Just as a key fits into the lock of a treasure chest and opens the lid, our dog learns to achieve his goal through "key behaviour". Of course, not every key fits every lock, and Odin learns different key behaviours – depending on the command/situation – to achieve his goal, in this case the ball.
In this video, you can see how he learns to use barking and sitting as keys when given the two commands "bark" and "sit". Odin tries out several keys before finding the "right" one.
Once he has found it himself, he likes to use it and we can make the goal (the contents of the treasure chest) even more valuable.
If you are interested in this topic, you will find complete instructions on conflict-free obedience in protection work in our book:
https://cpscherk.de/.../successful-together-the-journey...
or in the many videos at:
https://dogsport-online.com/hausaufgaben-schutzdienst/