# Hide & Seek



## StSteele (Aug 10, 2009)

How do you teach a dog to play hide & seek?

Bella has a favorite toy, so I think I could use it. I'm just not sure where to start!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!


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## wildwolf60 (Apr 13, 2001)

How about, hiding it in front of her, then tell her to 'find it"! Let her see you hide it, so she knows where it is initially. then start making it more difficult as she gets to know what the command means. We play hide and seek with ourselves, one of us goes and hides while Luna is occupied, then the remaining person starts asking her to go find (mom, dad) She starts roaming the house looking for us, great fun!


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

we play "find it" same as hide and seek. i started out by hiding something that's easy to find. a lot of times when i hid something
i would attach a treat to whatever it was i was hiding. if i used a ball i would take a rubber band and attach the treat to it. i did the same thing when i hid a wallet, tee shirt, keys, etc. 

when we first started playing find it i made sure my dog could find whatever it was i was hiding. when we played indoors i would have my dog sit in the hallway while i walked a few feet away. i would take whatever i was hiding and lay it down in the doorway. my dog could see were i was hiding the object. then i started hiding things behind the door. then i started having my dog sit where he couldn't see where i was hiding things. then i started hiding things off of the ground. i would hide something in the bottom draw of the dresser, then the draw up. then in the middle of the bed under a pillow i would hide things. i just kept making harder and harder.

outside i did the same thing in the begining. i let my dog see where i was hiding things. then i started making it harder and harder. now i can leave my dog inside the house and i can go outside and hide something and he'll go out and find it.

my GF can hide in the woods and our dog will go and find her. i think my dog likes finding things. when he knows we're going to play "find it" he gets really excited.


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## Doggydog (May 12, 2009)

We started with a favorite toy initially. Now we like to use those plastic easter eggs with treats inside. The dogs really enjoy this. It's the only thing that Coco can do better than Jiva.


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

First you have to give them an understanding of what 'find it' means.

I started by simply putting the toy out in the open and saying 'find it.' When pup picks up toy (which they will), you praise the heck out of them.

Then go on to more remote spot and finally out of sight locations.

It's fun to observe how they truly 'see' with their noses. There are times I watch mine literally search in a grid like fashion - they will follow the scent even when I've spotted it by sight. Conversely, they find what I cannot see.


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## StSteele (Aug 10, 2009)

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! Bella needs a job to do & I'm hoping that this game, along w/some others will help fulfill the need for a job & for fun times w/mom!


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## StSteele (Aug 10, 2009)

A couple more questions... is it easier to teach this if you use the same toy each time? Also, do you use that toy ONLY for this game?


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## Karin (Jan 4, 2008)

What we do is take a treat and hide, then say "OK"! And she comes and finds us. Then we give her the treat. Sometime we do it without a treat and she likes that too. 

Thanks for rescuing Bella! She'll come around. We rescued our Heidi at age two and she was very fearful, skittish, and timid. Now, she's a happy and (for the most part) confident girl. She still gets spooked by sudden loud movements from people she doesn't know and loud noises, but she has come a long, long way.


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## TxRider (Apr 15, 2009)

*Re: Hide & Seek*



> Originally Posted By: StSteeleA couple more questions... is it easier to teach this if you use the same toy each time? Also, do you use that toy ONLY for this game?


I did it with each toy, naming the toy every time I play with it until she associated the name with the toy.

Then having her pick the toy out of several toys close by by name for each toy.

Once she knew the toys by name, and "get the toy" using whatever name she was all set.

Then doing the gradual hide and seek thing with a toy.

I the end I could have her go find any one of her toys anywhere in the house.

Then you can teach places like lap, table, different rooms. Have her go to one room and get a toy, and place it in another, or on a table..

That all takes time though. My current rescue I brought home this spring, Hope, has learned "ball", it's her only toy she knows the name of so far, by just repeating "ball!" endlessly while playing with it.

She will already go search for it on command just from playing fetch in the house, fooling her as if I thew it one way, and secretly rolling it the other way into another room and saying "find the ball!" repeatedly when she was searching for it where she thought I threw it. I had to give her a hint as to where it was at first at times, then she caught on fast.

Now I can just say "find the ball!" any time and the search is on.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i call it "find it". i started out hiding my dogs ball. in the begining i would have my dog sit and stay. then i would walk a few feet
away and lay the ball down and say "find it". then after he got the idea i started making it a little harder. i started hiding the ball the ball behind a door, under a table, in the bedroom, etc. then i started having my dog sit and stay where he couldn't see me hide the ball. i also started hiding the ball not on the floor. i started putting the ball up on things, under things, behind closed doors, etc. we play "find it" indoors and outdoors. as my dog got better at finding the ball i started hiding different things.

at some point i had my dog stay inside (with the front door closed0
and i would throw whatever i wanted him to find in my back yard, or
my neighbors yard, front yard. i started hiding things by throwing them because i didn't want my dog following my scent to whatever
i was hiding.


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

I'm doing what doggiedad did.

We are just learning this in our obedience class in prepration for the dropped glove retrieve.

Here is the method we are using.

Hide a treat in while your dog is watching. Send your dog to "find-it". Have a party!

Fake two treat drops and drop the treat in a thrid spot, while your dog is watching. Send yur dog to "find-it". If the dog looks to you for direction, just stare at your hiding spot. Have a party when they find it.

While in a heeling exercise we passed off a treat to the instructor who hide it behind a cone. This time the dog did not see the treat being dropped. Send your dog out. As long as your dog is working you do or say nothing. If they look at you for direction just stare at the spot. If they do not continue working, go get your dog and take him to the spot, show him/her the treat, and in an excited voice say find-it, but don't let them take it. Return to your beginning spot and resend the dog. Have a big party.

Next step is to move to a toy and have your dog return to you once found. I'm currently working on this at home, in the house only right now.

I'm having a lot of fun with this one.

In a class of 4 Dakota was the only dog that I could hear sniffing.


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