Three Fun Brain Games for Dogs!

brain Training games for dogs

Develops your Dog’s Hidden Intelligence Click Here 👈

okay i like what you’re doing there but that’s not the game we’re about to play good thought though hey it’s annika here with sniff dog if you are stuck at home with a board dog or just looking for some fun new games to play with them this video is for you at sniff dog we’re here to teach you how to speak dog if you can have a better understanding of your dog you can have a relationship built off trust and fun we want to come on this wonderful journey of pet ownership with you to help empower the love and connection between you and your pup real quick before we get started with today’s video i want to give a shout out to kona the therapy doodle thank you for following us on sniffdog for sharing the beautiful footage you have of kona going on his first socialization adventure we look forward to watching his journey as he becomes a therapy dog with you in your counseling clinic if you want to be featured on our youtube videos please make sure that you leave some comments tag us in your training videos and tell us what you want to learn more about as always don’t forget to download the training tip sheet that i made for you with today’s tips and stay to the end because we have bloopers with these strange times of us stuck at home more and more often our dogs are more and more bored of our presence which means we’re just not that fun to be around right now also board dogs are not necessarily the best behaved dogs barking out windows chewing on furniture barking at you and whining at you like you see cedar do with me at seven in the morning when i’m trying to have a meeting is um just a sign of boredom and so if you can diversify the brain games and the enrichment activities that you do with your dog you are more fun to be around your bond will be stronger and holy watching your dog problem solve is highly entertaining so this video is mainly for the dog’s joy but i hope that you recognize you are going to experience a lot of joy and entertainment as well the three training games that we teach you today can be played inside or outside and so make sure that you keep that in mind as you follow along what you’re going to need for today’s video are mainly just a whole bunch of treats and a good attitude let’s get started with tip number one play the witch hand game now i know that sounds a bit funny dogs using their nose is a tiring activity and they don’t really get enough experience at sniffing oftentimes on walks we’re just trying to move them along and so doing games that actually encourage nose work will not only stimulate their brain but also fulfill their natural instincts the witch hand game is pretty simple what i want you to do is ask your dog to sit stay so you’re working on self-control at the same time as playing a game with them if your dog doesn’t know sits day you can skip that part but ideally they’re actually innocent stay for varying lengths of time every time you play this game so there’s no component of predictability predictable training games is boring for them after a few reps so make sure that you’re changing up how long you make them stay and the better they get at this game you can also change up what food you use for this particular exercise real quick before i show you this game i want you to really remember that you can play this inside or outside it’s a really good game to play with your dog if you have a very frustrated easily stimulated a dog that’s disconnected from you really easily outside dog with high prey drive any of these dogs that get really disconnected from you when they’re in an outdoor environment if you play this game inside we can hope that they’re able to focus and play this game with you outside which means they’re paying attention to you out there in the world instead of all the other things that are sort of more exciting alright so when your dog is in the position you are going to let them see you take a treat and put it in your hand the purpose of this is to not make it too hard too fast so let them see you put the treat in your hand and then in front of them say which hand and place them out in front of them the further apart your hands are the easier it is for them to differentiate which hand has the treat the closer they are the harder it is for them to differentiate so you might want to start with them a bit farther apart until your dog is quite good at this game again you’re going to say which hand and then present your hands in front of your dog just wait wait for them to bonk your hand with either a foot or a mouth or a nose and when they hit your hand with the treat in it you can say yes and open the hand and give them the treat if they get it wrong don’t worry it’ll take them some time this is best suited for puppies it’s a very easy game for a smart dog so again this is sort of a beginner level game if they’re bonking the wrong hand over and over just ignore them and wait until they bonk the right hand okay it may take time for your puppy to use their nose to problem solve and figure out which hand that food actually ended up in if you really want to throw them off you can make both hands smell like that treat mix it back and forth and don’t let them see what hand ended up in and then play the witch hand game okay we’re bringing more fun to this video i promise you the witch hand game is the starter let’s get to tip number two play hide and seek with your dog this game is really really great for relationship building it also doubles up on recall training it’s best suited for a dog that does not have separation anxiety issues because this can be a little bit stressful for them if they do have that problem the point is we’re trying to have fun with them and not stress them out by playing this game if you live by yourself you can toss a toy and distract your dog in a different area of your house while you go run and hide somewhere if you live with somebody somebody can restrain your dog and just hold them gently while you go and hide the whole point is to start in a different room and call your dog’s name one time and follow that with a whole bunch of cheerleading noises [Music] so [Music] if your dog does not come and find you you keep cheerleading but you do not keep repeating their name i don’t want this to turn into an annoying exercise where they hear their name over and over and over i want them to be excited to find you so you might need to whistle or cheer or clap your hands or squeak a squeaky toy to help them locate you when they do get to you big party praise them pet them and give them a whole bunch of delicious high value treats this will help them love the hide and seek game but also learn that responding to their name and coming to find you is in their best interest once they play the game with you inside and you hide at all different places every time you play it you can start to play that game outside when you’re in the forest or an off-leash area so that they learn to pay more attention to where you’re going so hide and seek is entertaining of course it’s also really fun to play with your dog it does help them learn that coming when called and finding you is in their best interest and lastly it taps into their natural scenting instincts dogs don’t use their noses enough in our human world and so facilitating an opportunity for them to use their tracking abilities and try to locate you wherever you might be is really beneficial to a whole bunch of breeds specifically hunting breeds or dogs that are very scent oriented but great for that skill to be developed in dogs that are less scent oriented as well okay let’s get to tip number three this is my favorite of these three games i’m teaching you today we are going to teach your dogs how to play find it in trees or rock walls on your walks now remember being outside of your home on a walk in a stimulating environment is a really great opportunity for your dog to learn to completely disconnect from you outside of your home squirrels birds dogs people buses bikers there’s so much going on out there and getting them to remain focused with you is hard most of the time that we’re talking to them when we’re out on walks with them is to get them in trouble for something or to try to get them to focus on us instead of conflict up ahead that makes listening to us outside on walks super boring if you start to play find it in trees outside you become the source of fun you become the source of food reinforcement the opportunity for them to not have any pressure and just loosen up and have a fun time outside with you so how it works is when you’re walking along the sidewalk if there are trees available to you i would ask you to ask your dog to sit stay so again we’re working on impulse control and patience and self-control in conjunction with a really fun game if they don’t know stay that’s okay ask them to sit and then just step on their leash so that they can’t be jumping up at the food that you are plotting in the natural environment when they’re in the sit stay or you’re stepping on the leash stash a couple of treats in the bark of the tree it’s available to you and if there’s no trees around you can look for a rock wall or a brick wall to stuff the trees in the cracks along the rocks after waiting uh undetermined length of time so the length of time that they are sitting and waiting to be invited to play the game just like with the other games should be changing all the time it shouldn’t always be a five second stay the longer they wait the more patient they have to be the more you’re actually teaching them self-control before they play find it once they’ve been patient you can say find it on cue you can point to the treats and encourage them to use their nose to locate them in this particular game i do recommend you keep saying the words find it until they’ve located all of the trees keep saying find it in the way that encourages them to continue seeking and searching for what is still left on the tree or in the rock wall you can point and help them by pointing right towards the tree that’s really okay but the better they get at the skill the less tip-off you should be giving them about where the treats are that you want them to find the other way that you can make it really challenging is changing up the height that they have to jump to try to locate those treats so if your dog’s really athletic or loves problem solving or is really good at using their nose you can start putting those treats really high up on the bark so they have to really stretch their legs and athletically seek out those treats so it’s not right at their nose height when they’re standing with find it in the trees or the rock walls make sure you change up the places that you’re practicing it if it’s always the same place over and over they’re not going to want to move on from that tree unless you play the game so you play the game on your terms your time and change up where you play it so that there’s nothing predictable about it most of all have fun and that goes for all of these tricks these are supposed to be fun don’t stress if they don’t get it don’t stress that they’re not good at it move on and try some other tricks for a little while and keep pushing at these ones on the side there should be no pressure for them to figure out any of these three tricks in terms of things to avoid when you’re playing these games or tricks with your dogs really nothing other than being too serious there’s really nothing that you can do wrong here we’re just trying to have fun and develop a stronger bond with our dogs as always thank you so much for watching today’s video i hope it was helpful for you but more than that i hope that your dog has a fun time playing these new games and tricks that i have shared with you today if you want to learn more about a specific thing please leave us a message and let us know what you want me to make videos about we’re here for you follow us on 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Develops your Dog’s Hidden Intelligence Click Here 👈