Eating the Food is the first challenge you and your pup will encounter, and it's designed to help your dog get comfortable with the Hub’s sounds and movements. The Hub’s dish will spin out and offer free food to your dog at varying intervals. If your dog does not take the food, the dish will stay out for longer periods of time.
Fonzie the mixed breed smelled the treats, and was very intrigued. He ate the treat three times with no hesitation. He's a confident pup!
In order to progress to the next challenge, Exploring the Touchpads, your pup will need to eat from the Hub three times out of the last five food presentations. If you repeatedly remove food from the tray “for” your dog, you may advance to the next challenge before your dog is ready.
Startled?
Wally the Golden Retriever is startled the first time he sees the Hub move, so his humans encourage him to try again. Many dogs just take time, and build confidence to figure it out on their own. Wally took more than 30 minutes, and still never ate any food. So here's what we did:
Build positive associations before you turn the Hub on:
First we plugged in the Hub, and watched the tray open. Then we powered it off while the tray was out. Next, we put food in it. In this case, we recommend a high value treat, something you know your dog loves. The goal is to get your dog to eat from the tray at least three times. At the end, you want your dog to have the confidence to approach and eat directly out of the tray, even if you are not there.
After this, next step is to power the Hub back on, so that your pup can begin to accept the sounds and movements of the Hub. The tray will stay out longer and longer, so that first time is likely to contain the biggest surprise. If the tray goes back with food still in it, it will stay out longer the next time around.
If your dog is having trouble getting comfortable around the Hub, we have some more tips here.