This week’s topic: Bad Weather energy burners!

Don’t let the weather keep you down! Rain or shine burn energy, utilize their brain & practice new or known cues, all at home! It’s fun, it builds focus, creates structure and, more importantly, it strengthens your bond.

Training should be fun for both you and your pup. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated, and these activities aren’t just for those high energy young pups.

• Create an “agility course” using normal day-to-day items.

  • Create a jump: depending on the size of your dog this can be done using chairs, boxes, crates, or traffic cones and a broom or mop handle, curtain rod, or PVC pipe. Simply set up the chair/box/etc parallel to one another (ensure these are the same height) and place the pipe/broom handle/etc across the top.

    • If using a crate or traffic cone, place each end of the handle through the holes for security.

  • Create “weaves”: using traffic cones, garden stakes, or buckets place them in a straight line, evenly spaced.

  • Create tunnels: Drape blankets, sheets, or towels over chairs, or larger furniture. You can also find play tunnels at most stores that are easily folded and fit in storage.

  • Contact points: use a couch cushion, or piece of plywood and practice sitting or having back paws on the surface.

• Create pattern games, having your pup go around “obstacles”.

  • Place a food bowl on each side of a chair or the couch. Have your pup do half circles around the chair (left or right) and drop a piece of food in the bowl as they do it correctly.

  • Have your pup go in full circles around you and the chair (left or right) and drop a piece of food in the bowl as they go around.

  • Using two traffic cones, chairs, boxes, etc place them a few feet apart and have your pup do figure 8’s.

• Teach a new trick. Depending on your goals and the pups personality some tricks may be harder to train or less desired than others. Some common tricks are

  • Shake or wave.

  • Take a bow

  • Roll Over

  • Spin & twist

  • Give a hug

  • Back up

• Create a sniffari game using higher value treats that can be easily sniffed out.

  • Put your dog in a crate or another room and hide treats around a room that they will need to find.

  • For dogs that are new to sniffari’s or easily give up on searching, place the treats in easy to find spots before making it more difficult.

  • For more advanced pups you can spread the food out through multiple rooms, or hide it under boxes/containers.

  • Toss treats in a grassy area in the yard and send your pup out to search the grass for their reward.

We hope that these ideas are helpful for those hot, rainy or cold days when you just can’t get outside.  If you have any questions or would like any training help, we love what we do and would be happy to talk to you!