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Wednesday 25 July 2012

Play mate

Hello Dogs Today

Can you help me? My family and I have just adopted a Staffie. The rescue thinks she's about three or four years old and has had a few pups in her time - probably a breeding bitch.

She is wonderful with the kids and we love her very much, but the poor girl doesn't know how to play. I assume she's been kept inside for much of her life - the rescue did a lot of training with her before rehoming her with us, including walking on a lead, recall etc. We're taking her to training classes, too.

How can I teach her to play games such as fetch or other interactive, fun games? We've had puppies in the past and they've taken to playing from day one, but poor Gem just looks at the ball. We don't want to stress her out at all, but would love to see her having some fun.

Thanks very much.

The Morris Family, by email


Janet Garrett DipCAPBT (COAPE) MAPDT, advises...

Oh poor Gem - she has had no time to be young in her life so far. As you are making such wonderful progress with all her other training this bit should be fun, it might be very slow but your enthusiasm when she starts to ‘get it’ will be all she needs to carry on. I like to begin with dogs who don't know how to play by sitting on the floor with them very close. I usually try two different methods at any time so that you can keep swopping and keep things interesting for you both if progress is slow. Make sure the toys you are going to use for this are not on general availability in your house but are truly ‘special’. The first I try is ‘Be a Kongaholic’. With a large enough Kong in my hand and something really lickable on my fingers like a butter type spread melted in the microwave, I get my dog interested in my fingers and then rub them round the Kong so that as she licks my fingers she moves easily to the Kong and back to my fingers. I support the Kong so that she can lick away. The real trick is not to go too fast - don't be tempted to throw it or jiggle it around too soon, just let her lick the remnants of the butter, dip your fingers back in if necessary, keeping the Kong still. Try this whenever you have a moment and then watch as she starts to notice when you get the Kong out of the cupboard and continues to watch as you get it ready. Keep the sessions short but soon she will be nuzzling the Kong which may occasionally escape from your hand or being wedged under your shoe and she will have to pursue it in order to carry on her lovely game.

The second game I play is in a similar vein. Using a plastic ball that is bigger than the dog’s mouth I sit on the floor with my dog between outstretched legs. I squeeze a little of the Arden Grange Liver Treat spread on the ball and when she starts to lick I let go of the ball so that she has to go with it to continue licking. It’s important to go too so that you can trap the ball again and she is rewarded with another good lick and then allow it to go free. She’s playing - she’s learning to have fun! Top up the spread every so often and again stop the game and play more later rather than let her get fed up and wander off.

11 comments:

  1. Hi, Firstly congratulations on your new family member.
    I rescued my female Siberian Husky Angel just over a year ago. She too had had a litter and not a nice start to life. Shes 2 1/2.
    She did not seem to know what toys were, and when she did have a toy you could not even get near it as she was very possessive with it.
    Now, a year on she plays tug and fetch all the time.
    I didn't really do anything much, it seemed to just take time for her to settle in and feel safe and secure in the family unit.
    So my advice to you would be to just give her time and take it slowly. Keep using the word "fetch" and keep trying. Praise her a lot when she does touch toys and eventually you will get there. Good Luck xx

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  2. Hi, Firstly congratulations on your new family member.
    I rescued my female Siberian Husky Angel just over a year ago. She too had had a litter and not a nice start to life. Shes 2 1/2.
    She did not seem to know what toys were, and when she did have a toy you could not even get near it as she was very possessive with it.
    Now, a year on she plays tug and fetch all the time.
    I didn't really do anything much, it seemed to just take time for her to settle in and feel safe and secure in the family unit.
    So my advice to you would be to just give her time and take it slowly. Keep using the word "fetch" and keep trying. Praise her a lot when she does touch toys and eventually you will get there. Good Luck xx

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  3. Everything is new and she's just learning and getting used to her new environment. Don't stress or pressurise her, just let her relax, everything in baby steps. One day she will pick up a toy and start to play and you'll all cheer. So many greyhounds come into us and don't have a clue about playing, they've never had to opportunity to but usually after a few months in a new home the penny drops, they are loved and safe, then suddenly its 'what is that toy there, shall I sniff it? Oooh smells good, oh look I can chuck it around the place, ooh this is fun and it goes on from there although to be honest its not often that a greyhound will retrieve! You'll have more luck with a staffie. She'll do it in her own time.

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  4. I took in a dog who didnt know how to play.

    I would say it depends on the dogs nature. My dog loves it when i talk to him in a silly voice, he really responds to it, and he naturally loves his cuddly toys (he didnt have any before i took him in) so maybe it was easier for him to learn play. I take a toy out of the toybox (! yeah i know!) and crawl around with it in my mouth and he would come and see what it was then chase me to get it, then i'd drop it and chase him to get it then he learnt to drop it so i could run away again.

    Another game he absolutely loves to play was find the treat. I would shut him out of the living room and hide half a dozen bone treats anywhere that he could sniff them out and reach them - but not obvious. The I invite him back in the room and encourage him to find the treats, he ALWAYS gets them all.

    The world is your oyster with your new dog, take it slowly, trust your instincts and find the things that grab its attention.

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  5. Holly (Weimaraner) came to live with us at age 5. You could roll a ball past her and she would just look at it. Clicker training soon motivated her. Ultimately we had her doing blind and memory retrieves and the day she did her first retrieve on cold game was a day to remember. She brought the bird back with a beautiful sit and present.

    There is a precise art to clicker training but it is not difficult; it's all about timing.
    http://store.clickertraining.com/getting-started-clicker-training-for-dogs.html

    You can teach many tricks using this method too. Holly could do a high five, shoot her at the hips and she would roll over dead, crawl, send aways to a cone at a distance sit and wait until recalled. She loved it. Really switched her on.

    Good luck with your girl.

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  6. Hi

    My Labrador didn't know how to play either when she came out of rescue. So very sad, that nobody bothers to play with these dog's, and then they end up in rescue.

    You could try clicker training as has been suggested, and you could make the toy 'come alive', by threading some cord through or round it, and jerking it about, passing it in front of her and wiggling it about a bit, and if she seems interested click this and treat, and so on. If she is food motivated, then spread some chicken juice or hot dog juice (not anything with brine in) over the toy, and use the 'come alive' method. When she gets the idea or shows interest in the toy, then when it has been thrown, and if she seems as though she will go after the toy, then jerk it around on the cord or run along with it, and hopefully she will try and take hold of it. Praise really well and click and treat her. Once she will hold the ball or toy, then you can teach her to retrieve by having two identical toys, and when she has brought one back to you, throw the other one out, and so on. Let her keep the toy for a while, don't snatch it off straight off, otherwise she will lose interest in it.

    There is a big durable stick (Stix) type toy that dogs seem to like (Amazon), no threat of these breaking and splintering either, which may be worth trying.

    Do give her time, it took my girl Ruby ages, and even longer for her to play outside.

    Good luck
    Jan

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  7. Congratulations on the newest member to the family. Not all dogs love fetch. I did have a rescue dog who picked up fetch by watching and joining in with our other dog who loved fetch.
    Try hide and seek, my dogs have always loved that game, you can hide yourself and call for the dog or hide treats, start by showing the dog you putting a treat under a cushion and saying fin it and build the difficulty up as she gets better at finding the treats. You can also try enrichment feeding e.g feeding her meals through a Kong Classic or Wobbler or other similar feeding toys, or the interactive games like by Nina Ottosson (and the hide n seek).
    Agility is another great one to boost the dogs confidence and your bonding experience and as staffies tend to be muscular and energetic she'd probably love it.

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  8. Congrats on adopting your new best friend :-)

    Some dogs never see the point of toys... chewing them, chasing them or slinging them about... especially if they have never encountered play before. We adopted a 9 year old who had never played and had a hard and lonely life on the streets and then in a shelter. Three years with us and she still doesn't play with toys. I don't think she ever will.

    So instead we thought about what she likes in life and that is definitely food :-) Homemade baked chicken bits and Coachies are her favourites. We bought her a big soft treat ball and were careful to pick on that does not make a sound or rattle about. We filled it with treats, showed her how to push it about, the treats dropped out and she got the hang of it just like that. She loves it now.

    I also save toilet rolls or small boxes for her. Pop a treat in and close it up and she works on getting the treat out.

    We have also tried to show her that sometimes you can just do things that are fun for the sake of simply having fun. This was a new concept to her. Again we used food and we did simple fun games like sitting each end of the hallway and calling her between us for treats. She was soon racing between us and having a blast. We then moved onto basic games of hide and seek, which she finds thrilling. During the day we take 5 mins here and there to do easy or fun things with her for treats. Oh my, how she started to come out of her shell. Brilliant :-)

    I don't suppose she will ever be interested in toys but we have taught her how to have fun in other ways. It has made a big difference to her happiness levels and her confidence too.

    Good luck and enjoy.

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  9. Play is what puppies do naturally but games are a human construct and have to be taught.
    Getting your dog into games is just like teaching any other behaviour. With some dogs it's very easy as they see the game as a reward in itself but with other dogs you need to provide an external reward to get them interested.
    A Kong is a great toy because you can hide food in it. A starting point (assuming your dog is interested in food!) would be to put some treats, in the Kong and pack with stuffing paste. The dog will "play" with the Kong to get the food out.
    You can then move on to very simple give and take games. Encourage the dog to take and hold the Kong in its mouth and then let go and give it up to you. Both the take and the give are important. Give praise for each element successfully completed.
    You usually find dogs will either not like taking and holding the toy or not like letting go and giving back. The latter is the easier problem to correct but both can be solved with patience and praise and reward for the behaviour you want.
    Once you're getting consistently good give and take behaviour you can move on to a retrieve. As ever baby steps, consistency and persistency are the answers. There are no magic bullets.

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  10. Teaching "how to play" very much depends on what you define as "play". Many dogs will need taught how to play fetch, or tug, or find it, or other games that involve them "playing nicely" or interacting with human or canine family members.
    Playing on her own will come in time, if she enjoys that sort of thing of course.

    Inka came to me probably having never seen a toy, let alone a chew toy, for the first 10 or so months of his life. Almost one year on, he happily plays by himself with his chew toys and regular toys, and plays with me.

    I would suggest that you don't force anything - let her find out how fun her ball/tuggie/frisbee/chew toy is on her own; using positive reinforcement you can always teach her to enjoy a game with humans involved when she's more settled in and has gotten to know her new family.

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  11. Just been talking about this on another fb page - Our Circle of Life. Someone there has a rescue Springer who not only will not play with toys - she is scared of them. I rescued my first Trailhound 12 years ago. He was 18 months old and had spent all of that time in kennels, and with very little walking as we were in the middle of foot and mouth. He did not know what playing was, however he was very food orientated and he would follow behind my Springer with his treatball, in the hope that the Spring would miss a bit of food that had dropped out. No matter how hard I tried, he would not use the treat ball himself. I found a silicone mesh type ball that was very soft and had big holes. It was designed to put a piece of bread in, or a digestive biscuit, or rich tea biscuit or whatever really turns your dog on. This was the only thing that Bob would play with, he even used to pick it up and carry it around. sadly Bob died 2 weeks ago. I sent his ball to the lady with the rescue Springer, and she is playing with it. Other people asked about the ball and I had not seen another. However after a search on the web last night I have found something similar from www.petsupermarket.co.uk. It is called a JW Pet Dog Toy Hollee Roller!!! And what is even better is that they are now sale price. Worth a try.

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