What Is Games Based Dog Training?
When you think of playing a game what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?
Maybe it's having Fun, Enjoyment and Connecting with others
Now think about playing a game with your dog.
The first thing you may think of is playing tug or throwing a ball, but if we look a bit deeper that also means fun, enjoyment, and connection with your dog.
In its simplest form that is exactly what games-based dog training is - both of you having fun and enjoyment whilst building a great connection together.
How can that help train your dog to walk nicely on lead or stop them doing XXXX? (insert your problem)
If we take a look at more traditional dog training, it’s very linear in its approach practicing steps 1, 2, 3 to get to the final step 4 and if one of those steps can’t be achieved then step 4 is impossible to get to.
Games are much more fluid
You can choose from a selection of games to get to the end result, and it doesn’t matter what order you play them in – how cool is that?
Example Problem: My Dog Pulls on Lead
Let’s take a look at a typical problem of your dog pulling on lead and how that would look like in creating a clear structure to the solution.
You want the result to have your dog walking nicely by you with a loose lead.
What Concepts Are Needed To Get There?
You want your dog to be close to you
Solution - We play games that build Proximity and the desire to be close to you so that pulling on lead doesn’t happen.
You want your dog to be calm when walking
Solution – We play games that include Thinking in Arousal so that your dog can make good choices even when they’re excited.
You want your dog to not pull towards other people or dogs
Solution – We play games that include Self-Control where they know that they can’t have everything they want and are cool with that.
With every struggle that comes with living with a dog there is a concept and a game that matches.
Which means there's a solution for everyone.
And the beauty of it is none of them takes hours of daily practice, all that’s needed is just 3 minutes a day to get real life results and at the same time you’re enjoying having fun with your dog and building a great connection together.
If your dog is having fun, and you're having fun then you're much more likely to do it again, and again - and who doesn't want to have fun in their life?