Pull It
The Aim of the Game “Pull It” is to encourage a wider range of behavior than just eating. This Canine Enrichment game will help develop more strategies in your dog to get to their reinforcement. This type of game will broaden your dog’s repertoire in solving puzzles and develop more cognitive skills. Helping your dog think through puzzles will reduce frustration and destructive behaviors.
Requirements
- Indoor space
Equipment
- Larger pieces of hot dogs or cheese or treat sticks
- Piece of string, rope, or a dog leash
- A couple of different sized shallow objects with a hole (Kong or a cup)
Step by Step
- Start by tying a chunk of food with the string or rope. You may need to try a couple different tying setups before you find one that is easy for your dog to grab in their mouth. Hold onto to one end of the string and allow your dog to bite and release the food from the string. You will need to find the sweet spot of how loose or tight you tie the food onto the string.
- Now put the food on the string loosely into an object right at the entrance of the object. Encourage and praise your dog for biting at the string to try to get it out of the object. If it gets too hard and the dog gives up, help by bringing the string and treat to the entrance of the object so the dog can easily grab it with their mouth. You may need to switch to an easier object with a bigger opening. Also, hold on to the object once you place the food inside so it does not move around as much.
The Genius Level
The Genius level is where you start putting the food on a string farther back into the object. Your dog will now really have to pull longer and harder to get the treat out.
Tip
While playing this game, you can add the cue “pull." This will set you up for more advanced games in the future.