The Crew's Reviews
Meet the Pandemonium Pets Crew:
Rue, a 12.5-year-old Australian Kelpie, Kwis, a 7-year-old Australian Koolie, LeGuin, a 4-year-old Australian Kelpie and Pratchett, a 2-year-old Australian Koolie. Each member of our crew is a little different, they have different likes and dislikes, and different preferences for reinforcement.
Rue is a bit of a timid boy, he can be fearful at times, but if the reward his right he’ll try ANYTHING! While Rue does occasionally engage with toys, he prefers solo play with a soft toy he can mouth. When it comes to working, Rue loves to play for food, so unsurprisingly his favourite Pandemonium Pets toys are the ones that hold treats! He especially enjoys a rabbit fur pocket tug – because he is very soft mouthed and just goobers the tug while waiting for me to open it for the prize inside. He also enjoys tearing open a Grenade treat dispenser, unlike some of the other dogs in house he seems to enjoy the sensation of Velcro tearing open.
Kwis is the opposite to Rue. He is all go all the time. His drive for toys is through the roof – in fact as a young dog he really struggled focusing near toys and had a difficult time taking treats when there was any activity going on. Kwis has a hard bite, a strong tug and can get over-aroused playing with exciting toys very quickly. For this reason, the toys Kwis gets for reinforcement are often quite plain and boring to look at, but very durable over time (even then he often needs a new tug every 4 months or so). His favourite toys include milkers or ball tugs with a latex cuff.
LeGuin is a bit more balanced in her preferences – working equally well for food and toys. When she is concerned about a new environment she prefers to take food as a reinforcer – in fact the Cheeky Chuka came about as a way to bridge LeGuin’s desire for food in strange locations with her love of toy-play. The Cheeky Chuka gives her the chance to work for food, but also play with a soft toy as she retrieves it. Her favourite toys when she is in a playful mood are ones that spark her prey drive, particularly items that can be dragged across the floor and crunch when she bites into them. For this reason, her go-to toy for FEO/NFC runs in agility is the Bottle Cruncher with the 8-inch bungee – it gives her something to track asit drags over the turf and a great crunch as she bites in. Recently, she has made the switch over to the Mini Bottle Cruncher which is a bit easier for the handler to hide during FEO/NFC runs.
Pratchett, much like Kwis, struggles with taking food as a reinforcer, especially around other dogs. His toy preference is for something big and flashy with lots of stuffing that he can sink his teeth into. As a puppy he loved the mop tugs and the big bumpers because they offered very visible and exciting targets. With age, he has shifted his interest to include smaller toys that are manageable for the handler, such as ball tugs with long faux cuffs, but his current favourite is the Ring-a-Ding – a stuffed faux fur ring on the end of a bungee – this toys has a nice soft bite area and a long bungee that can be dragged across the ground to pique his prey-drive.