How to Train a Puppy to Play 'Find the Treat'

Call your puppy into a quiet room and bring plenty of treats with you. Tell your puppy to sit. If you need to give your pup the 'stay' command to keep them from wiggling off, do so.

Show your puppy a treat and then toss it into the center of the room while saying "find it." Your puppy will take off after the treat.

As soon as your puppy reaches the treat, say "good find it" or click the clicker if you are doing clicker training. Then call your puppy back to you and have them sit.

This trick is right up your puppy's alley, so you don't need to practice the toss aspect of the trick for too long. Start throwing the treat farther from your puppy or into an area where it is harder to see.

Once your puppy is finding the treat every time, start hiding the treat in more and more difficult locations. Every time your puppy finds the treat, praise them and let them enjoy the treat. Keep raising the difficulty until your pup is an expert sleuth.

In a quiet room, put your puppy into a 'sit' or 'down' and then tell them to stay while showing them you have a treat.

Keep your puppy's attention on you and let them watch as you hide the treat. You may need to tell them to stay again, depending on your puppy's skill level with that command. Choose an obvious and easy to reach hiding place to start out.

Once your treat is hidden, say your puppy's trained release word or use the command "find it" to let them free from the 'sit' or 'down'. Your pup should easily find the treat you've hidden.

When your puppy finds the treat, praise them for solving the treasure hunt and give them praise for a job well done. Then repeat the steps, hiding the treat in a different, but similarly easy, location.

Once your puppy seems confident about finding the treat in an easy location, choose a more difficult hiding place. As you play more, you can start hiding the treat in other rooms where your puppy can't see it. In general, puppies enjoy the challenge of finding a difficult treat.

For this method, it is best to choose a treat with a strong smell so your puppy can follow his nose to the reward. Let your puppy get a good whiff of the treats before you hide them.

After letting your pup smell the treat, put them into a 'sit' and tell them to stay. Then go hide the treat in another room. Choose an obvious location that they could find easily enough.

Go back to your pup and then release them from the 'stay' by saying "find it!" Your puppy should follow their nose right to the treat.

If your puppy finds the treat, make a big fuss over how smart they are and let them enjoy their reward. Now you can play again by repeating the same steps with the treat in a new and different hiding place.

As your puppy gets better at this game, choose harder and harder locations where your puppy has to follow his nose. Hide the treat under things. If your pup keeps finding the treat, try putting it at the bottom of your laundry basket or in a box. If they go to the right location, you can pull the treat out and give it to them. Don't stump your puppy too often though, or they might not want to play anymore!