Dog Training Tips: Pattern Games - Super Bowls! | Dog Behavior & Training

When the summer heat continues, indoor games are essential to keep your dog active and stimulated. We have 2 more installments in our Pattern Games range. Today's game is called "Super Bowls!" Watch and learn, then try it yourself. For extra credit let us know what happened in the comments!

Hi, my name is Jen and I am the manager of the training department. And that's copper, we're going to demonstrate another sample game for you today. So this game is called Super Bowls. And the way it works is that I go to each bowl, I will stop and ask Copper for a different behavior on each bowl, if she does I will mark and then I will step up a tidbit in throw the bowl. She'll eat the treat, look at me again, and then I'll know she's ready to move on to the next game. A few things to keep in mind when playing pattern games: It's about working the dog in a predictable behavior framework so the dog knows what to expect. The game is predictable. You really feel safe working within this pattern. You can use pattern games to work on basic basic skills like attentiveness and concentration, sitting, sitting down, touching, and all of those things. Improvement of the line behavior. And you can use it with reactive dogs too.

So you start to work them within this pattern until you feel really safe there. And then you can introduce reactivity triggers into the environment. So a lot of dog reactivity triggers are things like other dogs, kids on skateboards, a guy in a hat, things like that. So you can slowly introduce this trigger as you work on your pattern. So you start with four or five bowls. You put them in a nice, straight line. You can do this in your home. In your back yard. Wherever there is space. So I start here with her. I will focus them on me. And then I'll ask them some fun, simple behavior. So I'm going to use a nose to touch the target behavior called touch. When she does I will mark and then step up by dropping a treat in the bowl. When she looks up at me I know she is ready to move on to the next one. Well, another cool thing about pattern games is that they are geared towards dogs. So you are waiting for clues so the dog knows that he is ready to move on to the next step. Well. Good, good job. Well done. Well. Yeah good girl Okay. So I would just keep working on this row of bowls until Copper feels really comfortable and secure working in this pattern. So if you want to learn a little more pattern games, I recommend this book called Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevvit. And she works mostly with reactive dogs. And so you can learn a lot of different fun pattern games and a little bit more about reactivity.