Pattern Game with Shelter Dog 

Kit is a young, smart dog with lots of energy. We created our own pattern game in this video!
Leslie McDevitt designed pattern games as part of her Control Unleashed program to give our dogs a predictable, familiar, structured activity that we can then take into more challenging situations.
Kit began to offer a sit, so I tossed food onto the platform and started filming. I chose to reward on the platform because (a) it reset him for another rep, and (b) I love stationing and always try to build value in stations/platforms/mats/etc. He chose to do the silly turn around me to sit front most times! Cute boy. Also noteworthy: instead of bounding over to me and jumping up (what many, many stressed, frustrated shelter dogs do), he chose to engage in the pattern!
His offered sit became a "start button" -- an indicator that he was ready for me toss the food onto the platform again. This was my first session working with Kit, and as far as I know this was his first introduction to a pattern game.
Remember: anything can be a pattern; anything can be a station! :)