# Hunt the Treat? Mental brain exercises



## Myleen (Apr 30, 2016)

Anyone do *Hunt the Treat* who can share _how_ they did it, and where they hide the treats? Would really appreciate an explanation on the *how*. 

Looking for mental brain exercises for Toby. He is a chewer so it wouldn't work to put something under or in something else that he would chew.

We are in a heat wave :flame::excruciating: and walking in the afternoon is not an option. 
We have 2 ottosson games. Looking for some _new_ games to do indoors.

Thanks


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

The classic way is to ask your dog to Sit, place a treat where he can see it while he watches, and release him to find it. Then two treats, spaced apart. Then one on each side. Gradually build up to placing them in very easy places with him out of sight, and then more difficult places - under cushions, inside toys, etc, etc. As far as I recall we went about it a different way. My dogs knew the Wheeee! game, where they wait while I toss a small handful of treats in the air, and then go and look for them. Hunt the Treat was an easy progression from this - they waited in the hall outside the door, I placed treats around the room, they came in and found them. The main thing is not to offer too much help, but to leave them to get on with it, so it is best to keep it very easy until the dog knows what it is doing, and then gradually make it more challenging. For mine I will place treats at nose height on chair rails, on their beds, on chairs that are safe to jump onto, under cushions and dog blankets, and sometimes inside Ottosson toys or hollow stuffies. The fun is in the finding, so lots of very small treats are better than a few big ones. Avoid places they cannot reach, like under the sofa, or you are likely to find yourself moving furniture or flat on your stomach trying to reach a tiny biscuit that your dog is absolutely determined is still under there...!


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

fjm said:


> The classic way is to ask your dog to Sit, place a treat where he can see it while he watches, and release him to find it. Then two treats, spaced apart. Then one on each side. Gradually build up to placing them in very easy places with him out of sight, and then more difficult places - under cushions, inside toys, etc, etc. As far as I recall we went about it a different way. My dogs knew the Wheeee! game, where they wait while I toss a small handful of treats in the air, and then go and look for them. Hunt the Treat was an easy progression from this - they waited in the hall outside the door, I placed treats around the room, they came in and found them. The main thing is not to offer too much help, but to leave them to get on with it, so it is best to keep it very easy until the dog knows what it is doing, and then gradually make it more challenging. For mine I will place treats at nose height on chair rails, on their beds, on chairs that are safe to jump onto, under cushions and dog blankets, and sometimes inside Ottosson toys or hollow stuffies. The fun is in the finding, so lots of very small treats are better than a few big ones. Avoid places they cannot reach, like under the sofa, or you are likely to find yourself moving furniture or flat on your stomach trying to reach a tiny biscuit that your dog is absolutely determined is still under there...!


This sounds like a really fun game!! Easter egg hunt for pups!!!

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

I trained Molly to "find it!" just like fjm did and since your pup is already doing puzzles you'll find it easy to train. Another find it game is to get a set of child's small safety cones and scatter them around the house but put a treat under only 1 or 2 of them. Molly loves running around and knocking them over until she finds the treats! You can also make and use a small flirt pole for indoor 'physical' activity too!


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## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

I used to do a shell game with one of my dogs - I'd take three dixie cups, put a treat under one, then mix them up in front of her and she'd have to figure out which one had the treat under it. Of course, she pretty quickly decided to just knock them all over, so I think MollyMuiMa's way is probably more sustainable. :laugh:

Another good thing for mental exercise in general is self-control exercises. One that Archie had to learn (back when he was bouncing off the walls) was this thing where I'd hold a treat in my hand, and if he reached for it without being released to do so (the cue word was "take it!"), then I'd close my hand around the treat. I didn't give him any prompting or guidance, just opened my hand and then took away the treat every time he reached for it until he decided to wait.

You can also do shaping games, especially if you marker/clicker train. 1001 Things To Do With A Box is a great one. Basically you put a box on the ground, then when the dog looks at the box, you say Yes! (or click) and give a treat. Once they start looking at the box on their own, you wait for them to move closer to the box before rewarding. Then you wait until they decide to interact with the box in some way. You let them choose what they're going to do, and you only reward _after_ they offer you something. No luring or guiding allowed. It really takes a lot of mental effort that way because the dog has to think independently to figure out how to get the reward. You can google it for more in-depth instructions.


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## Myleen (Apr 30, 2016)

fjm,
Thank you so much! I will have my husband hold Toby until he learns *"release"* 
This is exactly what I need. Much appreciated!!!


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## Myleen (Apr 30, 2016)

MollyMuiMa,

This is awesome! Yes, I looked to see what a flirt pole was ... yes, I think I can make one!
I also love the idea of the safety cones!!!! Thank you for the great ideas!!!!


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## Myleen (Apr 30, 2016)

lisasgirl,
Awesome ideas! 
Much appreciated!

Toby tends to bounce off the walls lol. And he really IS a jumper!!!
When we go outside and we pass the swing he likes, he jumps :jump: on it and it doesn't phase him a bit the swing is moving!!

These are really good...I have not taught him wait yet and is another thing I need to teach him! 

The box idea sounds sooo interesting! Thank you very much!!


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## TeamPoodle (Aug 10, 2015)

Oh there's so much you can do! You can put a tennis ball in a muffin tin (or a mini tennis ball in a mini muffin tin) and hide a treat underneath. When your dog takes out the ball they find the treat! You progress this to having all the muffin holes filled with balls but only hiding one or two treats.

Find it! we play this a lot. we started like other people said, having the dog in a sit and stay and putting the treat where they could see and releasing with "okay, find it!". Eventually they understand the game and we progress to going in a different room, sit and stay, and then hiding the treats all over the living room. We started with very smelly treats but once your dog understands the game you can progress to less odorous things. You go back to the dog and release, and they go around searching for the treats. After they find one, you say "good boy, go find it!" that's our cue that there's more treats to search for.

We hide our treats under pillows, on top of the couch, etc. (Riley has a lot of liberty in our house) but if you're worried about the chewing, you can use cardboard boxes. Set up a row of boxes, label one "food" and put the treat inside of it. When your dog finds the treat, you reward with a few more treats inside the same box while he's hanging out there. Every round after your dog finds the treat, you shuffle the boxes, but always using the "food" one for the treat. The reason for this is if they all get treats, eventually every box will smell like cookies and it will be very hard for your dog to properly identify the right box. You can turn the boxes upside down, on their side, etc to change the "landscape" for your dog.

We've used actual easter eggs and put treats inside of them (this is good for small to medium dogs) and hidden them around the living room. You need to stay in the room for this game, though, because when your dog cracks open the egg and eats the treat, you say "good boy!" and take away the egg so they don't sit there and chew on it.

And most recently, we made Riley a "Snuffle Mat". We take a handful of kibble and sprinkle it all over the mat and let Riley go to town finding all the pieces of kibble. Again, if your dog is a chewer, you need to stay and play with them. If he starts chewing, you re-direct him by pointing out a piece of kibble he's missed. Once all the treats are found, the mat gets picked up and put away. Not only does this keep the novelty of the game, but it keeps Riley from chewing on the fleece pieces.

I've never heard of the cones but I think it is awesome! I'm going to try that with Riley soon.


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## Myleen (Apr 30, 2016)

TeamPoodle, 
All great ideas! 

Thank you for sharing!! I just might make that "snuffle mat"someday! I bought 2 yards of polar fleece to make a tug. Way more than what is needed to make one. Don't know why I bought so much!! haha. 

I am currently teaching "stay" to Toby.  We played Hide and treat once so far ... My husband had to hold Toby as he wanted to run over to where I was (to investigate) :laugh::laugh:
Thank you again for sharing!


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