Super Bowls for a Superb Owl

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I just can't get enough of pattern games. In addition to the 1, 2, 3 game, Otto the Great Horned Owl and I have been practicing Super Bowls. The original version of this game starts with a row of bowls on the floor. You start with your dog (or cat) at one end and wait for your pet to look up at you. When they do, you step forward and place a treat in the next bowl. That pattern is repeated while you work your way up and down the line of bowls. 

Unlike 1, 2, 3 where it doesn't matter what the animal is doing, Super Bowls requires active engagement from your pet. They control when they move ahead by choosing when to look up at you. 

I liked the idea of this game because I wanted to give Otto a way of choosing when he would go into and out of the crate. I also wanted a fun way to practice moving between perches because he had a tendency to get too comfortable in one spot and refuse to move. Bowls wouldn't work well in the mew, so I established an order of perches that we would follow instead:

Our perch pattern would move from the top of the hutch (1) to a low perch (2). Then to a turf mat on the ground (3) and into the crate (4). 

In the video below, you'll see me wait for Otto to look toward me (sometimes this takes a while!). When he does, I say "yes" and place a treat on the next perch in line. Repeat!

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