A treasure hunt for treats with your Chi can make a popular break in between some serious training exercises. Limit the game to one room. Set it up before your daily session, shut the door, then take your dog there when he’s completed something difficult.
Rather like the principle of suddenly offering him an unexpected bonus cache of treats, this game is pure reward – all he has to do is follow his nose.
Hide treats in a range of locations, from simple to difficult to find, to make a tracking hunt for your Chihuahua.
- Hide a dozen treats at different levels in a room in your home; include some in hard-to-get-to corners. When you’ve hidden all the treats, leave the room and shut the door.
- Start your dog’s training session as you would normally. Plan to fit the treasure hunt in between a couple of the harder exercises.
- When you’ve completed the first of the more difficult exercise, run to the door of the”treat room” and go in with your dog. Say “Treat track!” enthusiastically and guide your pet to his first treat, then keep up a flow of cheerleading for your dog to find the rest, asking “Where’s the treat? Find the treat!”
- He’ll probably sniff out the floor-level treats without needing much help from you, but when he moves up a level, show him one of the treats placed higher up and encourage him to find the remainder.
- When he’s found all the treats, use his excited energy to keep the pace up for the remainder of his training session; move straight back into a problem-solving exercise without a break in between. You’ll usually find that your Chihuahua will do well in the next tough thing you try to teach him, as the treasure hunt leaves him with both renewed energy and plenty of enthusiasm for interacting with you.
What He Learns
That training involves not only hard work when you have to figure things out but also breaks with plenty of treats.
Why It’s Useful
Mixing indulgent exercises and canine brain teasers in your sessions will get better results than constantly challenging your dog with the tough stuff. Offering your Chihuahua a few minutes of unexpected fun also reminds him that you are the provider of the things he loves to do and reinforces bonding.
Where to Hide the Treats
Dogs will 
usually start by sniffing close to the ground, so leave a few easy-to-find options around the feet of furniture, under the corner of a rug, and so on, then move higher.
A treat might be left on the seat of a chair, behind a cushion, or on the edge of a bookshelf. Dogs are far less likely than human to look above their head level when they’re hunting for something, so place just a few in places that your Chihuahua can access but which are high up on the top rail of a chair, maybe, or on the middle shelf of a set of bookshelves.
Don’t stage the treat track in the most immaculate room in the house. Your Chihuahua will be just as happy to hunt for treats in the utility room or the garage, and it’s not fair to him to set up a game and then worry about your furniture and carpets.
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