Here’s a quiz: What do you value most? (1) something that is easy, (2) something you have to work for but you succeed, or (3) something unattainable?

The answer is pretty cut and dried. The answer is #2! We find intrinsic value in working hard and achieving something. Well guess what? So does your dog.

We also know that when something is valuable in dog training it’s more repeatable. So if we want our dog to drive into corners, we need to make them incredible! This exercise is about setting the dog up to do this.

I started with Brava…

Pushing in and making hides more accessible is part of Brava’ wheelhouse. Since I’ve started searching depth with her, her focus and resilience has improved! I attribute this to the value of a challenge!

Motivation is very closely tied into desire. As humans, we desire most what is almost unattainable. Why is that? Because it creates anticipation. It does the same thing to dogs. Anticipation increases arousal, which increases focus (usually, as long as there is no frustration), which increases drive, which increases true precision. It’s a cascading effect. This means that by setting a recessed hide, we can build our dogs up.

If you have a more environmentally sensitive dog, you will want to ease the challenge a little. Here is a photo of Why sourcing the same hide. Note that I pulled the black fencing back in order to open the space up a little.

Another consideration is to make this hide the only hide in the room. When we set other hides, the other hides serve as enticement to lure your dog away from the challenging hide, which can cause demotivation for the more difficult hide.

If you follow the simple exercise, you will not only build value for corners, but you will also develop a dog who LOVES to work to source.