Touch → Back to You (Clockwork)

This is the Touch → Back to You (Clockwork) pattern with one added layer: multiple bowls placed around you.

You stay in the centre while your dog works through bowls at different positions around the clock. The learner’s job doesn’t change — your dog still leaves to eat and then chooses to come back — but the changing angles add variety, movement, and a bit more thinking without turning this into a lesson.

What You’ll Need

• An open, quiet space

• Small, tasty treats

• 4 small bowls or plates

How to Play It

• For this game you’ll be standing at the centre of a clock.

• Place bowls on the ground at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock around you.

• Stand in the centre of the clock and place a treat in the 12 o’clock bowl.

• Let your dog eat the treat.

• When their head comes off the bowl, mark and place the treat in the 3 o’clock bowl — 🚫 no treat to mouth.

• Repeat and continue working around the clock.

You can move clockwise or counter-clockwise and increase the distance between you and the bowls. You stay centred. The bowls stay put.

3 in 3 Breakdown

Skills

Engagement
Your dog practises finishing reinforcement and reconnecting with you as the food appears at multiple fixed locations around you.

Re-engagement from multiple angles
The changing bowl positions require your dog to re-engage with you from different directions without being called or cued.

Handler awareness
Because you remain in the centre, your dog learns to consistently pay attention to you and your movements, not just your words or prompts.

Enrichment

Problem solving (mental stimulation)
Your dog tracks the pattern, remembers what comes next, and stays engaged in the loop. It’s simple, but it still requires focus and thinking.

Social enrichment
You’re actively doing this together. It’s real one-on-one time that feels more like fun than work, building communication, cooperation, and connection.

Confidence building
The predictability of the game creates fast, easy wins. Your dog knows what’s coming and how to succeed.

Movement

Body awareness
Approaching and leaving bowls from multiple angles encourages weight shifts, turning, and coordinated direction changes.

Controlled functional movement
Short trips between bowls and back to you add movement without speed, impact, or long duration.

Directional changes through space
Moving between bowls at different positions adds varied turns and direction changes without speed or intensity.