History of The Shell Game
The Shell Game and 3-card Monte are public gambling games in which a con artist with amazing skills at shuffling the three items wins every time. 3-card Monte is played with – you already know this – 3 cards. Bet your money, guess which card is the Queen (the Money Card) and win! But you won’t. Ever. The Shell Game originally involved 3 walnut shells, under one of which was a pea. Same deal – bet your money, guess which shell covers the pea, and win – but you won’t.
We don’t allow dogs to bet; they don’t typically have much money, anyway. Plus, they get to win! It’s fun to watch how they go about playing this game, and they have a fun activity to accomplish.
The Shell Game is Easy and Free
Like so many enrichment ideas, this one is free and easy. There are many food puzzles, snuffle mats, and other devices for sale to provide quality enrichment activities for your dogs. Many cast-off or household items give you opportunities to create enrichment devices too.
Enrichment? A Fun Game? Party Trick?
The Shell Game is enrichment because it encourages dogs to use their senses. They use their problem-solving abilities in a variety of ways to find the treat. Truthfully, it’s just a silly game and dogs seem to enjoy it. Many enrichment activities are “just fun games.” If a dog excitedly joins in a game, it’s likely he will actively participate and gain all the benefits available.
The Shell Game can be a great party trick to show your friends, too! Especially after he gets really good at it, you can work harder at mixing up the containers and hiding the treat or toy to make it more challenging for your dog and show off his advanced skills!
Different Dogs Do it in Different Ways!
The Bulldozer
Dogs who don’t have a big repertoire of behaviors may not use a problem-solving strategy to attack the game. Some dogs may start out by knocking all the containers over and eating the treat without really understanding which behavior revealed the treat. This is a fair approach, for sure! Continued practice is likely to help these dogs become more focused on solving the problem, which can generalize to other areas of their lives. You might see them solving other, unrelated problems in more graceful ways.
The Stealthy Spy
Fearful dogs may be very cautious around the containers. They might carefully sniff, perhaps reach a paw out toward a container without touching, and walk around and around the set-up many times. Let them explore. This is their way of ascertaining their safety in this new environment. They probably understand that there is something good that could happen, but they need a lot of time to make sure no scary stuff is involved.
A fearful dog will often take something of a “stealth” approach. You’ll see them nosing the containers very lightly for a while and suddenly the treat is gone, even though the containers are all still upright! They use their nose and tongue to slightly lift the edge of a container and lick up the treat without disturbing the set-up very much.
Learning Can Change a Dog’s Approach
Albert, the Springer Spaniel, started out as a “stealthy spy” when he was young. We had not played this game in a good while until taking the video for this blog post, and you can see that he has a whole new approach. I attribute it to increased confidence in general and a much larger repertoire of problem-solving skills over the years. He is persistent but doesn’t always make the most beneficial choices! He also doesn’t seem to understand that there aren’t any more treats after the first one! LOL
I think this was Daisy’s first time to play The Shell Game. She seemed focused on making sure to knock over the containers. Contingencies are being created between “knock over container” and “get treat” as she follows her chosen protocol. This is learning in the wild!
What Senses are Involved?
Vision
Genetics
The containers used in the video are translucent and you can see the treat inside. Dogs are definitely visual creatures, some more than others, depending upon what their breeding heritage is. Sight hounds and hunting breeds come to mind. These types of dogs tend to focus far away, as they are intent on looking for prey. Herding dogs also tend to focus on far-away movements of their flocks. These characteristics stay with dogs of these breeds, even when they are house pets.
Movement vs. Still Objects
Even though dogs are visual, moving objects are easiest for them to see. When things are still, they don’t see them as clearly. Think about how many prey animals such as rabbits and ground-nesting bird evolved to “freeze” and be still. Many hunted animals have coloration that helps them blend in with their environment, and when they are still, they seem almost invisible. But when they move, a dog who is looking for them sees them immediately because movement is what his brain and visual system help him see best.
Nature + Nurture
In the video, you see that the dogs are perfectly able to see which container I was putting the treat under. But that doesn’t help them find it when the game begins. The treat inside the plastic container is not that easily seen by a dog, after all. If it were a tennis ball inside the container, it might be more visible. But that doesn’t mean the dog would necessarily use his vision to find it. That depends on his genetic make-up and previous learning.
If you have a dog that really loves a tennis ball or other type of toy, those items are great to deploy in his 3-card Monty game! My dogs love treats more than anything, so that’s what we use.
Smell
Dogs are well-known for using their advanced sense of smell to solve problems. Scent hounds in particular are highly focused on odors, although all dogs use their noses. Once a dog starts to get better at the 3-card Monty game, he will probably start to use his odor detection skills to help him. Dogs who are pre-disposed to using their noses will do so from the beginning. In my experience, these dogs are very quick at finding the treat or toy in this game.
Make Your Own Shell Game
It’s so easy and fun! I don’t think it really matters to dogs whether all the containers are identical, especially in the beginning. Over time, they may learn to notice visual differences; you could conduct an experiment on that and let us know what you found! For a more convincing party trick, identical containers are probably important though.
If you’re using treats, you can use small containers. If you use a toy, you’ll need something bigger. Cardboard boxes, Tupperware, plastic cups, and more can be deployed. You could even throw a rag or towel over the treat or toy and toss down two decoy towels. Be creative!
Teach Your Dog to Play The Shell Game
Depending on your dog’s starting point, you might want to first set up a single container with a treat under it. Let him explore and figure out the procedure on his own; try not to talk (I know it’s hard – you’re having so much fun watching!)
Another way to do it is to set up two or three containers, with a treat under each one. This way, your dog gets a reinforcer for exploring any container.
Practice the “Mat” Behavior Separately First
Be sure to practice your “mat” behavior, or sending the dog out of the room or into a crate, or whatever your “in-between games” behavior is going to be, separately. This way, your dog will be familiar with the resting phase of the game and not worried that he’s going to miss out. At that point, the game itself is a big reinforcer for waiting patiently.
Your Shell Game – Your Rules
Try different set-ups as your dog starts to understand the game. You can even have more than three containers! Maybe there’s a treat under one, a toy under another, and there are two containers with nothing under them. You can make up your own rules with this game, as long as your dog gets something he wants at the end! Watch and see whether your dog goes for the treat or the toy first. You might learn something!
Why Play The Shell Game?
The benefits of playing this game and others like it are immense. Your dog will build new skills and develop the ones he has. You and your dog will work as partners to set up the game, over and over again.
You can see in the videos that I have my dogs lie on mats between games. This is a great way to maintain great associations with a mat. When they lie on the mat, good things result! You could have them sit, go into crates, into another room, or perform any other behavior set you want to develop.
Other Skills Dogs Can Learn from The Shell Game
You hear me use the cue “Find it” to let the dogs know they should get up from the mat and search. For us, this is a well-established cue in our scent detection activities so it works well for this game, too. You can use your release cue, which is what we did in the beginning. Even though Daisy is just starting The Shell Game, she has some experience with searching for a scent target when given the cue, “Find it.”
Daisy seemed very deliberate in knocking over the containers, first with her nose and then with a paw. These are two individual skills she can build.
You saw Albert bring me one of the containers. That’s new, probably because we’ve been working on retrieving lately. Chester and I worked retrieving into his Shell Game protocol. It helped build his retrieve, especially for small items. It was also helpful for my laziness – he did all the work.
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