A Few Fun Games With Tali

I worked Tali for three sessions today focusing mainly on relationship building games. 

The first game we played was a stationary Yo-Yo game where I throw out a lower value treat, encourage her to get and then mark & reward when she turns back and gets a higher value treat from me.  I haven't been very consistent in working recalls with her, something I need to spend more time with.  You will see we went through several progressions in the video: 

1.  'Get It' - at first Tali didn't understand I was tossing the treat, so I had to show her that I wanted her to go 'Get It'
2.  Marking the Turn - no command at all, just marking the turn back towards me and verbal encouragement for coming in for the higher value treat
3.  Naming the Behaviour - still marking the turn, but introducing the 'Here' command as she comes back.  I want to be certain the command is never associated with moving away from me.

The second game we played was Susan Garrett's It's Yer Choice (IYC).  This game is designed to get Tali to always engage with the toy I have instead of running off to play by herself.  This game is hard for an independent bulldog, but we are getting there.  I played the game two ways:

1.  Toy Exchange - Playing with one toy with Tali and then letting her have that toy while I switched to another.  The goal is for her to engage with the toy I'm playing with.
2.  Play With Me - Letting Tali win at the game of Tug and then encouraging her to bring the toy in my direction to play with me again. 

And finally, the third game was a Human Cavaletti - jump collection/extension game.  Tali is not destined to be an agility dog, but this will help with proper jump form in higher levels of obedience/rally as well as general body awareness.... plus it's fun!  I put in a couple slow motion clips on the end where you can see as she extends and then collects for the next jump.