This course will begin with a roadmap of our Control Unleashed skills to help you figure out what you’d like to focus and build on during this course. From there, we will build on the following:

Control Unleashed Patterns

Advancing Give Me A Break
Acclimation with The Chair Game
Combining Patterns and Building Personalized Routines

The Look At That Game

Building on LAT at Home
Generalizing LAT to Triggers

LATTE (Look At That, Then Enrichment)

Advancing Behavior Modification Protocols

Requested Approach Training
Voluntary Sharing

Relaxation Skills

Combining Take A Breath with Relaxation on the Mat
The Off-Switch Game

Using CU for Life and Sports Skills

Loose Leash Walking
Recalls
Using CU During Training Sessions
Using CU at Trials

The Chair Game

The vast majority of this class’s content will be building on the Control Unleashed Skills that you have already learned. That said, The Chair Game is the one pattern game that I think deserves its very own lecture in this class.

It’s my absolute favorite CU Pattern. OK OK, maybe I say that about many patterns…but seriously, it is at least one of my top three! So whether you’ve seen my past lectures or webinars about Chair Game or not, I highly recommend reading on and adding this wonderful pattern to your dog’s toolbox!

What I like so much about it is that it allows our dog to acclimate to a new environment bit by bit, while also giving us information about their comfort level. Whether you have a reactive dog, working on trial routines, looking to make vet visits happier, or just trying to walk your dog down the street peacefully, this is the game for you.

And when we consider the two most valuable aspects of a pattern - that they are predictable and voluntary - The Chair Game provides both with beauty.

Want to see an example? Here I’m playing Chair Game with Jane as we step outside the house for a walk. Jane has big feelings about the big wide world, including cars driving past her on the street, and Chair Game allows her to acclimate to being outdoors and by the road before we begin walking. (Oh, and feel free to admire Jane’s lovely Whiplash Turn as she exits the house!)

Chair Game Demo

Though this pattern is called The Chair Game, we definitely do not have to use a chair. We’re going to use any sort of raised and distinct prop to represent your “Homebase.” This could be a chair of course, but it could also be a stool, raised snuffle mat, upside down bowl, pivot bowl or anything else that is distinguishable from the environment. And eventually it can be something that you find in the environment, such as your front steps as you saw in my demo video, the bumper of your car, a park bench, etc. Your Homebase will become a point of safety for your dog to return to after each repetition and we want it to be obvious to them!

Why do we want a predictable and consistent location to return to after each rep?

1. So that your dog has a safe, high value place to return to. No longer are they arriving at a new location with no context to rely on. Our Homebase becomes a comfortable, known spot to process the environment from.

2. Information! In this pattern game, our dogs get to choose when to leave the safety of their Homebase to explore the environment, and when to return. Paying attention to the amount of time it takes them to make these requests allows us to determine where our dog’s comfort lies - in the environment, at their Homebase, or both - and make adjustments accordingly.

3. You can use the location of the Homebase to slowly build access to the environment. You may begin by just taking a step or two away from Homebase, and while your dog shows confidence and comfort, build from there.

Chair Game Tutorial

Chair Game Steps:

1. Place a treat on your Homebase for your dog to eat.
2. When your dog looks up at you, mark and place another treat on your Homebase.
3. Continue the pattern on the Homebase until your dog is comfortable, is fluently giving you eye contact, and has built value for the Homebase.
4. Place a treat on your Homebase.
5. When your dog looks up at you, mark, and walk out into the environment.
6. Place a treat on the ground.
7. When your dog looks up at you, mark, and return to your Homebase.
8. Repeat and vary where you’re placing the treat in the environment!

Alternatively, you can place targets for your dog to walk to from your Homebase. Here’s how that looks:

Chair Game Tutorial with Targets

The targets are useful in giving our dogs additional information about where they may be going. They also help you know where to go! The more intentional we are about where we’ll be placing the treat in the environment, the more confident our dog becomes. Whether I have targets or not, while at Homebase, I’m looking at the next spot I’ll be walking to, and even adjust my body to face that direction. It’s pretty amazing what that small change can make!

In case you’re not convinced yet by how powerful Chair Game can be, here’s some of my favorite inspiration. This is one of my local pet dog classes in which we’re using Chair Game to teach dogs to walk on a loose leash past other dogs. This is not an easy task for these dogs! But watch how flawlessly we are able to build on their success, all thanks to this pattern:

Chair Game Classroom Demo

I’m going to leave you with one final video. This is CCUI (Certified CU Instructor) student, Michelle Hansen with her poodle, Copper. This is her submission for my review of Chair Game with my own voiceover, and I love the text that she adds for additional content! It’s a great example of how Chair Game can help our dog acclimate to an environment while providing us with lots of information about how they feel!

Chair Game with Feelings

I hope you enjoy and come to love The Chair Game just as much as I do!