The answer
You pay him with the game. Kelton argues the case against food on relationship grounds rather than efficacy - food makes the relationship transactional, like a bank - and the owner of the business says on a trail that he rarely uses treats and mostly plays.
What the trainers mean by play is not what most people do. Waving a toy at a dog is not play; it is a contest for possession with rules. You have it and he wants it; you compete by strategy, never ripping it out of his mouth; you let him win the first few rounds and then raise your level, the way you would with someone new to a video game. The toy becomes valuable because you want it. You have to actually be in the game - the dogs can tell. And it has to stay unpredictable: games that are predictable die.
The command sits inside the game rather than after it. The dog is asked for a sit or a down while the game is running, and the reward is that the game turns back on - he owns the switch, and the command is how he throws it. The word that ends a round, the out, carries no bad feeling: it is information, like a boxing bell nobody resents, and sometimes the toy comes straight back so the out does not always mean the end. Handlers name three ways to ruin a game: pressing too hard inside it, asking for too many behaviours, and taking the toy away every few seconds instead of letting it run - one suggests roughly 45 seconds to a minute of real play, then a command. A command before every throw ruins it too, and the dog will show you in his face.
The 30 Sep footage adds the order in which this is built. On two arrival days the trainer first finds out what game the dog likes - one prefers the chase and the catch, the other the tug - and holds the obedience back: 'i don't want to do any obedience or put anything like on it until i know the game is really solid', because pressure added too early can shut a dog down. His reason for play is the one already on record, said again: dogs teach each other through play, so if training can mimic that, 'the dogs learn a lot faster' and the obedience is more solid. The contest is grown a pull at a time until the dog pulls back (Muna), or until she snatches the toy instead of waiting for the throw (Tesla), and the rules and boundaries come after. At Sofia's home lesson Kelton tells the family, in Spanish, how to use their own games: play normally and every few throws ask 'bájate' (down) or 'siéntate' (sit), then 'ok, jugamos' (ok, we play) - 'y ella va a tener mucho más motivación' (and she will have much more motivation) - and on a later walk he switches her from obedience to a ball session because she is responding well and, he thinks, will learn faster that way. Bandit's first off-leash test is broken up with ball throws in a field, ended each time with 'out'.
A wider reading of every session note that tags the idea shows how ordinary this is across the program. Kelton describes the daily structure as two sessions on each work day, a walk and a play session played 'as best you can' even with a dog who cannot yet play (Poseidon). Trainer after trainer tells families they used almost no treats: Hattie cares about play and freedom 'about 50 times more', Oscar 'learns faster and better', and Penny's and Akira's trainers say the same. The game-as-switch rule is shown in puppies and adults: Akira restarts tug by sitting, Thor's every recall is paid with tug, and Stormy's trainer adds that there must be more play than work when play is the training. One detail protects the recall: Bun gets the ball straight after coming back, with no extra command chained on. Finding the game comes first and is a project of its own. Whiskey's 'toy parade', Beo's handler laying out toys one at a time until the ball 'unlocked' him, high-energy personal play for a shut-down Stormi, and the stated aim to 'unlock play' with Jack and through tug with Reaper. Not every dog ranks play first. For Bullet, at the level of play reached so far, release to freedom is 'far superior'; Roxy's environment beats the toy on one day; Louie is paid with the pool and personal time; Milo with his trainer's face.
Play also does other jobs on film: it lifts a dog's mood straight after a correction so the obedient dog is not a flat one, it builds the relationship with a nervous dog, it burns drive in a dog too wound up to learn, and leash pressure can be introduced inside the game so it never feels like punishment. Not every dog takes to it - some run on freedom, rubs or sniffing instead, and a few trainers use food in a moving, chase-the-hand way - so the record supports 'find the game and use it' rather than 'never use food'. Kelton settled the house position on 23 Sep 2026: play first, food case by case. Playing with food is different from handing food over as a reward every time, treat chasing can be excellent if done correctly, and lures have a place when necessary. Inferred rather than stated: nobody explains why a contest pays better than a handout beyond 'the toy is valuable because I want it', and the efficiency claims are handlers' estimates, not measurements.
Angier K9 is a family-owned, play-based Board & Train serving Angier, Raleigh and the Triangle, with three full owner lessons.
What to do
Find the game your dog loves and make it a real contest: compete for the toy, let him win often at first, keep it unpredictable and be genuinely in it. Ask for a command while the game is running and pay it by starting the game again. Say 'out' as neutral information, sometimes give the toy straight back, and play for a good stretch - about 45 seconds to a minute - before the next command rather than stopping every few seconds.
What the trainers say
In dog training, play is God. Like, that is, like, the thing that makes everything else possible. If you can get a dog to play, you won.
instead of thinking of it in terms of like, oh, I'm going to make it fun for him, right? Well, that's that's what like that's what everybody does.
He doesn't want me to have it now. Yeah. Right. Why is it important to him? Why is the toy important to him now when it wasn't before? Because he's I want it. I want the toy. And he can tell I want the toy.
It's like um it's like if you're way put a video game in somebody, if the first time they ever play, if you just crush them and then you crush them over and over and over again, will they want to play more? No. You let them win the first time,
You see as soon as he finally did it, he got the toy. See, now he learned how to turn it back on. Oh, you can turn the game back on whenever you want. When I ask him, you can get your game back.
there's breaking the game kind of like a boxing match and in this Bell nobody's mad that the bell got wrong right because this is a clean interruptions a break you asked him to do some work to turn the game back on and his reward is that the game turns back on
integrate the the play right and so the out is not punishment yeah it's just information
don't think i ruined it no no i'm saying like um i've messed it up before while i'm doing it where i play tug oh i kind of um i go i do the negative reinforcement a little bit um too strong and i ask for too many behaviors
about less is more oh yeah and then like one of the other things that like the biggest thing is just like not taking away the tug every 15 seconds like some people want to do where it's like all the time make it a real game
gonna do like uh you know and for every throw you must sit or you must down or whatever that's too much right if you're doing that your dog's gonna be like you're gonna see it in their face they're gonna be like oh god again like here he comes he's gonna ruin it right he's gonna ruin the play
And so you think you never want it to be a predictable game. Games that are predictable, they die.
really like proof point so the main thing with teaching it is that everything you teach her should be while you're playing
So, the dogs feel like, they know you're in it. And so if they feel like you're not in the game with them, then it doesn't work very well at all.
We're gonna use that for all the stuff. He learns so much faster. He's so much more cooperative. It builds a lot of trust. And it really fits within the paradigm that we train in.
Turns out that what it does, it makes it transactional, it's like a bank, like I'm like a bank
um it's also if i beat you every time like every time without even it's like no contest right or if i force win every time like if i use a cheat code yeah every single time no fun but if you win sometimes i win sometimes and it's competitive fun right
he's just like oh crap goes into the down and then i'm like okay and then he throw the ball and he's like yeah and he's in it brings their move right back instead of it being like they're flat the whole time because you don't want an obedient dog that's super flat
I mean, honestly, like, the majority of the training that, like, that I found the most effective is if you can get the dog to play, play with the dog, and then use the play to teach, like, obedience commands.
to do any obedience or put anything like on it until i know the game is really solid and she
play because that's how dogs teach each other. They do it through play. And so like if we can
mimic that and do it all through play, the dogs learn a lot faster. The obedience ends up being
is that she can like really pull on it every time we bring the tug out and then we'll add
Puedes jugar normalmente y cada quizás cuatro o quince o cinco o seis veces, bájate o siéntate
u otra cosa. Y después de eso, ok, jugamos. Y ella va a tener mucho más motivación.
Yo quiero jugar bola, que jugamos con esta pelota, y creo que ella va a aprender un poco más rápidamente así.
Instead I'll use play. I'll use play and I'll use a release to freedom
because the majority of the training we do is not with treats it's with games yeah
One session is you take the dog out and you play with it as best you can.
play than you are work when you're using play for the training so then to teach
out the natural drive that they have and use it to encourage commands and train it with that right
So I'm definitely probably going to be taking this through play, through tug, to do the
level of play that I've been able to get him to engage in so far, this right here is far superior.
I actually haven't used any treats at all.
right so no down instead he gets back to me he gets ball right we have fun good
we train dogs are through the play and the walk now i'll be honest the walk for her is like pretty
How it looks, dog by dog
King
King is where the game is taught as a subject: the senior trainer names possession games, credits the term to the Training Without Conflict school, and coaches a junior handler to compete by strategy, never brute force, and to let the dog win early. At the go-home lesson the family is handed the same game as maintenance, with the out as a boxing bell and the command as the way back in.
On film
the um the name that I like the best for it, this is what they call it in the training without conflict school. They call it possession games.
You don't rip it out of their mouth with brute force. You just try strategies to get them to drop it.
good boy right so then we both neither of us have it right so then it's fair okay
Zeus
Zeus, a huge and intensely possessive dog, is taught the payment from his own side: the trainer narrates the deal while Zeus refuses it, and names the moment he learns he can turn the game back on. The out is framed as control over when the game starts, built on the tug before any high-value object, and his first clean out is celebrated as a win he earned.
On film
No. Out. It's not yours yet. You will get it as soon as you're down, buddy.
So, you see I'm putting some control on when he can start the game, right?
Good boy, Zeus. You outed for the first time without me doing anything to you.
Dolce
In Dolce's protection work the win is priced: the whole sleeve held, or nothing. For her owners the same rule becomes self-referencing - she wins whenever she does more than last time - and a drop in effort is met with taunting, which the trainer credits with raising her commitment. A small engineered win is also used to change how the heel she dislikes feels.
On film
So if she grabs it for longer than she did the last time, you let her win, right?
Me teasing her afterwards is what made her commit right was the teasing
Honestly, even if it's just a little bit, I think it'll help just to make her feel like she's winning something.
Kodak
Kodak, the nervous dog of his household, is taught everything through the ball once the trainer finds he is a freak for it, and the trainer credits it with faster learning, cooperation and trust. At the household's owner lesson the out is explained as a boxing bell - information, not punishment - and in the field the trainer declines to renegotiate the game on Kodak's terms when he will not bring the ball back.
On film
All right, so building on what I learned from the last session that I did with Kodak, we're teaching him everything through play, right?
um i think of it very similarly to like um if you're like boxing and how do they signify hey
No. This man made me walk all the way out there because he didn't bring the ball back.
Deuce
Deuce's file holds the handlers' own account of how a game gets ruined - too much pressure inside it, too many behaviours, the toy taken away every few seconds - with a working prescription of 45 seconds to a minute of play before a command. The handler estimates the tug got in one session what pressure would have taken two, and the tug is used freely as a random reward, down to a stick.
On film
Oh, he's too strong. He won. You gotta let him win.
this give like 45 seconds to a minute each time and then like put them in a command
I would've gotten the same result, but it would've taken me longer. Like, it probably would've taken me two sessions,
Ace (Chihuahua-terrier mix)
With Ace, a Chihuahua-terrier mix, obedience is built into chase-and-catch as its rules rather than charged on every throw. Bringing the ball back unlocks the next throw; commands come occasionally and at random; and the trainer warns that a command before every throw ruins the mood, which the dog will show in his face.
On film
Yeah, I'm trying to teach him that that unlocks the throw again if he brings it
And randomly so we're like doing a variable reinforcement thing here, but it's not the same as like using a treat, right?
Madam
Madam, a young Belgian, is the case where play is the whole method: every command in every session is paid in tug. The coaches insist on training inside the game rather than after it, on a toy moved like live prey ('make the fish live'), on unpredictability, and on a dynamic reward - she comes out of the position to get the toy. At the update the owner is told the down is got by the game.
On film
Good girl. Good job. So what's the thing she likes the best? The tug. The tug. The game. Yeah. Good girl. So how do you get her to down? She gets the game.
her over oh there you go oh oh oh oh that's a dead fish she doesn't want to grab a dead fish
position for more than like two seconds yeah so dynamic reward because she's coming to get the toy
Apollo (the Sharkie)
For Apollo the Sharkie the rule is that the out must not predict the end of the fun. The trainer does not want to win every round by saying out; sometimes the toy comes straight back, like red light, green light, and the family is told to keep it random because random is more fun.
On film
i want him to think that sometimes the out's just like red light and red light green light
every time you might out and then go okay and give back to him and then play play play play play right so make it random it's more fun when it's random
Kalypso
At Kalypso's private lesson the out is taught as a bell both players respect: the trainer says out and drops the toy himself, so the dog is giving up possession rather than being beaten for it. He wins some rounds and lets her win others.
On film
leashes on and then oh you lost right and so sometimes i let them win sometimes they lose
but to teach the out i will actually drop it first i'll say out and then i'll drop it myself out
Thumper
Thumper's out is got without a correction: the toy goes dead - the handler stops pulling and just goes with it - until he lets go, then it comes back. It was introduced for him because a correction during the out had attached to something else.
On film
When I say make the toy go dead, pulling, pulling, pulling, pulling, you don't out then.
So sometimes you can just let it go dead.
Pepper
Pepper learns impulse control inside the retrieve: she holds a sit while the toy flies and the release sends her to it, so the game is both the temptation and the reward. When she drifts, the trainer makes it a competition for the toy to pull her back into the game.
On film
this is our first set of adding a little more control to the game
being excited with the game is important because like she got a little distracted i made it a competition
Rocky
At Rocky's third owner lesson the trainer shows why obedience is asked inside a game: a tap, the down, 'okay', the ball, and the dog's mood comes straight back - you do not want an obedient dog that is flat the whole time.
On film
flat the whole time because you don't want an obedient dog that's super flat you want an obedient dog that looks you know peppy
Roman
At Roman's evaluation the trainer puts the whole idea in one line - play is God, and if you can get a dog to play you have won - and later in the program the returning game is the reward for obedience.
On film
In dog training, play is God.
So you get the game back. You get the game back.
Wiley
Kelton, working Wiley in public, says play is the most effective way he has found to teach obedience, with negative reinforcement for problem behaviour; the number of throws before any obedience is kept random.
On film
I mean, honestly, like, the majority of the training that, like, that I found the most effective is if you can get the dog to play
Savage
For Savage, a protection dog, tug is the currency throughout and the re-bite pays the out. The owner is told to keep playing the game after the program so the line between game and real defence stays clear, and the heel he dislikes is paired with the bite work he loves. Rewards start in position to tighten a position, then move to play on the move.
On film
and you know um yeah i'm gonna have you play the game a little bit just go over that so this game will help maintain once everything's done
So what I'm doing with that is when I'm incorporating it more into making him like the heel more by using it during the bike scenarios because he likes the bike.
we're doing a little static that reward instead of dynamic right now
Apollo (the Bully)
Christian's work with Apollo the Bully shows a progression: food, when used, is a chase that moves the dog rather than a payment in the sit; tug is built up as Apollo becomes more of a player; and in public the handler's own excitement after the release becomes the reward, so the dog is 'addicted' to what follows a command.
On film
chasing. So if I do use treats, I don't use them in the typical sense where I'm just doing
really happy I get really excited right and it's more like we want him basically addicted to that feeling of after effect
Astro
With Astro, a behaviour-modification husky, the trainer credits play with changing the relationship - like moving from colleague to friend - and gives tug to the owner as the first pillar, while noting his tug drive stays low in novel places.
On film
like do do something or have dinner yeah then like that changes your relationship with that person
Plantug is going to be like super, super huge for Astro because it gives him an outlet,
Boog
Boog is a high-drive dog whom pressure does not move, so play does two jobs: spend the drive before training, then build it up so it can be spent on the down.
On film
i know good boy that's good yeah i think the key for boob's gonna be
So as far as like more in the future, we just gotta like be more receptive to e-collar pressure and crank up his drive more
Kali
During Kali's session the handler pops the leash inside the tug game so the leash predicts play rather than punishment - 'directional encouragement' - an idea worked out with Christian and applied to Kane the same day.
On film
bad necessarily. The leash pump isn't bad to me. The leash pump is just directional encouragement.
Kane
Kane is the first dog shown getting leash pressure inside the tug from the start, so that he never takes the pressure as the bad thing.
On film
introduce like a little bit of pressure while i'm playing with him so that he doesn't take the pressure the bad thing
Bubba Gum
At Bubba Gum's go-home lesson tug is named her number-one motivation, found by testing it against the ball, and the trainer explains reward value to the owner with an employee's wage.
On film
That's, that is the number one motivation.
Dolly
At Dolly's private lessons the restarted game pays for place and sit, the family is told a game where one side always wins is no fun, and the down is taught from inside the game: play, out, then the down while she is still enjoying it.
On film
of like boom boom it was just a little light tap for her right so down is basically the same way you're gonna play play play play play
Teddy
Teddy's recalls are paid with tug and fetch - the big stuff - and play is the outlet after corrections; no food appears in his recordings.
On film
you're walking too close to me all right okay go go so you always use the big stuff for the recalls
Hank
Hank's play-yard session lets him fixate so the fixation can be corrected and redirected into play to burn his energy; the play is being built as the relationship.
On film
So just trying to let him make that mistake so I can see it happen. And then being able to correct it and redirect it to play so that we can burn some of that energy.
Angus
For Angus the reward that lifts his mood after the work is running together rather than a toy.
On film
gonna get it really really quickly here and then we ran together because that
Brody
Brody's obedience on the May visit is paid with fetch and tug; the footage is thin on narration and shows only the cue-and-send pattern.
On film
down down go get it dude good job
Lola
At Archie and Lola's first owner lesson Kelton argues against food: it makes the relationship transactional, like a bank, and produces a dog staring at you instead of being a dog. His favourite rewards are release to freedom and games, and he defines a game as a contest - no fun if one side always wins or uses a cheat code.
On film
you guys are just hanging out yeah yeah but it's not bank yeah not treat bank
my two favorite rewards are one just a just a release to freedom you just say okay okay and then they go
Bo
On a trail with Bo, the trainer - by his own account the owner of the business - says he rarely uses treats and mostly plays, or relies on the release command; Bo only likes the ball a little, so his file shows the release doing the work instead.
On film
Yeah, because I like to, when I train, I don't really use treats very often.
this is easy but let's go come on um i can i can do whatever i want as long as i just comply real quick then we're gonna have lots of fun together
Tesla
On Tesla's arrival day the trainer is finding out what game she likes. She is not interested in a toy dangled in front of her, but throw it in the air and she wants to catch it, roll it and keep it: 'her game is definitely more of the actual chase part'. The plan is to build competition into that - he pulls on the tug end, she possesses it, a release, and the game again - and meanwhile she carries the ball about as 'her prize'. No obedience goes on it until the game is solid and engagement is high, because pressure added too early can shut a dog down; play is how dogs teach each other, and done that way they learn faster and the obedience is more solid. The set ends the first time she pulls the toy out of his hand.
On film
and so like her game is definitely more of the actual chase part of it right and so i want to
tug part with the ball and have her possess it a little bit and then and then release it and then
like play the game again um so we're gonna let her carry it around for right now because it's
to do any obedience or put anything like on it until i know the game is really solid and she
mimic that and do it all through play, the dogs learn a lot faster. The obedience ends up being
Muna
Muna's arrival-day test, run by the same trainer just before Tesla's, builds the tug as a contest: she loses interest, comes back, and when he gives a little more pull she bites a little harder. He stops there, on the first sign that she has worked out he wants her to pull back, and says the next sets should get her pulling every time the tug comes out - and only then 'we'll add some rules to it and we'll set some boundaries'.
On film
pull, but I gave it a little more, and she bit a little harder.
starting to figure out just in this short little time like hey when he pulls on it he wants me to
is that she can like really pull on it every time we bring the tug out and then we'll add
some rules to it and we'll set some boundaries. That's a good girl.
Sofia
Kelton trains Sofia in Spanish, the family's language, and play runs through her later sessions. At the home lesson the family say they always play ball with her; he tells them the game can also teach - play normally, and every few throws ask 'bájate' (down) or 'siéntate' (sit), then 'ok, jugamos' (ok, we play), and she will be much more motivated - and later shows them how to use games to keep the commands up. On walks a ball game sits between sets of downs, and one walk ends with him switching to a ball session because she is responding well and, he thinks, will learn faster that way; in that session the downs and recalls are asked inside the game.
On film
Siempre juego con ella. Sí, y lo que puedes hacer es, este juego también puede enseñar.
Puedes jugar normalmente y cada quizás cuatro o quince o cinco o seis veces, bájate o siéntate
u otra cosa. Y después de eso, ok, jugamos. Y ella va a tener mucho más motivación.
para entrenar y mantener estos mandos. Porque ella se gusta mucho.
Creo que vamos a hacer una sesión de jugar, porque ella está respondiendo muy bien a esta.
Yo quiero jugar bola, que jugamos con esta pelota, y creo que ella va a aprender un poco más rápidamente así.
Bandit
On Bandit's first off-leash test the trainer breaks up the commands with ball throws in an open field; each retrieve ends with 'out' and thanks for dropping the ball, and the next test follows.
On film
And I'm gonna throw the ball for him
good boy ankle body thank you buddy out good boy thank you for dropping the ball
Akira
On Akira's first day the tug game is the payment for the sit: she restarts the game by following the command and hearing the release. At her evaluation the trainer tells the family he has used two or three treats at most, because play and the environment are 'way above food' for her.
On film
So what restarts the game for Akira? Well, she can restart tug if she follows the command, right?
bigger rewards for her are playing and the environment those are her to like
Baxter
At Baxter's private session the trainer says 'okay' the moment Baxter reaches the down and throws the ball. The pressure goes away and he goes straight back to the exciting thing.
On film
releases i say okay as soon as he hit down right i said okay and threw the ball so then he learns
Beo
In a September session the handler reports that once Beo found the ball, 'his brain completely unlocked'. He no longer cared about a little pressure, and the down came within a handful of reps. The same handler describes the method that found it: taking toys out one at a time to see which one the dog wants.
On film
His brain completely unlocked.
he was so happy like he didn't care about like a little bit of pressure
Bernie
On Bernie's first day the trainer names lots of play, with the teaching built into the game, as one of the three main things the program does with every dog. At go-home he tells the family he used almost no treats: zoomies, freedom and play were Bernie's main rewards.
On film
to teach them things and then release the freedom and then we do lots and lots
of play and we teach integrated into the game into the play so those are the main
because he loves it he loses his mind he's like and he's like right so zoomies that's rewarding
Bullet
Bullet shows the stage before play pays. Once he finally goes for the tug, the trainer expects the play to get stronger and his obedience to come faster. On a later walk, though, he says that at the level of play Bullet has reached so far, release to freedom to sniff and explore is 'far superior' - and might always be.
On film
this is good the play will just get stronger and stronger after this now that he's finally
going for the tug i just got to keep raising that capacity for him and his obedience is going to
level of play that I've been able to get him to engage in so far, this right here is far superior.
Bun
Teaching the down, Bun's trainer shows why the ball goes straight to the dog after a recall: no extra command is chained on. That keeps recall and down separate and avoids a poisoned recall.
On film
right so no down instead he gets back to me he gets ball right we have fun good
Callie
At Callie's second go-home lesson she wants a piece of wood more than the toy, and the trainer shows the family how to use that in her favour: play, ask for the sit with its implied stay, then give her the wood as the reward.
On film
But you can use that in her favor. You can like play with her and then you can tell her. Let me see it.
callie sit and so it's supposed to be implied stay okay and then you give her that as a reward
Chunk
At Chunk's first in-program owner lesson the trainer says he usually starts with a ten-minute play session, because the program tries to keep the game part of regular training. He adds that he has not yet got Chunk to tug much with him.
On film
like a 10-minute play session with them before you know we kind of teach the
dogs that we try to keep it fun so like the game is kind of we try to keep it as
Cosmo
On Cosmo's first day the plan is to tap his retriever instincts: lure him into positions with the ball, add the marker, then take the ball away slowly until a verbal command is enough.
On film
tapping his uh his retriever instincts and then from there you know you know lure him into
everything with the ball and then start the market and you take off the ball slowly and
Donny
At Donny's evaluation the advice for a dog who fixates on the environment is to play the game every day, getting personal play going, so that the dog stops caring about everything else.
On film
Right. And then you just have to play that game every day.
You play the game every day and you get that personal play like going.
Drago
Drago's long-line session at the park mixes tug and possession games with recalls and heel work.
On film
Park, we're doing some tug, doing some possession games.
Dutchess
At Dutchess's in-program lesson the trainer says she is more likely to want a rub than the toy. He still shows the family the tug as a reward, kept locked away so she cannot get to it.
On film
that she is more likely to just want me to rub on her and stuff but you can use this as a reward
too so you'll have to lock that so she can't get this so the way that I do that
Finn
Finn's trainer calls play 'huge' for motivation and stress reduction, though he keeps it out of Finn's long-line sessions for now. In the fear and anxiety work he tags personal play and touch onto running, so they can come to pay on their own. At a state park the sit is paid with getting into the water.
On film
terms of like motivation and stress reduction as well play is huge it can
in his brain and so i'm tagging things with those happy chemicals by doing personal play
sit okay go get in the water buddy go get in that water buddy good boy oh boy
Fiona
Fiona is ramped up for a session with frisbee tug that she wins. In place work the reward for staying on the cot is getting off it: to the owner, to her toys, or outside.
On film
too strong, she won, playing tug with a frisbee huh, good girl, yeah this bodes well for today's
shouldn't get off of it okay and then her reward is to get off of it either to come
Hattie
Hattie's trainer says he almost never trains with treats unless they are his only option. He uses play and release to freedom instead, which Hattie cares about 'about 50 times more' than treats. At a public fair he tells a visitor the same: he gives her toys, and sitting won't get her a treat.
On film
Oh, I almost never trained with treats unless they that's my only option for a dog
Instead I'll use play. I'll use play and I'll use a release to freedom
because I I don't give her any treats that's a me I give her toys we play a
Jack
In Jack's exposure work play is the door not yet open. He plays with toys alone in his yard but not when people are there, and the trainer's stated aim is to unlock play with him.
On film
got to keep at it. He loves to play with toys, just not when people are around. He'll play
he won't play with you. We're going to unlock play with him, and it's going to be lit. It's
Louie
With Louie (the Australian Shepherd) the trainer names two motivators: the pool, and jumping up for personal time with him. In a later session the ball turns out to be what he wants once it is offered.
On film
boy. He loves the pool, it seems. I'm using two things to motivate him primarily. One,
he likes the pool. Number two, he likes to jump and have some personal time, right? He
Now all he wants is the ball, apparently.
Lunna
At Lunna's go-home lesson the trainer says dogs are trained through two routes, play and the walk. For Lunna the walk is efficient, and a toy that gets her excited is a useful option for keeping training going. For some dogs, he adds, the toy is a necessity.
On film
we train dogs are through the play and the walk now i'll be honest the walk for her is like pretty
For some dogs, it is absolutely a necessity.
Marvin (Giant Schnauzer)
At Marvin's go-home lesson personal play ('beat him up, have fun'), tug and ball are offered to the family as ways to motivate him, after walking. Marvin is not interested at that moment.
On film
personal play yeah beat him up have fun yeah yeah so yeah does he play tug oh
lots of ways to motivate him yeah so as an example you could do something like
Max (Goldendoodle)
On Max's first day the trainer names personal play - playing with him the way another dog would - as a reward he learns quickly from. In home-context training, getting him playing and then asking for a down is what makes commands hold later in exciting places.
On film
use games but the other thing that you can use is you can just straight up use personal play
So if you get them all excited and you're playing, playing, playing, playing, playing,
having a good time, and then you're able to take it from that to down, that makes all
Milo
With Milo the trainer plays tug and lets him win ('you're way too strong for me'). On recalls, access to the trainer's face and beard is itself a reward Milo loves.
On film
Oh, Milo, you're too strong, way too strong.
beard my face is a great reward for him because he loves that means you love
Oscar
Oscar is trained without treats. His trainer says he learns faster, and play motivates him far more than food does. The ball is teased to raise his drive, obedience is done 'during the play' (Kelton, at the Durham shop), and a sit with distance and duration is paid with the ball.
On film
I actually haven't used any treats at all.
And it's more motivating to him way more than treats treats. He kind of cares about let's go buddy
like but i wasn't giving it to him i was just messing with him yeah because i like to tease
Do some obedience training during the play
sit sit with a distance a little bit of duration here and now his reward he gets
Penny
Penny's trainer (Kelton) teaches much of her work through play sessions because it is efficient, then proofs it at low arousal on ordinary walks. Tug stands in for treats, and by the third play session she prefers playing with him to the toy itself. When strangers start a game with her, he says he will fold it into her training, because most of the training is done with games, not treats.
On film
sessions we do so what i like to do is i tend to teach a lot of stuff if i can if i can get them
a hundred treats hmm or maybe i'll just play more tug with you that's probably what you're
it now she wants to play with me you want to play with me oh it's more fun with me huh
because the majority of the training we do is not with treats it's with games yeah
Poseidon
Training Poseidon in a store, Kelton describes the core of every program: two sessions on each work day, one a walk and one where 'you take the dog out and you play with it as best you can', even with dogs who do not yet know how to play.
On film
We like to play with the dogs, right?
One session is you take the dog out and you play with it as best you can.
Reaper
With a wary Reaper, Kelton gets a little tug going and lets him win. He says the rest of the behaviour modification and the obedience will be taken through play and tug.
On film
He got a win in.
So I'm definitely probably going to be taking this through play, through tug, to do the
Roxy
At Roxy and Ramsey's first in-program lesson Kelton names play - 'games of some kind' - as his favourite positive reinforcement, alongside release to freedom. In a later session he chooses release to freedom over the toy, because the environment interests Roxy more.
On film
My favorite ways are play, right?
Games of some kind.
mostly release to freedom here, since she's going to have more interest in the environment
Samson
Samson's rewards are release to freedom plus tug, catch and chasing a ball or frisbee. The ball carries a rule: 'it's not yours unless I throw it for you', with out and drop-it controlling access.
On film
for the reward and then some play with him because he loves to play tug he loves to play catch um
down. It's not yours unless I throw it for you. Okay. Oh, look. Oh, look. Oh, look. Oh,
Shadow (German Shepherd puppy)
With Shadow, the German Shepherd puppy, the ball holds the sit until the release, and Connor explains the plan: wean the ball off over time and sometimes bring it back. The point is to bring out the dog's natural drive and use it to encourage commands.
On film
it until i go okay oh good job and i can train the sit like that and then over time you wean
out the natural drive that they have and use it to encourage commands and train it with that right
Stormi
Stormi arrived shut down. Her trainer thinks nobody had done high-energy personal play with her before, and he names personal play as her reward for now, to be discussed with the owners. He notes her drives and preferred game may still shift.
On film
energy personal play with her so that's actually like when i at the end of a program assuming that
yeah i think i think like she's a good she's good with uh with personal play so and if it changes
Stormy
At Stormy's private lesson the trainer explains red light, green light. The command restarts the game, like the boxing bell, and the out comes at unpredictable moments. He adds that there must be more play than work when play is the training.
On film
and then i do it he's going to say okay and then the game's back yeah so then they learn okay that
play than you are work when you're using play for the training so then to teach
Thor
With Thor as a puppy, every recall is paid with tug, replacing the excitement of bothering another dog; later the recall can stand without it. In chase-and-catch sessions sit, down and place are asked between rounds, with release back into the game.
On film
and I played tug with him right so I'm replacing some of the excitement with her by doing a recall
And then eventually I can start doing the recall
So you can see we're just working,
playing chase and catch.
Whiskey
Whiskey's session opens with a 'toy parade' to find the game and the part of it she likes most. The stated aim is that she is happy while training for the rest of her program, and that progress comes faster that way.
On film
we're gonna pay attention to what part of the game she likes the most and we're gonna try to emphasize that part of the game and
for her during like the rest of her program so that she's happy while she's training for like
Why it works
As the trainers explain it: the toy is valuable because the handler competes for it (King: 'he can tell I want the toy'), so a contest the dog can win builds value that a handed-over toy does not. Because the game is what the dog wants, the command becomes the price of getting it back and the dog learns he controls the switch (Zeus, King's go-home). The out stays neutral - information, a bell - so the dog keeps bringing the object back (Kodak's household, Kalypso). Play also resets the dog's emotional state: a correction followed by 'okay' and the ball leaves a peppy dog rather than a flat one (Rocky); play with a person changes the relationship (Astro); and leash pressure introduced inside the game is read as encouragement rather than punishment (Kali, Kane). Kelton's argument against food is about the relationship, not whether food works.
Inferred rather than stated: the claims that play teaches faster (Kodak, Deuce, Wiley, Roman) are handlers' judgements, not comparisons; and whether it is the contest, the movement or the handler's excitement that carries the value is not separated on film - Apollo the Bully's file suggests the handler's excitement can stand in for the toy entirely.
On film
He doesn't want me to have it now. Yeah. Right. Why is it important to him?
break you asked him to do some work to turn the game back on and his reward is that the game turns back on
flat the whole time because you don't want an obedient dog that's super flat
and so same thing with dogs when they've played with you very often like they get cool with you
really happy I get really excited right and it's more like we want him basically
Common owner mistakes
- Waving a toy to make it fun instead of competing for it.
On film
instead of thinking of it in terms of like, oh, I'm going to make it fun for him, right?
Watch at 22:11 ↗ - Winning every round, or never letting the dog win.
On film
Oh, he's too strong. He won. You gotta let him win.
Watch at 0:35 ↗ um it's also if i beat you every time like every time without even it's like no contest right
Watch at 54:10 ↗ - Taking the toy away every few seconds, or demanding a command before every throw.
On film
about less is more oh yeah and then like one of the other things that like the biggest thing is just like not taking away the tug every 15 seconds
Watch at 6:13 ↗ gonna be like oh god again like here he comes he's gonna ruin it right he's gonna ruin the play
Watch at 2:03 ↗ - Playing first and then drilling, instead of asking for commands while the game is running.
On film
should be while you're playing so a mistake that people can make and even myself i've made this
Watch at 2:10 ↗ - A quiet, predictable, back-and-forth game - the 'dead fish'.
On film
Games that are predictable, they die.
Watch at 31:00 ↗ - Going through the motions - not really being in the game.
On film
And so if they feel like you're not in the game with them, then it doesn't work very well at all.
Watch at 1:17 ↗
Questions owners ask
Can I really train without treats?
Most dogs in these files are. Trainers pay recalls, downs and heels with tug, ball or a chase, and say the dog learns faster and cooperates more. Kelton's objection to food is that it turns the relationship into a bank. Where food is used it is kept moving - the dog chases it - rather than handed over in the sit. A wider reading of the session record adds the plainest statements of it: Hattie's trainer almost never trains with treats unless they are his only option, Oscar's trainer has used none at all, and Penny's trainer says most of the training is done with games.
On film
We're gonna use that for all the stuff. He learns so much faster.
chasing. So if I do use treats, I don't use them in the typical sense where I'm just doing
Oh, I almost never trained with treats unless they that's my only option for a dog
I actually haven't used any treats at all.
because the majority of the training we do is not with treats it's with games yeah
Should I let my dog win at tug?
Yes, often at first. The trainers compare it to a video game: crush a beginner every time and he stops playing. Let him win, then raise your level so he has to get better. A game where one side always wins, or wins with a cheat code, is no fun.
On film
It's like um it's like if you're way put a video game in somebody
Oh, he's too strong. He won. You gotta let him win.
How do I get him to let go without spoiling the game?
Keep the out neutral - a bell, not a telling-off. Trainers show three ways: say out and drop the toy yourself; make the toy go dead until he lets go; and sometimes hand it straight back so the out does not always mean the end.
On film
but to teach the out i will actually drop it first i'll say out and then i'll drop it myself out
When I say make the toy go dead,
i want him to think that sometimes the out's just like red light and red light green light
How often should I ask for a command during play?
Not every throw. One handler suggests about 45 seconds to a minute of real play, then a command; Ace's trainer keeps requests occasional and random, and says a command before every throw ruins it. Kelton's answer to Sofia's family (30 Sep material, in Spanish): play normally, and every four, five or six throws ask for a down or a sit, then 'ok, jugamos' - the game is the reward and she will be much more motivated.
On film
this give like 45 seconds to a minute each time and then like put them in a command
And randomly so we're like doing a variable reinforcement thing here
Puedes jugar normalmente y cada quizás cuatro o quince o cinco o seis veces, bájate o siéntate
u otra cosa. Y después de eso, ok, jugamos. Y ella va a tener mucho más motivación.
My dog doesn't care about toys. Now what?
Then the reward is something else. Bo only half-likes the ball and his trainer leans on the release; Angus is paid by running together; Apollo the Bully is paid by a moving food chase and then his handler's excitement. Finding what your dog wants is its own step (see play-assessment). More dogs show the same path. Bullet's trainer uses release to freedom while the game is still weak, and says it may always win for him. Jack plays alone but not with people, and the aim is to unlock it. Beo's handler tried toys one at a time until the ball 'unlocked' him. Dutchess would rather have a rub, so her toy is kept locked away for when it counts.
On film
He likes ball, like, a little bit.
really happy I get really excited right and it's more like we want him basically
level of play that I've been able to get him to engage in so far, this right here is far superior.
he won't play with you. We're going to unlock play with him, and it's going to be lit. It's
His brain completely unlocked.
too so you'll have to lock that so she can't get this so the way that I do that
When should I start asking for commands in the game?
Not on day one. On two arrival days the trainer first finds out which game the dog likes and builds it until it is solid and the dog is keen, and holds back any obedience until then, because pressure added too early can shut a dog down. The rules and boundaries come after the dog is pulling every time the toy comes out.
On film
to do any obedience or put anything like on it until i know the game is really solid and she
really likes it and the engagement's nice and high because you don't want to add pressure of
is that she can like really pull on it every time we bring the tug out and then we'll add
The lesson
The goal
Use a possession game as the reward for obedience, with the command as the dog's way to restart it.
Learn first
The drill
As run for Madam and King: play a live tug game - move the toy like prey, make noise, compete for it, let the dog win some rounds. While the game is running, say out (drop the toy yourself if needed), ask for one command, then say okay and restart the game at once. Vary how many rounds pass before the next command, and sometimes give the toy straight back after the out with no command at all.
Watch out for
- Making it fun instead of making it a contest.
- Winning every round.
- Stopping every few seconds for a command.
- Playing first and drilling afterwards.
- An out that sounds like a telling-off.
Check yourself
When your dog does what you asked, what turns back on - and does he know he turned it on?