This is the doggy version of Simon Says - on speed. We are working on position changes. This exercise will help with cue discrimination for AKC open obedience, the out of motion exercises for IPO, position changes for Mondio or French ring, etc.
Games are my favorite way to encourage fluency; both verbal (what I show here) and situational (one cue under a variety of circumstances). How many ways can we practice these basic behaviors? The more games we think up the less we end up drilling. Drilling is problematic because it teaches the dog to focus on the reinforcer above all else since nothing else is interesting about the process of training. And anyway, games are fun for me too!
Do you have specific games that you use to increase your dog's verbal processing skills? I'd love to hear about them!
https://youtu.be/e2WIm6u-byM
I use lots of games in training, but what helps us the most in speed and responsiveness is a game of Dog Puller….those purple rings I acquired years ago have really helped in every aspect of our training, be it Rally, Obedience and even agility. I like to use it as a warm up to training sessions, in between, and at the end of a session. My dogs love it.