Go Through It

The Aim of the Game “Go Through It” is to boost your dog’s confidence and get a little exercise. This Canine Enrichment game does take a little training but it is time well spent with your dog. You can use food to get this game going, and then switch to a toy if you are watching calories.

At the genius level, you can turn this game into an obstacle course and get more exercise.

Requirements

• This is best played off leash in a secured environment.

Equipment

• Food or treats
• A ball or toy
• Boxes of different sizes, securely taped to increase the sturdiness. Remove any staples or sharp objects on the boxes.
• Hula Hoop if needed

Step by Step

1. If your dog is nervous about new objects, then start with a hula hoop to teach the "go through it" concept. Put it on cue, "Go Through."
2. Move onto a very large box compared to your dog. You want to make their first box extremely easy to go through. Have your dog stay or confined while you make a trail of treats through the box. Keep going one direction to start.
3. As your dog becomes more confident, you should only put one or two treats down. Eventually, they go through and then get a treat from you.
4. Continue to add the cue "Go Through."
5. The next step is to try a slightly smaller box (or just a second box). Continue the first step with the second box.
6. Then put the boxes fairly close together in a line. You can go back to put a line of treats down through the 2 boxes or just free shape like in the video.

The Genius Level

The Genius level of this canine enrichment is where you create an obstacle course with multiple boxes.

1. Start by doing “Back Chaining”. Make sure they are comfortable with the last box, first.
2. Then chain together the second to last and the last box.
3. The final step is to chain all 3 boxes into one sequence starting with first box. Remember to reward any and all efforts to go through the boxes.

For more exercise, you can spread the boxes further apart and switch to a toy!