Games to play with your dog: FIND IT

FIND IT!

Playing this game with our dog we will help him to "use his nose", it will provide mental stimulation, training commands and will make him happy for the treats and praises he will receive!

1. Ask your dog to sit and stay
2. Show him a treat
3. Move away from him and hide the treat - if it's the first time show him where are you "hiding" the treat
4. Ask him "find it" and praise him!

It is important to start slowly with easy steps or you will just confuse him.
The first times the dog should see where you are hiding the treat.
When he is used to the commands and the game, you can start hiding where he can't see the treat (beside a chair, in a corner and so on).
Make it always more difficult!
Hide the treat in another room, under a cushion or under a cup.

Obviously don't forget to praise him a lot when he can find the treat!
He will have a double satisfaction: the treat and your hugs!

I use to play this game quite a lot with my dog.
Especially when I am tired of fetch :D
Or when I see that he is too excited, this game helps him to calm down.
There is a routine, mental stimulation, self-control and he is busy and engaged in a rewarding activity!

The next step would be to teach our dogs to find other objects, not only treats.
Like the car keys for example :D
Never tried to be honest, what you think about that?

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Games to play with your dog: HIDE AND SEEK

Another way to play and train your dog!
It's a very nice game and it is a great mental exercise!
I've seen that Jago not only needs to release his energies, but also to feel engaged in something more "mental".
And Hide and seek it's also good fun!!

Your dog should already know the command "stay".
1. Show a treat to your dog or his favorite toy
2. Ask him to "stay".
3. Go to another room and hide somewhere.
4. Call your dog and wait until he finds you!
5. When he finally finds you praise him a lot and give him the treat / toy.

My house is not big, so Jago know salready  all my secrete places :)
One of the first times he took a long time to find me, I was hiding in the wardrobe!!
It was so funny to see him looking around, sniffing in the room but not able to understand where I was!

A different variant is "find it", where you will hide some treats or toys..
I will write about it later!

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Games to play with your dog - TUG O'WAR

***Please note that I am NOT a dog trainer, so I am just sharing my experience with my own dogs.. 
I may be doing wrong things and I am open to suggestions :) ***


When I decided to adopt a dog my main concern was: I don't want him to be aggressive!
For this reason until few weeks ago I never played "Tug O'War" with him.
I was sure it was a game that would teach him to be aggressive, to show aggressive behavior.
Then I started reading about the subject and I found out that it's not like I thought.
If we follow some rules and the dog is not already showing aggressive behavior it's ok to play Tug O'War and it's even good!
Again, it will help to create a good relationship with our dog.
We can play everywhere, also indoor.
We will use a lot of energies.
We will teach playing some commands and he will learn when he has to stop and self-control.

You should teach your dog "drop" or "release" to be able to stop the game.
And playing tug o'war it's a funny way to practice the commands!

If for any reason the dog teeth touch your hand, immediately stop playing, yelp to make him understand it's not good and ignore him for few minutes.
It happened to me yesterday and I think Jago understood :)
Your dog might be growling, it's good for him to release his "roughness" playing a game in a safe way.

There are many dog toys that you can use for Tug O'War, try to find one that is long enough to allow a safe game.
While you are playing sometimes ask him to "drop" or "release", you have to control the game.
Don't forget to let him win sometimes, or it will not be fun!!

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Games to play with your dog - FETCH

***Please note that I am NOT a dog trainer, so I am just sharing my experience with my own dogs.. 

I may be doing wrong things and I am open to suggestions :) ***


We all know that playing with our dog is very important.

It’s important to keep them busy, active, entertained, to avoid boredom and to build a good relationship with the owner.

It’s important to set rules and to use the play time also for training.. but.. don’t forget to HAVE FUN!

Jago is very active.. I would say hyperactive.. he is never tired to play and in the evening he runs around the house looking for some activities to do.

For this reason I am always looking for new ways to keep him entertained.

Games to play alone and to play with me.

His favorite game is obviously fetch!

Everybody thinks that fetch is an easy game, that all the dogs would be able to play naturally and would bring you back the ball or the stick.

It’s wrong!

I’ve never been able to play fetch properly with my first dog.

With Jago.. we are learning!

In the beginning he wanted me to chase him...

When he was a very young puppy he was just retrieving the toy and hiding in his bed.

He didn't let me play.

I was not running to take the toy, because it would reinforce the wrong behavior.

After a while he realized that was boring, if he was just protecting his toy the game would end.

So he started to bring back the toy, but not dropping.

I don’t know how many days and how many treats I've used to teach him to drop the ball.

We are not still perfect, but it’s going better!

Now he is dropping the ball... but always a bit far away from me.

If I am not trowing it again he starts complaining, but luckily not barking.

We play fetch with all sort of dog toys.

His favorite are tennis balls, but if not available any other toy will make the job.

Don’t use sticks or stones because it could be dangerous.

Try to use your dog's favorite toy, make it interesting, using your voice, moving it, playing a quick tug o’war with him, then throw the toy.

He should run and take it hopefully.

Then call him, see if he brings the toy back.

You can use treats, or have a second toy, maybe the same, to use as exchange.

I started with two tennis ball.

If he was coming back to me I was throwing the 2nd one.

After a while he realized my trick and he was just running for a little while to take the ball, but stopping and running back to me waiting that I would throw the 2nd one!

So I tried with treats, but I had to use fantastic treats!
If he was coming back to me with the ball, I was showing the treat.. if not interested made him sniffing the treat.

In this way he would drop the ball ( say “drop it” to teach the command) and we were ready to continue the game!

Now he is really obsessed with fetch and I am happy because he have a lot of fun and he can use his energies!

You will find more information here:

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/teaching-your-dog-play-fetch

Do you play fetch with your dog?

Which difficulties do you find?

Do you have any suggestions or ideas to share with us?

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