Anybody play hide-and-seek with your dog?

[annlaura]

I'd like to teach my dog to seek out my DS around the house as an indoor activity for them both. I'm not sure how a scent trail works in this situation since DS is all over the house all the time. Would he need to hold something like a special treat? If you've done this with your dog, could you please explain it to me?

[Lolosoli]

Hmm? Good question. I've never done it through scent. I have each of my three children hide (with a small treat...usually fresh, cooked chicken or leftover meat) and they call his name. He then tries to find them. They pick some pretty hard spots sometimes....he uses hearing only though. I'm not sure how to do with using scent. I can't wait to see your replies!

[rhrice3]

We have always taught our dogs to play hide -n- seek with our kids in the house. My 11 year old plays hide and seek with our shepherd often since we have moved. She hides in different closets, under beds, different rooms, even in large boxes when we were still moving in, etc; and then we tell him to find "sissy". When he does, we have her holding a treat to give him. We used to do this out of doors when we lived in TN on 6 acres, and then the dog could easily follow a trail and learned what "find Sissy" or "find Andrew" meant.

ReneeR

[Amy Jo]

AFAIK there are two main ways to scent track. One is what the AKC and such does, the dog follows the scent right on the person's tracks. For this I think Enthusiastic Tracking is a great book.

 

But the other is more what a search and rescue dog does. It smells the air and if you are close, it will go right to you. Mythbusters had a couple scent dog issues.

 

I'd recommend having your son hide, then you send the dog to find him. You should follow the dog. Start out easy. When the dog finds your son, reward him with praise, treats or a toy. (Whatever your dog loves, have some variety though.) I actually think this is a good idea. Should teach my dog to do it.

[J-rap]

Ha, we've done this with all of our dogs! Usually a treat isn't even required, because the dog will want to play so much, it's the play that keeps him involved -- not the treat.

 

You first need to occupy the dog with something else while you are hiding. We usually use a toy that our dog likes, such as a tennis ball. We throw it gently into another room, down the stairs, or whatever. Then you quietly hide while he is distracted. First pick somewhere fairly easy and close by. The dog will try and find the person who threw the ball (or whatever the toys is). If he can't find you after just a minute or two, give him a "hint" -- a soft whistle or something. When he finds you, praise him excitedly, take the toy away, and do it again.

 

If he is the type who doesn't want to give you the toy easily, make him sit and "drop it," and then give him a treat. Then, gently throw it again.

 

Eventually the dog is still interested in chasing after the ball, but he becomes just as excited about finding the person who threw it. Pick harder places sometimes, and sometimes the same places. This game has kept ALL of us occupied at one point or another!

[lmrich]

Our dog loves to do this on a trail. One of the kids will run up ahead and hide while we hold her back. Then we let her go and she takes off and finds the hiding child. Now the kid never hides like crazy hard but it is amazing how good the dog is at finding the kids. She tends to be the best at finding my youngest dd and runs the fastest to find her. It is really heart warming. Our dog is a mini poodle and we did no special training - just lots of love.

 

Ok now to something silly. when were kids our cat would go into the basement and meow. We would go downstairs and look for her and she was like seriously hiding!! Sometimes she would crawl in my dad's workbench stuff or in my mom's sewing stuff but actually hiding not stuck. She was a special cat.

[annlaura]

This is fantastic! Thanks everyone! I tried starting this last winter, but the dog was a pup, the boy was a pup, the baby was a baby, and I wanted to hide myself. :lol: So although I attempted teaching her what "find DS!" meant, we weren't consistent and I gave up. Now that we're back to stuck indoors more, and DS4 is loving hide-and-seek lately anyway, I think this will be a good game for us all.

 

Love the cat story!