Category: Fun Stuff ¤
  Author: Shirley Chong ¤
   Title: Tiring Activities for Rainy Days ¤

Cathy Draut invoked my name in connection with ideas for tiring out
high energy dogs in bad weather--or in case of owner coming home from
work totally fried and NOT wanting to
throw-da-ball-throw-da-ball-throw-da-ball!!! I have a lot of experience
with this--I own Belgians!
   Scentwork tends to tire dogs out beautifully. In nice weather,
throwing a handful of kibble or cookies out in the backyard will keep my
dogs hunting happily for an hour or more. In the house, you can teach a
dog to play "find the cookie." Hide some dry treats around the house
(under chairs, under cushions, behind boxes, etc). Let the dog into the
room and wander around as if you're looking for something. Encourage
your dog: "where IS it? What happened to it? Where did it go? Is that
brat Timmie down the well again?" Don't point the treat out to your
dog--lead them close, encourage, even sniff yourself and let your dog
find the goodie. Cheer, celebrate and then start wandering around again.
Most dogs catch on pretty quickly. You can put in an occasional jackpot
find of a raw beef bone or a stuffed Kong.
   A variation of this that will also tire out your kids is to have the
kid hide with a cookie and send the dog to find the child for the
reward. This is tougher than it might appear because your house is
saturated with hot scent.
   Buster Cubes and Activity Balls are great. My guys are Buster Cube
experts--it doesn't take them long to empty one filled with kibble
(which I don't feed anymore anyway...). Much more difficult to remove is
buttered popcorn--this can be almost fiendishly difficult to remove!
   An idea from Jean Donaldson is to tie a treat up in a rag, so that
the dog has to rip and tear to get the treat out. I have done this but
it is definitely a close-supervision activity (too much thread ingested
can be dangerous--I speak from a weeks' worth of worry over a dog in the
vet hospital).
   Bob Vest (herding instructor) says that the most tiring activity a
dog can do is getting up from a down. For a dog that tends to work at
warp speed (we wouldn't know any Belgians like that, oh no.... <G>), he
has the handler flank and down, flank and down, flank and down, until
the dog starts wanting to linger in the down position. A similar
activity is puppy pushups--a rapid series of sits, downs and stands,
done with lots of encouragement and cheering. This is VERY good for dogs
that tend to bug their owners: "oh Fido, you're bored and you wanna do
something? Let's go!" I've had clients tell me that the number of times
their ball crazed or petting crazed dog demands their attention has
markedly dropped in as little as two days when they initiate a series of
puppy pushups whenever the dog walks up and demands attention. It's done
with treats, it's not punitive--and it really helps a dog who is overly
demanding learn a little discretion.
   Teaching the dog various tricks is another option. Using their brain
will tire out a dog faster than miles of effortless running. This is
more demanding on the handler--but a good option for those cabin fever
days. Teaching your dog the shell game can amaze people--put out three
dixie cups with a treat under one of them. Initially, just set them up
and let the dog knock them over until they find the treat. The vast
majority of dogs will figure out the quickest way is to use their nose
(you can help this along by using smelly treats). Once the dog is almost
always knocking over the correct cup on the first try, then shuffle the
cups a little. Another great party trick is the named retrieve--shape
the dog into retrieving a certain item, then chain on a specific cue.
Great objects to name are car keys, portable phone, shoes or slippers,
purse, billfold, leash, etc.
   I confess that one warm and muddy winter with eight or nine dogs, I
ended up buying a Dog Trotter, a specially designed treadmill for dogs.
My dogs all absolutely adore the Trotter, which is what gave me the idea
that dogs that are trotting briskly are almost forced to be in a good
mood.
   For the dog owner who wants to work out WITH Fido--The Sharper Image
sells a treadmill for man and his best friend. For a mere $7,000+ you
can get a treadmill with a four foot wide bed.

M. Shirley Chong
The Well Mannered Dog