Do you play with your dogs?

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

The little ones play fight a lot. Goose will grab a ball then throw himself upside down, which leads Mitch to leap on him. He has the height and weight advantage. They do zoomies round the garden and play hide and seek behind the hot tub, they’re hilarious.

 

[Annette4]

Fizz doesn't want to play a home (she firmly believes the house is for lounging comfortably in and nothing else) but loves to play on walks.

Dobby adores fetch and tuggy games as well as rough housing.

Ginnny gives you no choice, you get a toy launched at your face when she wants to play ?

 

[druid]

Nope, except the riveting Dead/hold game with whatever toy they bring. Never play fetch or tug or the like with the gundogs. They do wretle and tug toys between them a lot so they're not completely deprived!

The terriers play fetch with a frisbee.

 

[maisie06]

my "play " is actually training, I have spaniels so we I tend to do lots of throwing of dummies, hiding dummies and balls in grass,hunting scentwork etc, we don't really play tug as they are soft mouthed and let go of the object once I have hold of it!!

 

[Esmae]

Wanted to shoot one of mine this morning. Does that count as play?

 

[tda]

I feel bad now, our terriers don't play together as it never ends well ??
I've sometimes given one a ball, he takes it off, outs it down and wanders off

 

[Goldenstar]

I play with my dogs a lot .

 

[fiwen30]

I’d like to think everyone plays with their dog, even if it has a training purpose behind it!

We used to throw balls till I learnt better. We rag with tug toys, but don’t do strength tugging anymore (joint impact protection). He has a squeaky toy that he gives to you, you squeak it, and then you give it back for him to squeak. We play hide and seek, and chase, and will wrestle a little (always mindful of those legs!). His most favourite thing is a football!

He’s a very playful dog, always wants to share his toys with visitors and persuade them to play. He was best mates with my ex’s family collie, and the two of them would chase, wrestle, and play bitey-face all day. I feel bad that he doesn’t have dog friends now, but we really don’t have time to train a pup, neither cat would tolerate a 2nd dog, and to be honest, I’m not really sure if my lad would tolerate having to share partner with another dog.

 

[EventingMum]

My 3 terriers are a odd bunch. Hector, 11 yo loves to play with tennis balls, they're his favourite thing ever! Herbie, 4 yo doesn't do toys at all but sometimes chews on a nylabone type chew or an antler. Hobson, 10 months plays with everything, destroying many toys, he loves a tennis ball but allows Hector to have it if they both chase the same one, he loves a tug of war too. Lately, he has decided the best tug of war time is just as we switch off the lights at bedtime!

 

[Clodagh]

Wanted to shoot one of mine this morning. Does that count as play?

A jury of your peers would probably get you off. ?

 

[jumbyjack]

Laska doesn't do rough house, it would frighten her if I tried. She likes interactive games where she has to slide things to get treats and goes mad with her hard jolly ball. She has no interest in stuffed or squeaky toys and hard chewy things like antlers have her looking at me clearly thinking I am mad. Play invitations from other dogs freak her out , her favourite thing to do is chasing cats out of the garden!

 

[Antw23uk]

Yes absolutely, and they are a mix of training and play. They do rough and tumble with each other and every evening we do our walk up the garden and play football, its our little routine, come rain or shine (I swore my next dog would be fair weathered and not want to go out in the rain but got another collie!)

We are terrible teases, and because the 12 month old collie is sooo sassy, we cant help but tease her and she is always up for a fight, lol! I know we send mixed signals with whats acceptable and what isnt but i just cant help poking her and seeing that sassy face giving attitude back, lol! She cracks me up, i love her so much. The eldest rarely gets teased, we call her 'fun sponge' or 'fun killer' because she likes to run a tight ship at home, lol

My dogs make me very very happy, thanks for starting this thread

 

[Mynstrel]

After they are fed at 4pm I usually go and have a shower. T nags me until I go and take my socks off, and then nags me until I hide them.
I should start a thread ‘is your life not your own?’

Anybody with animals who can say no to that question is fibbing ?

 

[Clodagh]

Anybody with animals who can say no to that question is fibbing ?

I think it was PETA, years ago who said pet ownership should be abolished as its a form of slavery. I wouldn’t want it banned but slavery is right. ?

 

[paisley]

The mostly whippet likes to play 'Are you a fierce dog?' I ask the question, he offers me the squashed football for to hold so he can yank it and make the low level furious growling you would normally back well away from in a strange dog.
I then have to shout 'wheeee!' and the victory garden lap ensues. And repeat.
Its fair to say, neither of us gets out much.

 

[Boulty]

The Hooligan plays exclusively with soft toys (preferably with squeaker). He likes to pull their ears off & rip out their brains. (Current longest lasting toys are Snakey & Mr Octopus... I think their lack of ears to rip off confuses him)

He finds the very idea of balls utterly ridiculous. He loves a good tugging session & will also play fetch in the house & garden but finds the rest of the world far too entertaining to retrieve anything on a walk (although he has a squeaky rabbit skin tug toy that he will chase & tug with if in the mood). He would loooove to play wrestling but he gets very mouthy & silly so I tend not to. He plays plenty of random games that I've no idea of the rules of with the cat. They seem to mostly involve them chasing each other in & out of bushes or the cat hanging off his neck.

 

[Boulty]

Chilling with his snake


Pretending he's a vicious beast



Totally normal nothing to see...

 

[TheOldTrout]

Our previous dog, a Parsons, used to love playing with squeaky toys but could destroy them in about 5 minutes. I got him a much tougher, Kong squeaky, but he wouldn't play with it once he realised he couldn't kill it!

 

[Karran]

My two never play together. Mrs Spaniel loves fetch. Mrs Collie tuggy. Mrs Collie often gets toys out to "kill" and shake up and shoulder dive on. Mrs Spaniel disapproves of such antics and often confiscates the toy.
We also play 'go sniff" to find me/bits of food. Mrs Collie and I play Nose Touch to high five me in increasing quick time and my hand in different places and occasionally both will engage me in zoomies, where I stamp my foot and clap a hand in their direction and both will have gleeful hysterics running up and down or round and round until I do it again. Although Mrs Spaniel doesn't do that as much anymore. She says she's getting too old for such things.

 

[Equi]

No longer have any dogs but when i did i would have to encourage my staffy to play. She was a weird one. Never took to toys, never liked silly things. I had called her "Lady Lexi" as a pup because we drove past a Lexus car beside her breeders house and the area was a bit fancy but she did be a little bit of a lady her whole life. Never would sit her bum on the floor and was generally always quite serious and calm about things. Didn't like scruffy looking dogs, didn't like people baby talking to other dogs that she did like.

A couple of times she did let go and had real good roly poly fun which was great to see but she would still need massive encouragement. When we got our other dog (an older gentleman type) he too never played with toys even with encouragement. Weirdos. But the two of them would occasionally "air-jaw" at each other which i assume was their form of massive fun lol

 

[SaddlePsych'D]

Ivy has very small playful bursts when it comes to interactive play. We're still working out interacting with toys, she's often not too interested or if she is it's to run off with and destroy them. I'm currently teaching her 'duck' (not 100% sure what this game is, but we've progressed from looking at the duck toy to pouncing on/mouthing/picking it up) just for fun and get her brain going. I'm hoping we can add it to hide and seek games eventually. She likes 'chase' when we have her off lead at the big field and (if I can hide quick enough!) finding me behind things. We tried tug but really she was just fighting me for the toy so we don't do that any more!

 

[skinnydipper]

Late to the party, sorry CT.

Yes, we play.

Training games, simple scent games, tug, retrieve, there are a couple of toys she can find by name.

I would be embarrassed to tell you how many toys she has . She has soft toys, squeaky toys, tough toys, tug toys, no interest in balls but she has Kong puppy tyre that she will retrieve, a Trixie memory trainer - the buzzer can be set up in one room and the dispenser in another, flirt pole - though we don't play with that now and food dispensing toys from the days when she ate kibble, The big talking monkey remains a favourite .

No roughhousing.

We only play with toys at home. When we go out she prefers to sniff, meet her old friends and make new ones, canine and human.

 

[Fabel]

Squeaky balls are the bain of my life! Especially when Salem brings one to bed and squeaks it in the night!!!

 

[Nasicus]

Every day! The wee gremlin loves to play with toys, tug, indoor fetch, a bit of gentle wrestling etc. Her favourite game seems to be 'Look at my toy, isn't it nice, no you can't touch it but look at my toy' whilst she twirls around you and you try to touch said toy ?

 

[SAujla]

Clover loves to play tug. She has zero interest in chasing a ball herself but will always run with a dog that chases a ball. I like to play find the treat with her as well

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

There is no longer playing on walks. It’s a nice release for us, not having to endlessly train and keep Zak focused. We do ‘normal’ dog walks, it’s pleasant, although I still panic a bit at other dogs in case they’re not friendly. Goose plays the most, Bear has stopped playing but has a new lease of life on walks. ?