Update on A Small Dog Game

Posted on Feb 27 in Having Fun with A Small Dog, Small Dog Book Reviewsby Jeff K.Print

Illustration A. One problem with the Shell Game: the cup won't tip over.

Here is a quick note today for those of you who have purchased the book The Little Dogs’ Activity Book: Fun and Frolic for a Fit Four-legged Friend. On pages 22-23, the author, Deborah Wood, describes an activity called the “Shell Game.” In this game, as your small dog watches, you hide a tasty and aromatic treat under one of three cups. Then you shuffle the cups in front of the dog so it is no longer obvious which cup the treat is under. Sound familiar? Your dog should then be encouraged to try and find the treat by sniffing each cup and, hopefully tip over the cup that is hiding the treat. Both of my dogs enjoy this game. Kelsey gets so excited when we play the game that she shakes. Here are two problems I discovered with this game along with two solutions.

First, it will take a while before your dog understands that the treat is under the cup after you cover it up. The book recommends you make a big show out of covering over the treat so your dog understands the treat is being hidden. My experience with both of my dogs is this. The first several times I covered the treat with the cup, they thought the treat had disappeared. Out of sight equals gone. I overcame this problem by letting a corner of the treat stick out from under the cup for the first several attempts. Once they went for the cup repeatedly with the treat sticking out, I was able to cover the treat completely with the cup and they still went for it.

Illustration B. Hiding a treat under a cardboard tube works better because your small dog can tip the tube over.

Second, getting the dog to tip the cup over to get at the treat does not work with cups. Most cups are wide at the lip and tapered toward the base. When you cover a treat with an upside-down cup, the tapered design makes the cup wide at floor level and narrow at the top. This makes the cup very stable on the floor, (i.e. hard to tip over.) A dog will typically try to nudge the cup very close to the floor because this is where the aroma of the treat is escaping. All that happens is the dog scoots the cup along the floor without tipping it over. (See illustration “A.”) My solution is to use a small cardboard tube to cover the treat. A bare toilet paper tube or a cut section of a bare paper towel tube works well. The cardboard tube, with its straight sides is very unstable and easy to tip over. (See illustration “B.”) The author implies you can simply reveal the treat to the dog when he sniffs the correct cup by uncovering the treat yourself. Most dogs will try to sniff all three cups, so lifting the cup for your small dog is not as effective. I think arranging things so your dog finds the treat himself by tipping the cardboard tube over is a better solution.

You may find a full review of The Little Dogs’ Activity Book: Fun and Frolic for a Fit Four-legged Friend. by clicking here. Have fun!

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