Entertain Your Dog Indoors

Our new series of training tips from 2019 Portugal's best obedience school, the certified dog training centre Iron Dog Algarve.

Want to keep your dog mentally and physically stimulated during the isolation period? There are plenty of fun activities to play with your dog. Here are some of them.

It is impressive how quickly lifestyles can change. Since the arrival of COVID-19 in March 2020 we had to change our routines, the way we relate with others, how we work, dress and shop and create a whole new world inside our homes.

Unexpectedly, even our dogs routines have changed. All of a sudden, they have their owners' attention and company 24/7, and everyone wanting to walk them more than ever, in order to get a little bit of fresh air, sunlight and check on how spring is spreading on the outside after weeks of confinement.

This is also a great opportunity to spend some quality time with our four-legged friends and provide them new stimulating activities that will reinforce your bond. We thought about seven fun activities that will keep your dog entertained, channelling all of his energy, focus, and excitement to work with you.

Toys to hide food and intelligence games

1- HIDE TOYS / FOOD AND MAKE HIM SEARCH

You will need two people to perform this exercise. Use his normal kibble food or a different smelly reward. First, put it in a place where the dog can see it and say the command ‘search’. Let him go for the food. Then, progressively, move it farther away until finally, you hide it out of its sight. Alternatively, you can use a pile of empty carton boxes and make them search in between them to find his food or toy. This is a fun game and will make your dog work naturally with his nose.

2 - CATCHING THE BALL AND BRINGING IT BACK

If you were never successful teaching this to your dog then try this trick. Throw the ball to a short distance, call your dog back and immediately open your hand rewarding him with a piece of sausage on it (or another extremely delightful appetizer). In summary, exchange fetching the ball and bringing it back for the reward. Only reward when he picks the ball and brings it back. Food only comes as a consequence of picking the ball up and bringing it back to you.

3 - THUGS

If you have problems with a young dog biting you or household items, a thug might help you redirecting his energy. Preferably, you should have two identical thugs and they should have two handles on both ends. Make your dog bite in one of them, play with it and let him win (take the thug away). Then tell him the command 'out' at the same time you wave the second thug. This is how you start to teach him to ‘drop’ anything he’s holding in his mouth. When exchanging one thug for the other you are teaching the dog the important command ‘out’.

4 - CHEWING TOYS OR TOYS TO HIDE FOOD

There are several options on the market for flavoured toys, which not only entertain dogs but also clean their teeth as they chew them. This is a good option for when you need the dog to calm down for a while, or when you own a dog that suffers from anxiety every time you leave the house. Get a KONG toy (or another similar) and hide food inside the toy.

There are several recipes online. Put it into the freezer and whenever you leave the house give it to your dog. It will keep him entertained for hours. Attention! Make sure if you have more than one dog that they won’t get into a fight for because of the toy. This works better for dogs who are alone at home.

5 - HIDE YOURSELF FROM THE DOG

Simply play hide and seek with your dog. Call him only once! Let him search for you all around the house and reward him with a biscuit and a big party once he has found you.

6 - IMPRO VISE AN AGILITY COURSE

Surely you have enough stuff at home and loads of creativity to improvise and create an agility course for your dog. If you have also stuffed up with toilet paper for the confinement time, set a pile the paper rolls on a door passage. There you go: you’ve just created a jump. To cross two different compartments of the house he’ll need to jump over that barrier.

7 - INTELLIGENCE GAMES

There are several on the market. Search online for them. The one on the picture works simply like this: you hide the rewards under the removable pieces. The dog can smell the food but cannot see it. He is then trigged on how can he get to the hidden reward. Initially, it might take him a while to figure it out.

This is a really interesting way to test the reaction of your dog: is he carefully removing the covers with the mouth or jumping, scratching, or trying to destroy it by chewing? And once he uncovers one of them, did he understand what he needs to do? Test his intelligence. Make his brain work and have fun.

+ INFO:

www.irondog.pt

www.facebook.com/irondogalgarve