Chasing Sapphire

Sapphire was a resident with us for 3 months. In the beginning of her time here she was very quiet and laid back. She came down with a mild case of kennel cough, so she spent her time resting, sleeping and taking walks where she was very well behaved.  Once she started to feel better, she really started coming out of her shell. She was friendly and playful with people, but she’d grab their pant legs and clothes. This behavior certainly was not going to help her get adopted, so I knew it was our job to teach her other appropriate behaviors.

I started working with her and found out she was not interested in anything except grabbing pant legs and clothes. She wasn’t interested in toys like tennis balls, tug ropes or even plush squeaky toys.  I was at a loss because I knew she was a high energy dog that needed to burn a lot of energy in order to be able to learn. She didn’t seem all that interested in treats either. So I really had no idea how I was going to help this girl that I knew had the potential for being a fantastic dog.

And then – the chase game came into her life and nothing was the same; it was love at first play!  The chase game is a fun and easy way to exercise and train your dog at the same time.  This worked like a charm for Miss Sapphire.  Chase can be done easily by using a thin but strong stick and attaching a string to it (they can be found at any craft store).  On the string tightly attach a small plush toy that the dog can chase after. It only took Sapphire a couple of chases and she seemed a little more tired and a little more focused. She would romp and roll around and run until I set it on the floor for her to grab. Once she caught it I would then trade for a high value treat and the game would start all over again. After a few chases when she was really into the game; we slowly started working on simple behaviors like ‘sit’.  The toy would only start moving around if she sat down otherwise we’d just stand there staring at each other.  She didn’t like the staring contest and quickly caught on to the rules of the game.  I also taught her how to ‘drop’ when trading the toy for a high value treat.  If she traded the toy for the treat she get a double reward – she’d get a delicious treat and the game would start again – so it was worth it for her to drop the toy.

Chase is a really fun and easy way to burn your dogs energy and they learn many important behaviors such as ‘sit’ and ‘drop’ along the way!

– Laney Macdougall, Behavior Programs Supervisor at The Center for Shelter Dogs