Let’s Play!

One of the most important aspects of doing agility with a golden retriever is play.  In a previous article on motivation I pointed out the importance of play but didn’t really cover what play means.

First let me tell you what play isn’t.  Obedience training routines are not play.  I often see people getting ready for their runs by doing a few sit/stay routines, adding in a couple of look at me and then a slight healing pattern to gain the dogs attention.  By the time the dog is entering the ring he’s totally bored and ready to slowly and obediently trot the course with mommy.   The first thing you hear when they depart the course is he had a great clean run but why was he so slow.  I think most dogs would agree that there isn’t much drive and enthusiasm in practicing obedience. 

Another form of no play is what I call the “Pez dispenser”.   Most of you have seen those cute little plastic Pez candy dispensers that just keep popping up a new piece of candy every time it’s opened.  Well, the human version is the handler who stands ringside getting ready to run and they just keep popping treats in their dog’s mouth while watching the runs before them and paying no attention to the dog at all. The thought must be that food equals focus so just think how focused my dog will be if I just keep feeding him.  Once in the ring the dog keeps jumping at the owner’s hands and searching for more food.  It’s a miracle the dog doesn’t stop mid course to “potty” after eating all that food.  Some do!

Play means getting Fido excited, excited to be there, excited to be with you, excited to run fast, excited to play the game, excited to do it again over and over and over again. 

So how do you play with your Golden?  Try lots of things and observe what seems to excite them the most.  Some Goldens love to tug, which makes them easy to play with, and others like to chase balls so get a ball on the end of a rope and play that way.  Whatever the play it should be with interaction between you and the dog with lots of touching and verbal praise.  By touching I don’t mean a simple pet on the head, I mean a ruffling of the fur kind of touch, maybe a teasing pinch or tickle on the behind or under the neck, anything that stimulates a reaction from the dog.  Throwing a ball, although fun for the dog, isn’t really much interaction between handler and dog unless you play a lot of tug with the retrieved object.    I like to touch my dog while playing with them as Goldens love to be touched and this in itself is a great reward so when I don’t have a toy I can still do some vigorous touching and they think we’re playing. 

Once you discover how to play the “when” to play is important.  I use play to reward, to motivate, to love and just generally interact with my dogs so the “when” is quite often.  The key to play is to stop before they do which keeps them always wanting to come back for more.   If you play tug until the dog drops the toy and leaves you then you’ve lost the opportunity to be “fun” for your dog.  If you always leave them wanting more then each time you pick up the toy they will come running to play.

When I’m training my dogs I will play with them in very short intervals, maybe 15 seconds or less.  I’ll play for a few seconds, do some agility for 60 seconds or long enough to do a couple of drills and get it right then play for another 15 seconds before going on to the next drill.  My work sessions are more frequent than they are long.  I would rather work/play for 20 minutes 3 or 4 times a day than to try and work once a day for an hour.  Even when I take an hour long class I make sure that I play with my dog when other dogs are running so they are ready and willing to work again when their time comes.  When I want to stop the play I ask the dog to sit in front of me, gently lean down to take the toy giving my release command and then I pat them on the back and say “let’s work”.  Constantly repeating this procedure gives them a definite structure to working with me yet they know that as soon as the work part is done they’ll get to play again.  It’s also easier than  fighting with them to get the toy back.

If I’m working with a dog to develop more speed on course I will work a course in small sections.  Maybe 3 or 4 obstacles then play, 3 or 4 more obstacles then play and so on until we’ve done the entire course.  Then I’ll do it again adding a few more obstacles to the series until finally we do all 19 or 20 obstacles looking forward to the play at the end.  Using this method I’ve seen very slow dogs reduce several seconds from their course time.

The key to play and play as motivation is to do it often and consistently so the dog gets into the routine and knows when to expect the “play”.

MY DOG DOESN’T PLAY….He only likes food.

I hear this all the time but it usually turns out that either the dog was never taught to play with the handler or the handler doesn’t know how to play.  Feeding is easy, play takes time and energy.  One of the best toys for food-motivated dogs is a sock.  Put some smelly good treats in the bottom of the sock, let your Golden use his wonderful nose to determine what’s in the sock and then play a simple game of keep away.  You can drag the sock on the floor to get them to chase it or simply make them jump up on 2 legs to try and grab it, whatever method you choose DON’T let them get it the first time.  Tease them, pull it away just as they get close and once they look like they are about ready to attack you for the food let them get it and give them some of the treats from inside the sock.  Once your dog gets the hang of playing keep away with the sock you can use the sock for a motivational toy when training.  And if you’re trying to get your dog to tug, by all means let him tug on the sock for a few seconds before you reward with the treat.  Oh yes, there are also toys you can buy made for this purpose, some look like stuffed animals with Velcro pouches in their tummies for stuffing food and others look like bags with handles.  My experience is that socks are cheaper, smell like me and I always know where I can find one when I need it.  Besides, once the dogs learn the game they have a tendency to rip the sock, or toy, apart so unless you want to keep an inventory of stuffing toys on hand the sock works great.

LEASH AS A TOY…..I can just hear the obedience folks now.   Absolutely NO WAY use the leash as a toy.   Well, sorry OB instructors but I find it one of the most convenient agility toys I own.  Yes, I do obedience too and certainly saw the undesirable behavior early on but I took the time to teach my dog that ONLY his agility leash could be used for a tug toy.   The nice leather lead used for obedience is not a tug toy.   It took me a few weeks to teach this but it’s was well worth it in the long run because now I don’t have to carry a slimy, drool covered tug toy around in my cool new running shorts.  There are other downfalls to this “toy” as well especially for the highly toy motivated dog.   For instance the leash runner who is too lazy to walk the leash to the exit area and instead flings it high in the air somewhere toward the end of the course.  If my dog doesn’t see it being flung he’ll certainly see it lying near that jump and might just head toward it instead of the last jump.  Again, all trainable issues but wanted to give you the up front warning.

Go have some fun…..Play with your dog!

Happy Weaving

Shar

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