Normally my dogs & I love to cross country ski in the winter. Right now, however, we have temps below zero, with wind chills WAY below zero & as much ice as snow. Not nice for man or beast outside.
This has left us coming up with way to amuse the dogs inside. Some fun games are appearing on the internet. One is a youtube video on teaching your dog to blow bubbles - I haven't tried that yet. I have visions of flooding in my kitchen!
One we have tried is to put treats in the cups of a muffin tin. Then put tennis balls over the treats. We have tried this with all 6 of the dogs & the differences are quite funny. My young Terv Hokey was so thrilled that he got a ball, that he quick ran, put it in the back of his crate, then ran back to eat the treat. He repeated that sequence with all 6 balls. My daughter's Aussie Tia took a ball, played with it for a minute or so, then went back to eat the treat. My son's Aussie Baloo used his paws to remove the balls. Flash the Corgi used paws, nose & feet. Dani the Terv tried to get me to remove the balls by looking at me, then the tray. Then she gave up & removed them herself! Queezle the Terv simply grabbed balls with her mouth.
Other friends have reported dogs simply flipping the whole tin, throwing behaviors at their owner to try to "earn" the treats, etc.
One year we were teaching the dogs the alphabet - touching letters by name with their paw or their nose. Got that idea from Liz Palika. Baloo the Aussie decided he would only do letter B!
What ideas do you have to keep your dog busy indoors? And don't any of you southerners rub it in that we are cold. You train indoors in the summer :))
Deb E
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Nope, here in San Diego county we train outside all year 'round. Everything is outside - training, dog shows, dog sports. Of course that makes it tough when you travel to an inside show as I did one year with my GSD, Watachie, for OTCH points. He was quite happy to show off for a crowd inside; not that we brought home any points, though!
Liz
we KNOW about cold up here: it gets regularly in the minus 25-35 below range. We just went through a month of it. ... loved reading about your experience with the muffin tins!
We do a bit of tug sometimes (yes, in the house). I also do a hide n seek game where the dogs are to find hidden treats. Trouble with that is that the Springer gets left out because the Aussies are so intense and know exactly what to do and get at it. I have to pretend that I'm having fun 'following' the Aussies and the Springer follows my lead and get excited because I'm excited ;-) Good thing I'm alone when this occurs!! Can you just see this in your mind's eye?
I admit I'm a bit lazy to teach them additional indoor fun things. Oh, I nearly forgot about the box. A few years ago, I brought a box in the house and had the dogs throw behaviours at me with the box -- again, it was the Aussies who kept trying everything under the sun and the Springer just wanted to rip it to shreds!
Diane
Your poor Springer! It isn't easy living in a household of overachiever herding dogs!
My Kuvasz used to sometimes watch the herding dogs with a look of amazement on his face.
That happens all the time! My friends who don't have herding dogs watch my Aussies learn a new behavior with one or two repetitions, and mutters, grumbles, and four letter words are soon heard! And I have to admit, the Aussies have spoiled me; I assume they will learn things quickly and they do. Bashir learned to pull a cart, complete with left, right, pull, stop, and easy - in three short training sessions! And it's them; not me - I know I'm not that good a trainer! smile....
Liz
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