Who says training has to be strict and rigid? One of my favorite ways to train a dog is through play! It is fun for you, your dog, and your relationship. All you really need is some imagination and patience.
This woman is teaching her
dog to control his prey drive
with a flirt stick.
Does your dog have trouble respecting your boundaries? Watching you eat or barging through the door ahead of you knocking you over? A fun way to work on this is to pick your dogs favorite toy and play with it with him. Toss it, drag it, kick it... whatever you two like to do with the toy, then after a few minutes of play stop the game and set the toy down on the floor. When your dog goes to get the toy assertively block him and say "eht" or "wait" or any short sound you want. Claim the toy as yours while it's on the floor. Once your dog is no longer trying to get at it and has relaxed he is respecting the boundary you set with the toy. Then you can initiate the game again and allow him to come back and play with it. You have just taught your dog in a fun way that he doesn't actually own anything. The toys are yours and he gets to play with them when you say. Practice doing it in this fun way and when you go to set a boundary at the dinner table or door he'll be much more attentive to your voice.
Do you have a dog with a strong prey drive? One of the best ways I've found for controlling prey drive is to encourage it at the right time. Use a flirt stick (long stick with a string on it and toy attached to the end) to play chase games. I like to hold the flirt stick with the "prey" lying on the ground. At first you can leash the dog to prevent them from immediately going after the toy. I make the dog sit and wait while I start to move the toy with the flirt stick. When I say "get it" the dog can chase and try to grab the toy. I make them keep up a nice good chase but eventually let them catch the toy. Then, after they have played with it for a few minutes I have them drop it and we play again. Now my dog is satisfying his instinct in a safe controlled way and learning to control his drive until I give permission. That way next time we see a cat and I tell him to "leave it" he already has learned through play to not give in to the urge to chase when I say not to.
Need a place where your dog can go and sit while the house is busy so he's not under foot? Teach him "place". Get a mat or an old towel, even a carpet sample and place it some where in the house. Load up your treat bag with something really good like hot dogs. Call your dog over to just a foot or two away from the mat. Say "place" in a fun excited way and hurry over to the mat pointing so your dog knows where to go. When the dog is on it give him the treat. Then call him off and immediately do it again. Play several times in a row making it fun and a rush to get to the mat. Before long your pooch will be running with anticipation when you say "place" to his mat. At that point you can add in the stay command having him stay on for very shorts spells, slowly increasing the time as you go. Now you have a dog who loves to run to his mat when you need him to and can stay on.
None of these games will instantly happen. It takes time and patience to get the results you want, but the great part about play training is that you are both having fun while you are teaching a positive behavior and you are bonding as a team! And with a little imagination you can come up with dozens of fun things to play that will also teach your dog to be a respectful and balanced dog. Get creative and have some fun!
