaviour! Mine know "ball" and "lambie", just by using the words over and over again when I'm playing with them!! @Pilatelover is the lady to talk to about teaching dogs to read! But, the concept is the same as applying any new cue to an existing behaviour. You give new cue (card with word on) then the old cue ("sit"). You do this a few times, then try waiting a couple of seconds after giving the new cue. If the dog sits, great. If not, give the verbal cue and do a few more reps. Fade the verbal cue over time. Once you've taught one behaviour, do the same with another one and get both nice and solid before introducing both in the same session.
I read about a "freeze" cue in one of Pippa's articles, which I just started my own version of inside at night. We have start by hopping around madly with nose touches or skipping around the room with her at my side and then stopping - I stop moving and when Quinn does and I click and treat. Then I moved to introducing the word "freeze". She now knows "freeze" as a cue to stop, but we are working on freezing in different circumstances (with toys involved, in different rooms of the house) and I will gradually start doing it outside. We play hide and seek with the ball a lot. I put her in a sit and stay at one of the hall then hide her ball in one of the rooms and tell her to find it (alternate version is actual hide and seek where I hide and call her) she loves both versions and after about 4 times is so excited she can hardly stay...she will creep up the hall to peek haha. The other indoor training we do is from another thread - i forget what's it's called but it's to help with eye drops/ear drops/vet visits that @JulieT posted. We call it "chin" and she rests her chin either on my lap or in my hand and work on duration and sometimes with the eye dropper or just touching eye area, ears, mouth, paws.
I had a half-hearted unsuccessful attempt at training reading. It's worth a go though. There is a thread somewhere with the "muffin tin" game on it - with videos.
Here's my thread @Emily which plots Mabel and my progress in teaching her to "read". I have recently taught her "bed". Next word on our list is "come". http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/mabel-learns-to-read.11367/ It is slow progress (well it is for my beautiful butterflied brain girl ) but that's what makes it such a good thing to train and the sheer joy when she "reads" the card correctly is an absolute joy. @snowbunny has described the method perfectly, that is precisely the way I do it. Mabel took a long long time on her first two words, picked up the third quicker and was even quicker on the fourth. I find it fascinating as I was teaching "bed"she always went down then it was if she realised it wasn't what I was asking for so she would touch the card with her nose and then run to her bed. I could literally see her brain working. She is very confident to offer new behaviours to see if they are the ones I'm looking for.
We do the fetch cue for her toys etc. We also started to get her to go to her toy box and get one out, which at moment is proving difficult but we will get there. Want to then get her to return them aswell. We also play hide and seek with food or people. And we have some interactive games (puzzles etc.) that keep her mind occupied.
Might be a few ideas in this thread..... http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/things-to-do-for-dogs-on-restricted-exercise.10654/ I know the circumstances are different but the concept of 'quiet' activity is the same x
How about four paws in a box or play dead, spin, weaving through your legs. I did the muffin tin challenge which was very funny, a video lurking on here too. Whatever you train video's are absolutely a must xx
Murphy has about a dozen various "toys" scattered around the house. We never did anything formal with him but when we played retrieve in the house, we would tell him to get his "monkey","bear","tshirt" etc. This has worked very well, he will go get what we ask him to every time. This has also moved into the backyard (I believe that is "garden" in the UK). When we go out, I ask him to go find his "tennis balls" and away he goes. Finds two and brings them back ready to play. What we have noticed it that it seems very important to verbalize. We have a shop out in the backyard. When I am going there, I say "Let's go to the shop." He then starts off with me to the shop. Usually he gets there ahead of me. This was reinforced by keeping some treats in the shop. My neighbors probably think I am nuts. The old guy who is always talking to the dog like it was a person. Oh, one other thing, when we are playing in the house with his toys he has a favorite, an old airline blanket. While we are playing, I will toss one item for him to retrieve, and while he is not looking I will toss his blanket where he cannot see it. He notices it is missing when he comes back and then searches it out. He gets all proud of himself for finding it. Interestingly enough, he likes his informal toys the best. Those are the blanket, a couple of old socks all rolled up. He is not a destroyer so there is no worry about him eating these things.
You have a shop in your garden?! I'm intrigued! What sort of shop, and why is it in your garden? Or ... Now I've had time to think ... Do you mean a workshop?
Yes, a wood working shop. We have about 3/4 of an acre which is pretty typical around here. This whole UK "garden" thing throws me in a spin, LOL. Frankly, I like the sound of it. My wife does a lot of gardening (she is a certified master gardner)...what that means is that she supervises, and I dig!!! I am going to go get certified just so I can supervise once in a while. The work shop is interesting with Murphy. When I am out there I brace the screen door open and if it is cold out I just barely set the interior door so he can push it open and come in. When he really gets bored with me he waits until I take a break, pushes the door open and rolls two or three tennis balls into the shop. That is the great part about being retired and having a labrador. You can stop what you are doing and have fun with them.
Poppy is so cute. I fill up the muffin tins with paper towel rolls cut in all sizes instead of balls. She loves to pull them out. chew them and roll them around the floor.
The woodworking shop is handy. Just built Murphy a small platform for his water and food bowl. After I brought it in, he looked it over very carefully, give it a few sniffs, took a couple of laps of water and put his paw print of approval on it. :::whew::::
