How to PLAY with your dog

Playing is a skill. When you throw the ball, you are not playing. That is just lazy play, and there is no difference to giving your dog an iPad. Real PLAY is one hundred percent engagement between you and your dog: it is where the bond gets built, where excitement gets burned off, and where your dog learns you are more interesting than anything else in the environment.

The four films below show what that actually looks like. Watch them in order. The first two are a puppy learning the game, the third is a grown dog playing at full strength, and the last one covers the thing to fix first: your hand.

Puppy PLAY, part one

Starting the game with a puppy. The game begins on "ready", it ends on "finish", and you start instantly. No holding the toy hostage while you wait for a sit. That is obedience leaking into play.

Puppy PLAY, part two

The same game, further along. Watch for the moment the puppy chooses the handler over everything else in the room. That choice is the whole point. Bond is control.

PLAY with a grown dog

A grown dog plays harder and the rules hold tighter. Stalk, chase, a bit of fighting, the catch. If you are not sweating, you are not playing.

How to move the toy

The toy is a rabbit. It moves, pauses, darts and changes direction. It does not flick in the dog’s face, which is how most people kill a game before it starts. No rabbit has ever run into a dog’s mouth.

Then test yourself

Two honest checks after any game. You: if you are not sweating, you were not playing. Your dog: good play runs the hunting sequence, so it produces sloppy, sticky drool on the toy. If the tug toy is just wet, it was not much of a game.

PLAY is one of the four modes. If the game keeps tipping into silliness, or your dog would still rather sniff the fence line than grab the toy, start with the free assessment and see which mode your dog is actually short on.