How to Add Challenge to Your Training Sessions (Sport or Pet Dogs!)
Adding variety and challenge to training sessions keeps both the dog and human engaged and connected. I have never been the kind of trainer to robotically pattern boring rep after boring rep, and I rarely encourage my clients to. The urge to be creative in my training was further solidified when my dog Cupid, a Dutch Shepherd who unfortunately has suffered from several injuries, had to be on activity rest many times. When he wasn't allowed to run and play fetch, and when we were stuck in one place during my lunch breaks, I realized that procuring a unique training challenge was the most effective form of enrichment for him.
How Do You Know If Your Dog Is Ready for You to Add More Training Challenges?
Firstly, I would say in order to play these games, your dog should confidently know at least 3 basic skills.
Whatever skills you are working with, your dog should be consistently responsive to your signal/cue/command – be it verbal or body language. If your dog's ability to perform the skill is hit or miss, you need to practice their understanding of this single skill first in isolation. Similarly, if you're finding yourself repeating your cue or always needing a lure or leash pressure to help the dog respond, you need to focus first on fading off of these training crutches. (There are exceptions to this rule, but jumping ahead requires way more finesse.)
Or maybe your issue is not that the dog doesn't understand the behavior but that they simply don't want to do it. In this case, you should focus first on engagement and motivation to train.
But if your dog has a few skills under their belt, you might be ready to mix it up!
Challenge 1: Chaining (AKA Sequencing)
Performing skills in combination opens up a world of challenge – especially if you wait until the end of the chain to reward.
Length of chain
How many tricks can your dog do in a row, or for how much time can your dog stay committed to the chain?
Similar but different
Think of 2 tricks that your dog sometimes mixes up. Can you put them together in a chain (even just a chain of just these 2 tricks), and your dog stays sharp to which trick you are asking for?
Opposing concepts
Think of 2 tricks that contain some kind of "opposite" – for example, heeling (staying close the handler) vs. send out to a cone (moving away from the handler). If you combine these tricks into a chain, can your dog switch gears smoothly?
Training tip for chaining
Don't just make things harder and harder and harder every rep. If chaining is a challenge, do a long chain, then a shorter chain again, etc. in order to keep your dog motivated. Sprinkling "easy wins" into a session can keep a dog feeling good.
Challenge 2: The Proofing Dr. Seuss
"Proofing in dog training is the process of practicing a learned behavior across different environments, distances, durations, and distraction levels so the dog can perform it reliably anywhere."
Can we do this skill fast?
Can we do this skill slow?
Can you "down" up high?
Will you listen if I'm low?
Can you listen while I sit in a chair?
Can we do this skill anywhere?
Can you listen when excited, if your arousal is high?
Can you listen indoors the same as outside?
And what if another dog is playing nearby?
What if I ask you to sit, and I let a frisbee fly?
Until you, Dog, can listen no matter what
We'll keep playing these games, no ifs ands or buts!
(Yes I did write this myself, thank you.)
Try using props
Maybe you have been practicing retrieves with a dumbbell. Try having your dog retrieve a wooden spoon, or maybe even a bouquet of flowers!
Or maybe your dog has been practicing "go to place" on their bed or blanket. Try having your dog do "place" on a chair or fire hydrant.
Try new locations
Taking a field trip for training is a way to automatically expose your dog to new distractions, especially if they have never visited the location previously. Try training at a dog-friendly store, new park, or even a friend's house.
Training tip for proofing
Just like with chaining, I always tell clients to resist the temptation to simply add harder and harder challenges. Sprinkle in your hard distraction proofs with "easy wins" to keep your dog's attitude good.
Challenge 3: Freestyle Dance
"Musical canine freestyle, also known as musical freestyle, freestyle dance, and canine freestyle, is a modern dog sport that is a mixture of obedience training, tricks, and dance that allows for creative interaction between dogs and their owners." (From Wikipedia.)
In many ways, freestyle dog dance is a combination of challenge 1 (chaining) and challenge 2 (proofing). Added to this challenge is timing your routine with a song, and having to remember your own moves as a handler.
On rainy days, I love to surprise my group classes with a freestyle dog dance prompt, because it always leaves the dog exhausted. Proofing your skills with different stylistic handler movements, plus combining skills in an unexpected way, is a never-ending source of training inspiration for me. You can create a routine of the most basic skills (sit, down, stay, come, shake), and of course you can make your routine infinitely advanced.
Next time you are bored with your training, put some music on. You can thank me later.
Don't Forget to Have Fun!
It's often easy to accidentally make training feel too serious, especially when you are trying to add challenge to your dog's training sessions. Remember that this is your time to bond with your dog and learn together. Have fun with it!
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Venus and Mars K9 provides in-home private dog training and group class for basic obedience, puppy socialization, trick training, dog sport foundations, leash reactivity training, and other canine behavior problems. We travel most frequently to neighborhoods such as Humboldt Park, Hermosa, Logan Square, Avondale, West Town, South Loop, Downtown Chicago, Ukrainian Village, Bucktown, Wicker Park, East Garfield Park, Fulton Market, North Center, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village, Irving Park, Portage Park, Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, Pilsen, and Bridgeport.
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