Playing hide and seek

[Rascalmyshadow]

Yesterday I thought I would try playing a game of hide and seek with Cassie (kelpie) I thought she might enjoy it since I often watch her and Abby (bearded collie) playing it together and we used to play it with some of our other dogs over the years.

I started off easy first I hid around a corner while she was watching, she looked a bit concerned and nervous but jumped up happily once I appeared again, second time I hid behind a tree while she was watching, this time as soon as I wasn’t in her line of sight she became more nervous and her tail went down although she kept her eye on where I was without moving at all, when I appeared she wouldn’t come near me like I’d done something scary, once she decided to move she ran off back to the house.

 

I gave it a couple of minutes then went to check on her, she had jumped onto the couch with my daughters, I spoke to her and she came over and wagged her tail but was still being a little bit slinky after that she went back to normal.

 

The whole situation was a bit strange I’ve never had a dog behave like that playing hide and seek and not quite sure why she freaked out.

Does anyone have any insight as to why she reacted like that.

 

[persephone]

probably as it was very different behaviour to your normal interaction ? Maybe yr body language told her something different ? 

[Tassie]

For her it might just have been a bit much a bit soon... It might be worth starting inside, and starting very small.  SO it might look like … sitting on the floor, play with her a bit .. simple stuff she knows .. like hand touch for a treat, or something like that .. fast, maybe moving your hand to different positions for the touch and high rewards.   Then, if she's in the game, try kneeling down and bending over and hiding your face and making funny squeaky noises  (you might actually incorporate those high pitched voice  and noises into the hand touch game to make sure she actually doesn't mind the noises, or better yet is associating them with the reward.)  Hopefully she will start to try to dig under your arms to find the treats you have near your face, so then you can have a party telling her how clever she is to have found you.      Assuming she is prepared to join you in this silly game, then you can gradually grow the challenges .. I'd stay inside until you feel she's really confident .. but you can do things like going partway behind a chair or something to make the noises, and then maybe burrow under a rug.   It is a baby puppy game, but for the moment, that's what she is .. so starting from there changes her emotional state (if that's what the problem was) or just convinces her that there is value in working to find you ..gradually having to work harder.

 

Might not work with her … but it could be fun trying …. and of course, there could be video to entertain us ………   just saying .

Edited March 30, 2020 by Tassie
ET add a word left out