Energy spike!

[kimbersmom]

Stormy's such a good girl during the day but then when 4 pm hits and DH finishes work, it's go go go. We take her for walks and I go through commands with her, but she really needs doggie play time. Unfortunately, it's almost always in the 90s with high humidity, so people haven't been going to the dog park as often or for as long. The neighborhood dogs who were willing to romp with her in the spring now play for 5 minutes, then seek out a bowl of water in the shade and look at her like, "Settle down, crazy kid" when she runs zoomies around them. She needs more. So we did some number crunching and made the books balance so that she can now go to to Doggie Daycare twice a week! I'm super excited because DDC almost always has a wait list; it's kind of a miracle that we got a second regular slot.

She starts next week, hurray!

[Amelia]

Now that Amber is spayed we may take her more often once she is healed. She doesn't like to be the center of attention and kind of plays nicely. Glad Stormy gets more play time!

[voodoo]

with chili I had a dog trainer that would pick him up and drop him off. 1-4 hrs. I think most of the time she took him to local mall which is couple blocks away, do some shopping and bring him back. I was fine with it.

[janedoe]

We did the same with Argos and Nikki when we lived in Tucson. It was a huge air conditioned space. Good call. You can't do anything about the weather.

[bmathers]

Diggity is high energy too. I find that physical exercise is key for him, but I have to balance that out with something mentally stimulating. My “go to” mental exercise is nose work. I have a bunch of tin containers and I put birch oil in them and hide them all around. I tell him “find it!” And he runs around and sniffs them out. He gets a treat each time he finds one. It is amazing to watch and I can tell it tires him out because when he starts out, he is charging all around but by the end, he is sauntering. I have just started moving this outside into my backyard and it is posing new challenges for him because of the new hiding locations and other smells and distractions. A good session of “find it” for about 15 minutes tires him out.

Do you have anything like that for Stormy?


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[kimbersmom]

Diggity is high energy too. I find that physical exercise is key for him, but I have to balance that out with something mentally stimulating. My “go to” mental exercise is nose work. I have a bunch of tin containers and I put birch oil in them and hide them all around. I tell him “find it!” And he runs around and sniffs them out. He gets a treat each time he finds one. It is amazing to watch and I can tell it tires him out because when he starts out, he is charging all around but by the end, he is sauntering. I have just started moving this outside into my backyard and it is posing new challenges for him because of the new hiding locations and other smells and distractions. A good session of “find it” for about 15 minutes tires him out.

Do you have anything like that for Stormy?


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We play "find your toy" in which I go hide her stuffed lamb, but she gets frustrated fast. She likes when lamb is easy to find, but that doesn't really tax her mentally. And if she doesn't find lamb right away, she starts barking at me, little monster. I haven't found the sweet spot of "hard enough to make her think but not so hard she gives up." Lamb out in the middle of the floor= easy. Lamb on the other side of the bed so you can't see it from the doorway=too hard. I use high value treats but she's not quite as food motivated as Kimber, who would do just about anything for kibble.

I've also signed up for another obedience class that starts late July. We're on the waitlist for a puppy agility class; I think she'd really love that.

[MightyThor]

We play the find it game with toys that have their own reward. For example, Thor knows “Kong”, so if I tell him to get his Kong he will spend all day looking for it since when he does bring it to me I will put a treat in it.

I taught that one accidentally - I’ll walk around the house looking for the damn thing, and of course I’m talking to the dogs at the same time. “hey Thor, where did you put your Kong? Help me find your Kong.” And he learned. Now I just have to ask him for it. He’ll disappear for 5 minutes and show back up to drop it in my lap.

This works much better for toys that I can put a cookie in. He’s not as interested in this game if it’s a stuffy or a chew toy. It will tire him out if I need to keep him inside due to weather or something.

[kimbersmom]

We play the find it game with toys that have their own reward. For example, Thor knows “Kong”, so if I tell him to get his Kong he will spend all day looking for it since when he does bring it to me I will put a treat in it.

I taught that one accidentally - I’ll walk around the house looking for the damn thing, and of course I’m talking to the dogs at the same time. “hey Thor, where did you put your Kong? Help me find your Kong.” And he learned. Now I just have to ask him for it. He’ll disappear for 5 minutes and show back up to drop it in my lap.

This works much better for toys that I can put a cookie in. He’s not as interested in this game if it’s a stuffy or a chew toy. It will tire him out if I need to keep him inside due to weather or something.

I taught Kimber to get her Kong for me each night! She had such a worker-dog spirit, it was important for her to have jobs. Stormy may yet develop that tendency but right now she has the attention span of a flea. I even have to check out her frozen kongs when she wanders away, because 50% of the time they still have stuff in them. Kimber *never* left a kong until it had been licked completely clean...

[Amelia]

Amber has played hide and seek with me and loves that. My husband distracts her while I go hide she usually does good at finding me. Won't be long now until we can get back into game mode after her spaying heals. She has been amazing with nothing but a couple of walks each day.

[MightyThor]

I taught Kimber to get her Kong for me each night! She had such a worker-dog spirit, it was important for her to have jobs. Stormy may yet develop that tendency but right now she has the attention span of a flea. I even have to check out her frozen kongs when she wanders away, because 50% of the time they still have stuff in them. Kimber *never* left a kong until it had been licked completely clean...

Yup Barley is the same way. The only thing I can even remotely interest him in hunting is any toy that fits “ball” and he wants me to throw it for him, the hunt is not the point at all. I’m just trying to get through that flea-attention-span phase too!


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