During the darker evenings or when the weather is too hot, are you worried about going out and walking your dog? Or does your dog really not like going out in the dark and the cold? Here are some tips and games to help you get through the winter months.
Ditch the Bowl
I would always recommend ditching the bowl but especially in these dark months. Instead use interactive toys, which makes your dog have to use their brain. The three interactive toys I recommend are a Snuffle Mat, which is a mat that has lots of pieces of felt knotted together. This is great for slowing your dog down and getting them sniffing out their dinner. The second is a Green Feeder, this is a plastic tray that has different height green nobbly bits, which makes your dog have to use their tongue to get their food. The third is A KONG wobbler, this is a red plastic toy that you put their food inside and they have to knock it around to get the food out.
Freework Exercise
Freework is a great exercise to get your dog moving around objects, surfaces and allows you to sit back and watch. This is a simple exercise but does slow down your dog and help them to relax. First you will need around 6 to 8 different items. For example, a small stool, LikiMat or a surface your dog can lick, a non-slip mat, snuffle mat, cushion, yoga blocks or cardboard box with newspaper in. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have these specific items as you can improvise. Select a variety of hard, soft, fresh treats like chicken, ham, hotdogs, gravy bones, something your dog can lick like squeeze cheese, or dog friendly peanut butter, and/or a crunchie treat like a chicken foot or pigs hoof. While placing out the items make sure your dog is out of the room. Place the items on the floor randomly about 30cm away from each other. Put a variety of treats over the items and in between them, which will give your dog more choice.
Bring your dog back into the room and sit back and watch. What you are looking at is their body language and how they move around but also what item does your dog go to first? Do they avoid any items or are they unsure of any surfaces? What treats to they really enjoy? During this exercise your dog will start to relax and slow down, this will give you an insight into what they really like doing. This is what we call the ‘Reset Item’. This is normally the item they keep going back to and shows calmness around. This could be their snuffle mat or licking or chopping on a chicken foot, it really does depend on your dog. You can do this game when new people are visiting to give your dog something to focus on.
Which Cup Game
Take 3 or more plastic cup that you don’t mind getting teeth marks on but are also light enough for your dog to push over. Ask your dog to sit, if your dog struggles to sit and stay then put them on a lead instead. In front of your dog about a metre away, place a treat on the ground and put a cup over it. Go back to your dog’s side and point to the cup and say ‘Which Cup’ only say the cue once and stand back and watch your dog explore the cup. If your dog looks at you for reassurance then then encourage them to keep looking for the treat by pointing to the cup. If they are suspicious of the cup then slightly lift it up to show them where the treat is or even just pace the cup lip over the treat so it is showing. Repeat this a couple of times with one cup until they are confident enough to knock the cup over and get the treat. Then add enough cup but only place the treat under one cup. And then keep adding cups. This game is about your dog learning to use their impulse control at the beginning and then using their nose to find the treat. But don’t worry if they keep going back to a cup that has already had a treat under it as the scent pattern will still be strong. It all about them having fun. To make this harder you can have your dog out of the room and hide loads of cups around the room with treats under them all.
To understand or learn more games please get in contact at info@ladypeasdogs.co.uk. If you require any equipment or treats then please visit our shop at www.ladypeasdogs.co.uk
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