Wait a minute…I’m a trainer and obedience is never my goal?  Don’t worry,  I am not suggesting that we let our dogs run amuck. My goals when helping people and dogs live better together are always safety and welfare for both ends of the leash.  Sometimes we can achieve those goals by simply controlling the environment (think fences, baby gates, where we choose to walk, etc), while other times, it will be worth the effort to teach more specific skills, and in some cases, skills we have labeled as “obedience” skills can even be useful. It is not the skills themselves I reject, but rather the mindset many of us have inherited which says dogs must be obedient to us, as well as the idea that a certain set of obedience skills are what all dogs need in order to thrive and to be successful in our homes.

“Find it” Isn’t Free

It may seem like you could simply say “find it” and drop treats and be good to go.  That may be the case in a low distraction environment like in your living room when no one else is around.  However, if you try to take this idea and drop it in to one of the scenarios mentioned above like walking past people and dogs, there is a good chance you are going to say “I tried that and it doesn’t work with my dog.” or “that only works when my dog is not excited.”.  Saying “find it” and dropping treats onto the ground for our dog to snuffle and gobble up seems like such a simple task that we may expect it should come for free, but if we want to be able to use this skill successfully in a variety of situations, we need to teach it just like we would any other behavior.

That means, we should first teach this behavior at home when there is not much going on, and then systematically change the picture for our dog as we introduce new environments, and new challenges. As we make changes to that environmental picture, we will want to make sure we are always working at a level where our dog can be successful. First things first though, let’s talk about how to teach this skill.

It all begins with an idea.