Things to keep a dog occupied

[Annette4]

We have about 2 weeks left before her ladyship is allow to off lead run again (post spay) and she's for the most part been ok but she is bouncing off the walls a little. We were expecting it so made sure we had lots of extra on lead walks and games/toys for in the house.

I'm running out of things I know how to teach her and she has a kong and treatball but is there anything else people can suggest?

Not that were counting down or anything but a young whippet who can't get her 20 mins running is and who doesn't hurt any more is testing our patience a little

 

[SadKen]

What about 'go find'?

It needs a good nose and they have to search steadily rather than run, you can play in the house.

Just put her out of the way somewhere, go and hide some treats (I hide bits of kibble but anything will do) I put them on the dining room chairs, under the dog's bed, in corners, behind curtains... then say go find it and let her rip!

You can play outside too if you have a restricted space to stop her running. It gets quite fun as you can hide something extra scrumptious as a bonus, and you can get creative about where you're hiding things (I like to put stuff in OH's shoes so they get covered in drool when the hunt is on). You can also hide a toy and get her to bring it to you in return for a treat.

 

[Lunchbox legend]

Have you got any small plant pots? You could start off with just 2 and put the treat under one and have her 'find' it. Bit by bit you add extra plant pots but no more treats.

You could teach her to fetch specific toys. One of my old dogs used to fetch his lion (stuffed toy) on command. It also serves as a distraction later on if you need it. (My spaniel would sometimes be quite irritating, wanting to have the hair dryer blown on her, play ball when I didn't want to so I just used to say "get teddy" and she'd run off and fetch it. By the time she'd got back, she'd either forgotton what she was pestering me for or I'd finished.) Maybe you could teach her to 'tidy up', i.e. put her toys back in the toy box (there are books that cover how to do this).

Could you hide treats around the house (or her dinner if you feed kibble)? Put her in a room where she can't see where you're putting the treats so she has to search for them.

It might sound odd, but what about a game of hide and seek, where you hide and she has to find you? It doesn't take too much physical effort for the dog but you might have to do a bit of bending and crawling

What about putting a programme/DVD on the tv that has lots of wolves or dogs in it? Maybe she's one of those dogs that watch tv for long enough for you to have a cup of coffee and a rest .

If you look on Amazon, there are a few books on games and tricks that you can teach your dog and a lot of them don't need too much physical input from the dog. You can read bits of the books on the website so you, ...er, shall we say... 'can get started straight away, while you're waiting for the book to arrive'.

 

[Annette4]

I'll definitely start on find it. With having two it's a little tricky (Jack is a food ninja and would beat her to it!) but when he's out on a off lead walk I can do it with her.

I'm not sure she's bright enough for finding toys by name but I'll give it a bash.

 

[JillA]

Pack the kong full of cream cheese, cheap pate or something with a squidgy texture - takes them ages to get the last remnants out - if you need to leave her for a while. And clicker or reinforcement training tires them out, concentration type tired, not physical type tired.