⭐DOGGIE STAR CHART ⭐

- February 05, 2021

⭐Help Your Dog to Build Confidence with a Doggie Star Chart ⭐

Some dogs are very reactive, which means that they frequently show barking, growling and lunging behaviours. This is often due to a lack of confidence. Dogs are just like humans and can suffer from low self-esteem. A dog who lacks confidence is filled with anxieties and this can lead to aggressive behaviours or be displayed as them.

Luckily there is a lot we can do to help improve a dog’s confidence which in turn helps them to become more relaxed and less reactive.

Dogs love to solve little puzzles, and I teach them to play “Find It”.

I make puzzles with any junk such as toilet rolls or cardboard boxes. The idea is to hide a couple of tiny treats inside then ask your dog to “Find it!”

Your dog will smell the treat and then has to work out what to do to get the treat out! A great tip is to use a very smelly treat, something that your dog really loves so he will be very motivated to try to get it out.

Every time your dog finds the treat and eats it, this is a fabulous reward for him – Like a gold star on a Star Chart!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Here are a few ideas you can use to make treat puzzle games. If your dog can’t have treats try a toy such as a squeaky ball or a tug toy. You might have to throw the ball or play tug when your dog has found it to keep him interested.

· Wrap up treats in a piece of newspaper

· Stuff them in kongs

· Make little treat parcels

· Put treats in shoe boxes or cardboard boxes that your dog has to dig right into

· Hide them in upside down plant pots

· Lay a treasure trail round a room

· Plait a long piece of material and stuff treats in the gaps. To make it more of a challenge you can soak the material + treats in water and then put it in the freezer.

· Hide treats under a blanket

⭐

Start off with really easy puzzles – the aim is that your dog easily solves the puzzles at first, then you can make them more of a challenge. If the puzzle is too hard, your dog might give up and this wont help to build up confidence. You want your dog to keep coming back for more so only play for up to 30 minutes and then stop and put the games away.

You might find your dog is tired before this because foraging uses up lots of mental energy.

I often give the dogs I work with their own Doggie Star Chart, so that their humans can track how many puzzles the dog solves each day. A few weeks of hard work solving puzzles really helps to calm many dogs down and build up their confidence.

⭐

If your dog would like a copy of my Doggie Star Chart send me an email and I will send you a free downloadable copy.