Vito's thinking game

Goal:

• Have puppy move back and forth between two bowls, while navigating around an object (e.g., a cone) in between the two bowls

What you need:

1. Two food bowls/dishes

2. One object (e.g., a cone, a bucket, a roll of paper towel, a stool)

3. Non-slippery floor

4. Cookies

5. Your puppy

The setup:

• Place each bowl on either side of you (the handler)

• Place the object directly in front of you, with no or very little space between you and the object

What to do:

1. Drop a few cookies in bowl #1 for cookie to eat

2. As puppy finishes eating cookies in bowl #1, drop cookies in bowl #2 for puppy

3. Puppy will typically move to eat the cookies in bowl #2

   • If puppy doesn’t move, make some noise to encourage puppy to move towards bowl #2

4. Repeat steps 2-3 a few times

5. Slowly move the object a tiny bit away from you

6. Repeat steps 2-3 a few times

7. Slowly move the object a tiny bit further away from you

8. Now, we wait a few seconds until puppy is moving towards the object before dropping cookies into the bowl

9. Repeat 6-8 a few times

Troubleshooting:

• Puppy does not move between the two bowls

  • Make some noise to encourage puppy to move towards bowl

  • Tap the bowl and/or look toward the bowl to encourage puppy to move towards the bowl

• Puppy knocks over the object as puppy moves between bowls

  • Drop a few cookies into the bowl each time to encourage puppy to slow down a little

  • Place the bowls a bit behind you so puppy has to move a little further when they move between bowls

• Puppy cuts between the object and you instead of going around the object

  • Reduce the distance between you and the object for a few more sessions before increasing distance

What the progression may look like:

1. Puppy moves between the two bowls with the object very close to you (the handler)

2. Puppy moves between the two bowls with the object a little bit further away from you

3. Puppy moves between the two bowls, but cuts between the object and you to go between bowls

4. Puppy moves independently around the object to go between the two bowls

How many reps? How often?

• Learning phase: 8-10 reps/session, 2x/week

• Maintenance phase: 10-20 reps/session, 2x/week