Ticket

Oh and I forgot to mention what to do if a dog gets in a place where it is not very pushy – rather than reaching towards the dog I turn away from it and almost pretend like I am trying to “get away” in a playful way, that usually brings them right back. 🙂

Yes, I agree, her intensity wen’t down with food – probably because she is not used to it in a “playing” context, so she just thought the playing bit is over and she just focused on finding more food or chewing casually. So I think we have to build different skills some more before we attempt to blend them all together. So what I suggest is:
– make some sessions with just food. Start with lots of food throws so gets the idea about the dynamic – take one treat and come for more,… You can toss the treats all across the room – more movement will make food more exciting. When you see her energy is up a bit you can try a little poke and reward it with a couple more throws. A few short sessions like this one and you should be able to see a change in her attitude when it comes to food games.
– We will discuss the playing techniques with toys in detail in the next lesson so I will do commenting on that when we get there. For now I would keep having this personal play sessions (like the one you posted first) and when you see she is attempting to bite your hands, bring out the toy and let her win as soon as she grabs it properly. Then give her some time with the toy just admiring her skills and strength, before either ending the session or trying to engage her with your hands again.

Haha she is adorable. 🙂 And that was some nice playing so let’s get those retrieves. 🙂 The tugging part was definitely fun for her, although you are mainly there to hold the toy and keep proper tension. What could help with retrieves is having the game a bit more personal so she starts to feel like she won the toy from you because she was stronger and more persistent and will have a greater desire to come back to show you those facts over and over again. 🙂 Right now you are serving more as a “toy holder”, there is not all that much actual interaction going on. So next time you play, try to get moments of stillness when it is not about toy moving and her hanging on, but more of a “rope pulling” situation. So somewhere during the game keep good tension in the toy but stop moving it. Look at her and try to keep the game interesting by adding and removing body pressure – look her straight in her eyes and then suddenly turn away moving her from being in front of you to being on your side as if you were not able to keep eye contact with her because she is just so strong and dominant. If that sparks a reaction on her end, pulling the toy or shaking it, let her win immediately. Most likely nothing dramatic will happen, she will still run away from you :), the change happens over time and several sessions. So don’t give up if it doesn’t give you a different outcome immediately. Once she has run away, try to incorporate some “in between”, go stalk her and try to see if you can induce any reaction. Forget about the retrieve as such, just goof around and see what kind of actions make her “tick”. So don’t just run away from her and hide to see if you can get her to come back… stalk her, pretend like you want to steal her toy, but do it all in a very playful way… “i am going to get you… ohh you caught my intentions so I am running away now, oh but I will try again… I am stalking, I am stalking… oh once again you “caught” me, so off I go again,… and so on. See what happens. Give it a couple of tries and let me know how it goes. 🙂 We will get that retrieve, trust me. 😉

Oh it is definitely a challenge to film and play at the same time :). I find it helpful to use those little tripods that you can get for your phones and set it up outside. Before I start filming I try to mark the edges of the frame so I know to try and keep in-within those lines, but I will also go out if needed for the sake of playing. 🙂
Anyway – those retrieves looking nice! Tugging – when she doesn’t get a good bite try to move the toy away, to your left or right in rapid motion, rather than just wiggle it in front of her. She will probably go after it with more intent to actually bite it. Or you can use your “kill it” cue, but for that I would keep the toy a little bit to yourself (but still in her reach) rather then directly in front of her face… you can move it very slowly, trying to build some anticipation also with your voice… reaaaady… KILL IT.

Yes, smaller ones are tricky with food. Some people I know that feed exclusively raw bake their own cookies for the manners minder – I can probably get a recipe for some that are not overly processed, just baked so they keep a shape.
Hope her stomach is all good by now!

Always fun to watch little Ticket! 🙂 To work on improving her focus with toys it is important to work on keeping her engaged through all phases of a game, so it is not just “chase, tug, win, free to do whatever you want” but instead “winning the toy means the game continues in another way”. So one thing I would work on lots is the “in between” portion of the game I describe in topic 2 as well as plenty games with two toys or more toys – both tugging and “crazy balls”. If she at any point looses focus throughout whichever game you are playing, I would run and hide somewhere and wait there until she begins to anxiously search for you/find you and at that point switch straight back to action.
I would also work on switching between toys and food, so you can end one segment of playing with some food tosses to help her stay engaged and then start a new round of playing with the toy. If that is a hard task for her, start it indoors and do some playing with a toy and at one point when she wins, give her a few food throws across the room, pick up the toy and engage her in a new round of chase and tug. Even if it takes her a while to switch back to the toy once she gets food, don’t give up – act like you are having the best fun with the toy and you don’t really need her there. At one point she will most likely want to engage again. If not, make a video and I will try to figure out some additional tricks that might work on her.
All the games I have mentioned might require some getting used to, before they are “fully functional”, but it is well worth the effort, because you will have more “tools” to manage her on the open field. So you can start with a little bit of everything I mentioned (most of it covered in topic 2 and 4) and let me see how it goes so we can make personal modifications. 🙂