How to play find it with a dog

Treats come first. Use pieces the size of a pea that your dog can find by smell and swallow quickly: soft training treats, a little cheese, or kibble from today's ration if your dog cares about kibble. Count them out of the day's food so the game does not become extra dinner. Hard biscuits that crumble leave a trail of crumbs to chase instead of a target to find, and a long-lasting chew stops the game while the dog works on it.

Clear the floor of toys and shoes so the only interesting smell is the one you put down, and choose a room where your dog already relaxes. Nancy Tucker, writing in Whole Dog Journal, starts the cue in a quiet space with no distractions and tosses the first treat where the dog can see it land. Decide on your words now. Find it is common, but any short phrase works if it is kept for this game and nothing else.

A dog that finds every treat in the kitchen is ready for more, but change only one thing per session. Spread the hides farther apart, then put one at shoulder height on a chair seat, then tuck one inside a loosely folded towel. The AKC's magic cup game adds empty cups beside the baited one and shuffles them like a magician, so the dog has to use its nose rather than its memory of where the treat went.

For a rainy day, set up a short routine: five hides in one room, a cup round, then a toy hide, with a drink and a rest between. The AKC's rainy-day memory game rests on the idea that mental challenges tire a dog as much as physical ones. Outdoors, a handful of kibble scattered in short grass makes a good yard round, and from April to November on Cape Ann that grass is tick country, so run your hands over the dog afterward.

Find it earns its keep away from the kitchen. Tucker uses it to bring a leash puller back beside the handler with treats dropped at her feet, to give a jumper something to do while a guest walks in, and to hand a worried dog a job as a barking dog goes past. Those uses need the cue solid at home first, and some dogs need a trainer to judge distance and timing before the game works anywhere near a trigger.

Our training is fear- and force-free and led by Gabriella Pope, our Director of Training & Canine Behaviorist. Brave & Balanced, for pups from four months, builds confidence in fearful and handling-sensitive dogs, and Calm & Connected works on impulse control, stranger concerns and minor leash reactivity in adolescents, rescues and adults. A Dogtown Academy day, $89 full or $69 half, folds enrichment and trainer time into play at 210 Eastern Ave in Gloucester. Private sessions start from $94, and the training team replies within one hour on business days.