101 Things to Do with a Box

This training game is derived from a dolphin research project in which I participated, titled "The creative porpoise: training for novel behavior," published in the Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior in 1969. It has since become a favorite among dog trainers. It's particularly beneficial for "crossover" dogs with a history of correction-based training, as it encourages mental and physical flexibility and gives dogs the courage to try something on their own.

Step one

Take an ordinary cardboard box of any size. Cut the sides down to about three inches, and place the box on the floor. Click and treat the dog for looking at the box. If the dog goes near or past the box, even by accident, click again. Next, after clicking, toss the treat near or inside the box. If the dog steps toward the box to get the treat, click the step and toss another treat. If the dog steps into the box, great, click again, even if he is eating his previous treats, and offer another treat in your hand.

Sometimes you can generate a lot of "box action" by clicking for any movement toward or into the box. Alternate between tossing the treat in the box and holding it out in your hand so the dog has to return to you. If the dog is reluctant to step into the box, don't worry: when the dog eventuall does step into the box, he'll get a jackpot. If you decide to end the session before this happens, simply pick up the treats and save them for a later session. Remember, always click for a reason and never treat without clicking first.

If you need more behavior to click, move to different parts of the room so that the box is between you and the dog, increasing the likelihood of steps toward the box. Avoid calling the dog, patting the box, chatting, encouraging, or "helping" the dog, as this might make the dog more suspicious. Click foot movements toward the box, regardless of distance, and then treat. If you get in five or six good clicks for moving in the direction of, near, or past the box, or near or past the box, and the dog "loses interest" and walks away, that's fine. You can always play the "box" game later. The reinforcement from each session will help make future sessions livelier.

You are teaching your dog new rules for a new game. If your dog has been trained by conventional methods, the dog may be respecting the general rule of "Wait to be told what to do." The first rule of this new game, "Do something on your own, and I will click," can be challenging. In this case, the box game is especially valuable, and the first tiny steps are particularly exciting—though they may seem invisible to you now.

End the first session with a "click for nothing" and a jackpot—either a handful of treats or a free grab at the whole bowl. This will get the dog thinking. The next time the cardboard box comes out, the dog will be alert to new possibilities: clicks, treats, jackpots.

The dog may think, "That cardboard box makes my person behave strangely, but on the whole, I like this new strangeness. Box? Something I can do, myself? With that box?"

Those are new ideas, but they will come.

If your dog is very suspicious, you may need to repeat the first exercise once, twice, or several times until the dog "believes" something like, "All that is happening here is that the click sound means my person gives me delicious food. And the box is not a trap, it's a signal that click-and-treat time is here—if I can just find out how to make my person click."

Step two

Whether these behaviors occur in the same session or several sessions later, here are some actions to click: stepping in the box, pushing the box, pawing the box, mouthing the box, smelling the box, dragging the box, picking up the box, thumping the box—in short, for anything the dog does with the box.

Remember to click WHILE the behavior is happening, not after the dog stops. As soon as you click, the dog will stop, of course, to get the treat. But because the click marked the behavior, the dog will repeat that behavior or some version of it to try to get you to click again. You won't lose the behavior by interrupting it with a click.

You may end up in a wild flurry of box-related behavior. GREAT! Your dog is already learning to problem-solve creatively. If you get overwhelmed and can't decide which behavior to click, simply give a jackpot and end the session. Now you have something to think about between sessions.

On the other hand, you may get a more methodical, slow, careful testing by the dog: the dog carefully repeats what was clicked before—such as putting one paw in the box. Fine, but you need to become flexible about what you click; otherwise, you will end up as a matched pair of behavioral bookends. Paw, click. Paw, click. That's not the way to win this game.

When the dog begins to offer the behavior the same way repeatedly, withhold your click. If the dog puts a paw in the box and you wait, the dog's behavior might change. The dog might keep the paw there longer—click, as that's something new. The dog might pull the paw out—click that, once or twice. The dog might put the other paw in, too—fine, click that. Now the dog may try something new.

Once your dog has discovered that interacting with the box is apparently the point of this game, you will have enough behavior to select from, so that you can now begin to click only for certain behaviors—behaviors that progress toward a plan. It's as if you have a whole box of Scrabble letters, and you are going to start selecting letters that spell a word. This process is part of "shaping."

Step three

Variations and final products: What could you shape from cardboard box behaviors?

Get in the box and stay there

Initial behavior: The dog puts a paw in the box. Click and toss treats. Then don't click, just wait and see. Maybe you'll get two paws in box. Click. Then you might get four paws in box, with the dog fully inside of it. Options include sitting or lying in the box; staying in box until clicked, or staying in box until called and then clicked for coming.

Uses: Put the dog to bed, into a crate, or let children click the dog for hopping into and out of a box (this works with cats, too). One third-grade teacher takes her papillon to school on special events days in a picnic basket. When the basket is opened, the dog hops out, plays with the children, and then hops back in again.

Behavior: Carry the box

Initial behavior: The dog grabs the edge of the box and lifts it off the floor.

Uses: Numerous! Carry a box. Carry a box or basket, or put things away—like magazines back on the pile or toys in the toy box. A dog that has learned the generalized rule, "Lifting things in my mouth is reinforceable," can learn many additional skills.

Behavior: Tip the box over onto yourself

This behavior is not necessarily useful, but it's not hard to get; it often crops up  in the "101 Things to Do with a Box" game. If the dog paws at the near edge of the box hard enough, it will flip. My Border terrier, Skookum, discovered that he could tip the living-room wastebasket (wicker, bowl-shaped, empty) over onto himself, so that he was hidden inside it. Then he scooted around inside, making the wastebasket move mysteriously across the floor. It was, without a doubt, the funniest thing any of our dinner guests had ever seen a dog do. Since terriers love being laughed with (but never at), clicks and treats were not necessary to maintain the behavior once he had discovered it—and he learned to wait until he was invited to offer the behavior, usually when we had company.

About the author

Karen Pryor is the founder and CEO of Karen Pryor Clicker Training and Karen Pryor Academy. She is the author of many books, including Don't Shoot the Dog and Reaching the Animal Mind. Learn more about Karen Pryor or read Karen's Letters online.