Well, it's that time of year again, ice, snow, shorter days, and frigid temperatures. Whether you have a dog with high or low energy, everyone suffers from less exercise, resulting in more behavior problems. Sound familiar? Don't give up hope! There are things you can do to beat the weather, and maintain both you and your dog's sanity.
Obedience Training
In a class setting, reviewing behaviors from a previous class, or even self taught. Obedience is a great way to work your dog's brain, as well as reinforce good habits, and to strengthen the bond between you and your dog. Sit, Down, Stay, maintaining attention while distracted, Leave-it, you can even work on coming when called inside the house. Be careful doing any running or other quick movements on tile, linoleum, laminate, or hardwood floor; slippery surfaces like these can lead to injury when dogs get over excited and try to run. Carpeted areas, area rugs, runners, even foam tiles make a great, safe place to train.
Trick Training
Trick training is a wonderful way to engage your dog and wear them out mentally. Tricks can be as simple, or as complex as you want them to be! Do More With Your Dog has some great ideas for trick training, and even has a program where you can receive awards for the tricks you teach your dog.
Indoor Games
Games can be a wonderful way to engage your dog, both physically and mentally, to strengthen your dog, and to prevent boredom. Some great indoor games include:
Want some more ideas? Check out these books:
Puzzle Toys
Puzzle toys can be a wonderful way to keep your dog occupied indoors when the weather is gloomy. It's been shown that interactive puzzle toys can have quite a few benefits for your pup! They can exercise your dogs mind and body, prevent boredom and subsequent behavior problems, and help strengthen the relationship between you and your dog. A few to check out include:
Kong Stuffing
While the Kong by itself may not be much entertainment for most dogs, use a bit of creativity to add something tasty, and you've got hours of entertainment for your dog! Ideally you want to fill your Kongs with something healthy and enticing to your pup; I like to freeze mine before giving them to my dogs to increase the time it takes them to get all of the stuffing out! Some great resources on recipes include:
Enjoy - and keep those Bad Weather Blues away!
Obedience Training
In a class setting, reviewing behaviors from a previous class, or even self taught. Obedience is a great way to work your dog's brain, as well as reinforce good habits, and to strengthen the bond between you and your dog. Sit, Down, Stay, maintaining attention while distracted, Leave-it, you can even work on coming when called inside the house. Be careful doing any running or other quick movements on tile, linoleum, laminate, or hardwood floor; slippery surfaces like these can lead to injury when dogs get over excited and try to run. Carpeted areas, area rugs, runners, even foam tiles make a great, safe place to train.
Trick Training
Trick training is a wonderful way to engage your dog and wear them out mentally. Tricks can be as simple, or as complex as you want them to be! Do More With Your Dog has some great ideas for trick training, and even has a program where you can receive awards for the tricks you teach your dog.
Indoor Games
Games can be a wonderful way to engage your dog, both physically and mentally, to strengthen your dog, and to prevent boredom. Some great indoor games include:
- Hide and Seek - whether you hide a treat, a toy, or even hid yourself! Your dog will love using their nose to find things!
- Tug of War - This is a wonderful game that not only strengthens hind leg muscles and core strength, it can also teach self control. When playing tug with your dog, there should always be rules so the dog knows when he can and can't play tug - he should let the toy go on command, and never touch teeth to your skin (even on accident).
- Shaping Games - Using a clicker and high value treats, you can look for different offered behaviors to reward. Dogs who frequently play shaping games love to try new things and experiment with what behaviors lead to a reward!
Want some more ideas? Check out these books:
- Play with Your Dog by Pat Miller
- Play Together, Stay Together by Karen B. London and Patricia B. McConnell
- Super Fun Dog Games: Games for Dogs and Games to Play With Your Dog! by Dan White
Puzzle Toys
Puzzle toys can be a wonderful way to keep your dog occupied indoors when the weather is gloomy. It's been shown that interactive puzzle toys can have quite a few benefits for your pup! They can exercise your dogs mind and body, prevent boredom and subsequent behavior problems, and help strengthen the relationship between you and your dog. A few to check out include:
Kong Stuffing
While the Kong by itself may not be much entertainment for most dogs, use a bit of creativity to add something tasty, and you've got hours of entertainment for your dog! Ideally you want to fill your Kongs with something healthy and enticing to your pup; I like to freeze mine before giving them to my dogs to increase the time it takes them to get all of the stuffing out! Some great resources on recipes include:
- Fun Times With Dogs
- K9 Instinct Kong Recipes
- KongStuffing.com
- ASPCA Kong Recipes
- LabMed Kong Recipes - This one even has a diagram!
Enjoy - and keep those Bad Weather Blues away!
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