The Blanket Game: A Fun Way to Enhance Your Service Dog’s Training
Training a service dog is a rewarding yet intricate process that involves patience, consistency, and sometimes, a bit of ingenuity. One engaging approach to service dog training is an activity called the Blanket Game. This game is not only enjoyable for your dog. But also reinforces key skills that are crucial for a service dog’s responsibilities. In this post, we will walk you through the steps of the Blanket Game. While highlighting its benefits and how it can advance your service dog’s training.
Mastering the Basics: The Steps of the Blanket Game
The Blanket Game is designed to build upon skills that your dog already knows. Skills like ‘Focus’, ‘Touch’, and responding to their Name. But the heart of the game revolves around enhancing your dog’s ability to ‘stay’ on command. Here’s how you can incorporate this game into your training routine:
- Getting Started: Begin by placing a rug or blanket on the floor. This should be a designated spot where your dog will learn to stay.
- The 1-Second Stay: Ask your dog to sit or lie down on the rug. Then, issuing the ‘stay’ command, wait for just one second before giving a click and rewarding your dog. This rapid reward introduces the idea of staying in place.
- Increasing Durations: Gradually increase the stay duration. After the first successful ‘stay’ of one second. Try it for two seconds, then three, and so on. Do this for up to ten seconds, rewarding each successful attempt.
- Incremental Rises: Once your dog can maintain a ‘stay’ for ten seconds, begin your next round at three seconds, working up towards longer periods like twenty seconds.
- Random Rewards for Focus: Continuously reward your dog throughout the day when they make spontaneous eye contact, reinforcing their ‘Focus’. While a click isn’t necessary each time for this training, consistently rewarding (with occasional jackpots of several treats) can be beneficial, especially in the beginning.
Remember that practice makes perfect!
Incorporate the Blanket Game into your daily training sessions, and you’ll soon see notable improvements in your dog’s ability to maintain their position calmly and confidently.
Beyond Fun and Games: Benefits of the Blanket Game
Training a service dog is about more than teaching tricks—it’s about equipping them with practical skills they’ll use in their everyday work. Here are specific benefits of incorporating the Blanket Game into your service dog training program:
- Reinforcing ‘Stay’: The fundamental outcome of the Blanket Game is the reinforcement of the ‘stay’ command. An unwavering ‘stay’ is vital for service dogs to ensure they remain positioned in distracting environments or when they must maintain proximity to their handler.
- Boosting Concentration: The game enhances your dog’s focus and concentration, especially important when they need to pay attention for long periods and be attuned to their handler’s directions or needs.
- Impulse Control: The incremental waiting periods teach your dog to control their impulses, promoting a composed demeanor, which is essential in public places or during emergencies.
- Handler-Dog Bond: Service dogs need to have unwavering trust and connection with their handlers. The Blanket Game builds this bond through positive reinforcement, enhancing your mutual understanding and responsiveness.
- Mental Engagement: Service dogs thrive on mental challenges, and the Blanket Game provides cognitive stimulation. Keeping your dog mentally engaged is just as crucial as physical exercise in service dog training.
Incorporating the Blanket Game into your training routine offers an interactive way to bolster crucial skills required of service dogs. It’s a testament to the saying that sometimes, the best lessons come wrapped in fun. Consistent practice will not only lead to a well-trained service dog. It will also reinforce the special partnership you share with your canine companion.
Remember, every dog learns at their own pace. Be patient and celebrate the small achievements as you and your dog grow together in this training adventure. With games like the Blanket Game, training sessions can be as enjoyable as they are effective. All while leading to a proficient and happy service dog ready to take on the world.
