a dog learns from another dog's blog

I've been having an interesting conversation with Johann's mum. She has two great video clips of how she trained Johann to succeed with the wooden Nina Ottosson Dog Casino.

First she taught him to focus on the little pegs that close off the drawers.



Then they moved on to pulling the pegs out of the holes.



So far we've practised Penny touching the peg for a reward from my hand. We moved on to clicking when she knocks the peg off the game, because I thought that might be closer to what we need finally, when she'll have to pull up the peg and throw it off the Casino so she can pull out the drawer to get the treats.



Johann's mum has mentioned the command 'pick it up' and Penny knows that well, so we experimented with that.



(I just can't seem to co-ordinate using the clicker and stopping myself from saying 'Yes!'. Luckily Penny's used to my muddled training methods, lol.)

trying out the Nina Ottosson Dog Casino

Boredom warning!!

This is a long video of Penny trying out our new Nina Ottosson Dog Casino toy. I'm only posting it because I think people thinking of buying the puzzle might like to see this warts-and-all tryout of it, with no footage cut out.

It's six minutes long, and seems a bit like watching grass grow, lol.

(And the title is stupid, because the last word, 'Casino', is missing in the title. But it took so long to upload that I'm not willing to do it again.)

the nina ottosson dog casino

It seemed a good time to try out our new Nina Ottosson toy today, as Penny was having kibble for her breakfast - boring stuff!
So we got the box out.



It's one of the hardest puzzles, level three, so we knew we'd have to take it in stages.



First I put the puzzle on the floor, taking out the little bones on top that stop the drawers underneath from moving in and out.




I let Penny see the drawers pulled fully out.



She watched with interest as I placed a piece of food in each little drawer.



And, last of all, I pushed the drawers in part-way, so she could see and smell the food.



I have a video clip of her trying it out, but it's very long and probably boring, to be quite honest. But I'm going to upload it here as a separate blog post, because I think it's worthwhile for anyone thinking of buying this toy. It's a warts-and -all look at how a dog approaches the task for the first time.

Penny has her meal from the Amazing Treat Machine

Penny has quickly conquered The Amazing Treat Machine and I think it's great value for the price. (I forget what it was, but if I remember right, it was well under $20.)

Here she is having her dinner from it. I've had to compromise on my ideal of all raw feeding, but I think I've chosen a suitable premium brand of dry food for the occasions when we'll use this toy. It turns out to be quite an energetic activity because she's so enthusiastic to get the food. Apologies in advance for the terribly boring sound of me saying, 'Get the ball. Pick it up. In the box.' It's only when I listen to myself I realise I do that silly thing humans do, of repeating ourselves to our dogs unnecessarily.

learning about the amazing treat machine

After unpacking The Amazing Treat Machine, Penny and I, together with our video assistant, set about trying it out.

I find that video clips advertising products show the results achieved after some practice. Well, here's a 'warts and all' unabridged version of how a dog tries out this product for the first time.

We did have the advantage, however, that Penny already knew how to pick up a ball and put it in a box. (It's taught by putting the container under her mouth so that the ball drops into it and, if using a clicker as a marker for good behaviour, clicking and treating every time the ball falls into the container. Eventually the container can be left on the floor and the dog learns to bring the ball to it.)

Here's our first try. We had fun but no success!



Okay, so we needed to make some adjustments- for instance, jamming the bottle in more securely. But still no luck.



Never give up! Penny noticed before I did that the treats had begun to emerge from the hole at the bottom.



At this stage I decided to cheat a little - which turned out to be a bad idea.



Finally, success - sort of. I cheated again! But Penny has the idea and I'm sure we'll do better next time. I think it's a good product, and not too expensive - if you don't live at the end of the earth and have to pay more in postage than the product costs...

continuing to learn about the Dog Fighter toy

In my last post I showed Penny trying out the Nina Ottosson Dog Fighter toy for the first time.

Here's the continuation of the story. A few minutes later we introduced her to the concept of moving two wooden pegs, in different directions. Already she had abandoned the technique of chewing the pegs, in favour of pushing them along.




Last of all for that day, I put some of her evening meal into the whole set of pegs and sat back to see what she would do.

studies into canine cognition

Harvard University's Canine Cognition Lab is studying dog behavior and they want volunteers for their 'non-invasive' experiments. If I lived in the local area I'd be hot-footing it into the lab. I reckon it would be fun! There's a short video explaining what they want.

One thing that always strikes me is the necessity for scientists to validate their research by saying it will help us understand human behaviour. Why can't we get away from seeing ourselves as the only species worthy of our interest? The rationale for the study is to discover 'those aspects of the mind that are uniquely human'. You know what? I'm actually interested to know about the cognition of the other species on this planet - the planet that the dogs and the dolphins and the fish and the snakes and the bees aren't polluting out of existence.

And as for the idiotic first comment on the article in the Boston Globe about this study... Well, don't get me started on the cognitive capabilities of the human species!

Apologies for the rant. Sometimes I just have to let off steam.

great new intelligent game for dogs

While I was visiting Johann's blog, I saw a new game for dogs. It can be used as an intelligence-enhancing activity, or as a way of feeding a meal. It's the Aikiou (pronounced IQ).

On Youtube there's a video clip of a Welsh corgi trying it out it. It's one of the better clips I've seen, because the dog seems to be unfamiliar with it and the clip shows the whole process of learning to use it, I think.

playing with toys that enhance dog intelligence

Penny played with her Nina Ottosson dog toys tonight. Walks have been shorter than usual lately, for no special reason except that we've been low on energy, so I thought meal time could be extended for some doggy mental stimulation.

I was pleased to hear from Johann The Dog that these toys will soon be available in Australia from VCA World. I wish they were bringing in the wooden ones, but they will only import the plastic ones. However I don't see anything on their site yet.

I've always been interested in activities designed to enhance intelligence in dogs, as I've posted about time and again.

We used the Nina Ottosson Dog Tornado. This game has levels of difficulty, so first we tried it with the simple task to turn the bone and find the treats.



Then we tried it with two plastic 'bones' inserted in the lower levels, which makes the game much harder and requires a lot of persistence by the doggy player. (Penny is very persistent!) She became frustrated because her teeth couldn't get a grip on the slippery 'bones' - I think this is a drawback to the game. So I attached some string to the bones and she was immediately successful. (It's easy to slip a piece of string through the holes in the top of the bones and knot it so it doesn't slip out.)

Nina Ottosson toys for intelligent dogs to play with

Hooray! The toys from Clean Run arrived last Friday.

The one toy I am really waiting for is the super duper Dog Tornado that my friend is bringing from New York. I didn't think I could afford the postage, so she said she'd bring it in her luggage. She arrives tomorrow!

And then Johann told me there was to be a free postage offer from Clean Run for a short while, so I ordered the Spinny, the Brick and Dog Magic. I ordered them through Johann's site. (Now that I know the toys are lighter than I thought, and come so quickly, I'd be keen to order more things in the future.)

I ordered them on the 4th of December, so it took them only eight days to come to Australia. I'm amazed. And excited.

The first one Penny and I played with was quite easy - The Dog Spinny.



When Penny was confident with it - which took about three minutes! - I added a plastic bone that makes the task harder. She had to figure out how to get the bone out before she could turn the Spinny and get the treats.





















Today we advanced to the second game, The Brick. We've only played the simplest version, so far.



When she is confident, I'll place more of the plastic bones in the middle spaces, to make it hard.

I can't wait for the Tornado - it looks like the hardest of them all.

free shipping of nina ottosson toys over the next couple of days

Johann's mum added a comment on my post about intelligent toys for dogs and told me that the US company Clean Run is shipping items with free postage until 8th December, if you spend more than $100.

I just had to give it a try, even though the Australian dollar is so bad compared to the US dollar at the moment. It sure seemed as if the items are going to ship to Australia with no cost for postage. To say I'm excited would be an understatement, as I've ordered THREE of the Nina Ottosson toys. I ordered them through Johann's own site, where part of the profits go to shelters and rescue organisations.

If they come by sea, I guess it might be months before I see them, but it will be fun waiting for them. I can't remember who said it's the journey that counts, not the arrival. Similarly, we Australians are experts at enjoying the anticipation of a parcel sailing across the planet to us.