Why we play games (and why they work!)
Every dog has a brain that can be shaped. And reshaped. No matter their size, breed, age, behavior history or genetic line!
Dog’s brains are made up of a lot of building blocks. We call these “concepts” or skills. Some brains are naturally good at some skills and need more work in others. You can grow these skills through games!
Building Blocks are Concepts
In humans, we often talk about these building blocks as the “soft skills”, or the personal attributes that allow us to communicate in the world and co-exist with others. Examples are communication, critical thinking, adaptability, team work, problem solving.
They are not so different in dogs! Each concept is fluid and teachable through the games we play. Shaping these concepts help your dog’s personality become better prepared for life and navigating the world, without taking away their individuality and quirky personalities that we love so much. It’s like we get to keep all the good things about your cute dog and take away the chaotic behaviors that cause frustration, disappointment, anxiety and anger (in you AND your pup!). This is what we call turning Chaos to Calm for your cute but chaotic pup!
It’s different than obedience training. In short, obedience training teaches a dog to comply with a verbal or physical movement “command” like “sit”, down”, “come” and “stay”. The dog relies on a human to give a command so they can do an action and each dog should do the same (or very similar) action with one command.
Games help with behavior
At Casa Luna Canines, our focus is behavior training (some call it behavior modification or even B-Mod, if you’re into the whole brevity thing… ;-) ). Behavior Training helps the dog learn to adapt and respond to any given context or situation without the need for commands. It’s more like teaching your dog to make the proper choice of what behavior to do in any given situation, even without the human being present. We train the brain.
So, back to games…games are like the individual ingredients and your dog will have a unique recipe. We can change games to target specific concepts in your dog, such as calmness, confidence, focus, self-control, how to handle frustration and a lot more.
Your own knowledge and awareness of your dog will help you to modify the games as you grow your relationship.
We like to teach games, rather than all “training” because it keeps learning fun for both you and your dog and we find people are more likely to interact with their dogs more often throughout the day if you are both playing and having fun. Games can be played for 2 to 3 minutes just a couple times a day!
Games also help prepare your dog FOR situations rather than trying to manage and correct them IN a situation. This is like simulating real-life situations without all of the stimulation. Instead of trying to teach your dog when they are overly excited, fearful or too frustrated, we help them grow their ability to adapt outside of the situation, eventually leading to the vision you had when you first got your dog.
Our goal is to help you create a framework that achieves long lasting results that are applied to real life situations.
Is obedience training useless? No, it’s a great way to build a working bond with your dog. It’s something you can do to help control some events around the house or if you’re training for competition.
But, will teaching your dog to heel help you when your dog runs off after a bunny? Nope! Will knowing how to sit help your dog get over it’s fear of other dogs? Absolutely not. Those are obedience commands. There is a possibility that you can train for a sit/down/stay in so many situations and environments and over countless hours that your dog will eventually learn to obey in every circumstance. However, it doesn’t actually address the underlying emotional issues your dog is facing that is not allowing them to listen.
“Our goal is to help you create a framework that achieves long lasting results that are applied to real life situations.”
For a human equivalent example, imagine a child after they’ve eaten 3 pieces of cake, 1 pixie stick and had 4 glasses of sugary soda. You tell them to calm down and sit quietly on a bench while you talk with an adult friend. Yeah, probably not going to work. Have you watched, or been, a parent who tells your kid “no” when they want a treat at the store? Does it work? Does the child automatically think “oh, okay, that’s fair. I’ll just sit here and behave…” Right. I’ve not seen that! It’s not that the child doesn’t know HOW to sit quietly. It’s that they aren’t in the right frame of mind to control their actions and choices. And, usually there is no reward in complying.
For dogs, games are fun, in the moment ways of teaching that keep them active, thinking, problem solving so that they are more likely to respond to situations appropriately! We teach the dogs the concepts when they are calm and ready to listen, in an environment with very little distractions. As they learn, we move environments to more distractions, more stimulation, more movement. We help them build and shape their brains rather than just throwing them in to environments and expecting them to Sit/Stay just because we said so.
Games are so powerful and magical and will help you achieve the dreams your had when you got your dog.
In summary
Games are targeted FUN ways to help shape your dogs brain and behaviors.
Games can be played in short periods throughout the day to help us prepare our dogs FOR situations, not IN the situation.
Games are the individual ingredients that make up the unique recipe of your dog!
Games create a framework for your dog to make the best choices without us having to tell them what to do.
Visit the Casa Luna Canines semi-private, group dog training web page for information about Doggie Decorum where you can learn more (in person) about playing games.
