Introducing new games the right way
The first impression decides whether your dog loves or avoids a game. How to ensure good feelings and quick successes from the start.
Whether your dog likes a new game is often decided in the very first minutes. Feelings are always learnt along the way: if the first attempt ends in frustration or a fright, exactly that mood is back again the next time. A successful start, by contrast, motivates your dog to stick with it.
Ensure a quick first success
Make the start so easy that your dog can hardly do anything wrong. If it's to fetch food from a box, for example, let it simply eat a treat from the open box the first time. If it's to knock over a cup, place the food only half underneath at first. That way it learns: this works, this pays off.