It's Playtime!

Mya has been my constant companion and since I work from home, I would have to ignore her for long stretches.  That isn't good when you want your dog to see you as the most interesting thing in the world.  Apparently, this is the key to getting a shiba inu's attention when doing agility off-leash.  Haven't had the success in this area yet.  She aces the obstacles, but with zero focus on me, we won't get anywhere.

I have trained her to expect something fun whenever I say the magic words "It's playtime"!  Hopefully it will work when she's off-leash.  It usually gets her attention, but making her obey is another story.  She knows all the commands very well, but being a shiba inu that she is, when I give a command, I can almost see her thought-balloon that reads "Why should I?" 

This morning's Playtime was a search game- DIY-style.  She used to have these rubber balls that she eventually split in the middle, creating half-spheres.  I would hide a treat one at a time, and she would guess which half-sphere contains a treat. To get the treat, she would have to pick up the half-sphere and overturn it, as no amount of simple nosing or pushing would reveal the treat.

Mya and Her Half-Spheres

(They used to be balls.)

Mya searching. Sniff...sniff...