Play Unleashed!
Engage in an Embodied Play Experience, Your Dog Awaits You
Explore the Euphoria of Play+ | Where Fun Meets Creativity, Imagination, and Flow!
So What's the Deal with Play+?
Play+ isn’t just throwing a ball or playing tug—it’s about using play as a medium to communicate, build trust, and improve behavior. It taps into your dog’s natural instincts and drives, using techniques rooted in Whitehead’s process philosophy, Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory, and Panksepp’s emotional systems to ensure that both you and your dog are fully engaged in a state of shared attention and mutual understanding.
At the heart of Play+ is the dipolar interaction between the physical and mental poles, which allows us to use classical and operant conditioning simultaneously. The physical pole involves immediate sensory responses (like prehension or reacting to stimuli), while the mental pole handles creative intention and problem-solving. By working with both, Play+ facilitates a deeper, more adaptive form of training where behavior is shaped both reflexively and cognitively, creating a more fluid and intuitive learning process.
Play+ advances the simple idea of a positive marker into Enriched Marking—a rich, flexible communication method that is highly attuned to the dog’s emotional and cognitive state. It transforms the basic idea of “good” into an adaptable tool that amplifies engagement and fosters emotional connection, using attuned cues to shape behavior with greater precision. This allows for a dynamic flow of communication, making both the handler and the dog more responsive and connected during training and play.
The seven Primal Games within Play+ embody foundational concepts of handling and interaction. Each game distills an essential element of play and teamwork—from attentional control to timing and responsiveness—providing a real-world, embodied experience of key training principles. These games are not just exercises; they represent idealized play structures that teach critical handling skills while fostering deeper, more intuitive communication between handler and dog.
Flow Theory is central to Play+, relying on the physical-mental process, enriched marking, and embodied play experiences to achieve a state of optimal engagement. By carefully balancing the challenge level, feedback, and emotional tone, handlers can guide dogs into a flow state—a zone of complete focus and joyful immersion. This state not only enhances learning but also builds trust and rapport, ensuring that both dog and handler are fully present and attuned to each other throughout the play experience.
Expand Your Horizons
Attention Springs from Awareness
Next Now Cycle of Play
NOW IS ATTENTION, NEXT IS AWARENESS
Who Has the Ball?
Automagic Initiative Transfers Enable Flow
Shifting Horizons
Attention Shifts Alter the Horizon
Aim & Tone
Dog and Handler Each have a Subjective Aim & Tone
Looking & Listening
Attention is Looking at the Thing, Awareness is Listening to the Environment.