Dogs are being trained in the United Kingdom to sniff people who might be carrying the Covid-19 virus.
You can have fun training your dog to ‘find’ as well.
If you practised the first game and followed all the steps correctly, you will be ready for the next game.
THE FIND THE TREAT GAME
STEP 1:
Sit your dog and show him a treat in your hand, tell him to stay, now put the treat under a cushion on the floor, allow him to see where you have hidden the treat.
Return to your dog put your hand in front of his nose and tell him ‘SMELL’.
You must do this to give him the smell of the treat you had in your hand so that he will get used to smell of what he has to find for you.
Now you tell him to ‘GO FIND’.
Chances are he is going to take off like a rocket to get the treat.
You need to make this game as much fun as possible because you are encouraging him to find the treat.
Don’t repeat more than five ties in one session.
You can have a few sessions a day, with intervals of about three hours.
It is important not to make the dog get bored with the game. Go and play ball for a while or just let him ‘chill’.
STEP 2:
As with any game you must get each step perfect before moving to the next step.
If, he is very excited to ‘go find’ then you are ready for the next step in the game.
Follow the exact procedure as day 1, only this time, place two cushions on the floor, allow him to watch you while you place a treat under each cushion.
Return to him let him smell your hand and tell him ‘go find’.
He will go to the first cushion and find the treat, then he will begin to sniff around and soon he will discover the other treat under the second cushion.
STEP 3:
Now as this becomes more fun, your dog now knows that there are treats under the cushions.
But what if we replace the cushions with some cardboard boxes with holes in the lids – or any containers with lids (empty margarine tubs or yoghurt tubs will do the job as long as they have holes made, so the dog can smell the treat).
This time you will use four containers but only three will have treats in them.
You will place the treats in the containers before you place them on the floor so your dog is not going to know which containers the treats are in.
He will have to, yes you guessed it, use his nose to find the treats! Now this is becoming more fun.
Ask your dog to sit.
He can watch while you place the containers on the floor.
Just make sure you know which containers the treats are in.
Once the containers are placed, return to your dog and give him scent, then tell him to ‘go find’.
He might hesitate a little as this is more challenging because he did not see which containers the treats are in.
Now he really has to find the treats by using his nose, but now we are going to make it even more challenging.
When he finds a container with the treat in it, he is going to try and get the treat out, but the treat is inside the container and the container has a lid on it.
He will try to get the treat, you will tell him to sit, showing him a treat in your hand.
Wait for him to sit and as soon as he sits you will reward him with the treat in your hand for showing you where the hidden treat is.
Then you will take the treat out of the container and reward him with it.
Continue to do the same as you did previously, with the remaining two containers.
By now your dog should be ‘finding and sitting’ as soon as he locates the treats in the containers.
Now it becomes even more challenging.
Use four containers, but only one has a treat inside.
Leave the dog in another room while you put out the containers, so he can’t see anything you are doing.
Bring him back into the room give him the scent and tell him ‘go find’.
If you have followed the game step by step, he should be locating the treat like a professional!
I hope you will have a lot of fun teaching your dog this game.
Be patient as it could take more time with some dogs than with others.
Important tip:
You must build a solid foundation, do not try to move to the next step until your dog is perfect on the one you are doing.
Have patience and guide your dog as this is all about having fun.
Some dogs are not food-motivated. In such cases you can use their favourite toy.
YVONNE ELAND
ACDIPCBM (UK)
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