Training Archives - Oh My Dog!

How to Keep Your Dog Busy on a Rainy Day: 5 Indoor Activities

12•04•17

Let’s talk about crazy dogs, shall we?

You guys know me, so you know I say “crazy” with tremendous love in my heart.

I’m talking about dogs like Cooper: high-energy dogs, smart dogs, creative dogs who come up with their owns methods of entertainment when they’re under-exercised or under-stimulated…

Cooper runs. A lot. He does slow neighborhood wogs (walk + jog) with me, and he does long marathon-training runs with John. Yet… he wallops the cats, skitters around the furniture, barks his face off out the window, goes bonkers with his toys, and so on IF we skip a day.

And, honestly, sometimes we have to skip a day because, well, life.

Keeping a high-energy dog busy can be a real challenge, and it becomes even more difficult in cold, rainy, or snowy days when you just can’t get outside. With that season around the corner (OK, actually, it should be here… it’s December… why is it 60? #thanksclimatechange), I’ve revisited some past posts about indoor activities and thought it was time for a refresh.

When the weather doesn’t cooperate with outdoor fun, here are five DIY enrichment ideas you and your dog can do… indoors… to help keep that energy at bay!

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Muffin tin game

Fill the slots of a muffin tin with treats or your dog’s kibble. Place a tennis ball on top of the treats in each slot. Hint: Some active pups quickly learn to tip over the whole tray. If that happens–and you don’t want to clean up the mess each time–try the next game instead.

Paper towel tube puzzle

Stuff a treat in an empty paper towel tube. Crimp down the ends to trap the treat. Let your dog tear, shred, and pounce on the tube to get the treat. Hint: This one is great for cats, too.

Will work for food

Change the way you feed your dog breakfast. Engage his mind first thing in the morning! Rather than plunk it down in a bowl, make him work. If you have time, offer him one bite at a time in exchange for behaviors like sit or high five. If you don’t have time, divide the food among five or six bowls, and hide them around the house before you leave for work in the morning.

Nose work

Dogs love to use their noses. Hide treats around the house, first in obvious places, then with increasing difficulty. Make mealtime a job by combining it with nose work; hide your dog’s dinner around the house, and let him hunt his meal (kind of like above but without the caches in bowls… spread the pieces wayyyyy further). Or, use a snuffle mat like the Wooly pictured above!

Obedience rally

Get your dog thinking by running obedience cues around the house. Have him wait in one room, then call him from another. Practice sits and downs on the bed or work on long stays with distractions. Reward along the way! For dogs who need to blow off extra steam, run the drills up and down the stairs. One family member sits at the top and calls your pup. Ask for a basic cue, like sit, then another family member at the bottom calls and asks for another cue. The physical activity of running stairs, combined with the mental activity of obedience tires out even the rowdiest hound.

Remember, if you’re new at these types of games, your dog will need a little guidance and support at first. Help your pup as needed, and give lots of praise (and treats!) to encourage his efforts.

I had this awesome idea for tonight while Violet gets her bath–we’re going to combine two for an epic wear-out session: While I’m bathing her upstairs and John’s cooking dinner downstairs, we’re going to feed him his dinner by having him do obedience rally back and forth between us in exchange for bits of kibble. My guess? He’ll be asleep before Violet tonight!

If you have a high-energy dog, how do you wear him out? What tips and tricks can you share? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments!

For another 20 ideas, check out these two posts:

What to do when your dog won’t listen

10•05•17

We have a… joke? saying?… for this mode Cooper gets in. He totally blacks out. He won’t listen. He won’t calm down. He won’t stop. He won’t come or sit or stay.

He. just. won’t.

We say (in his voice, of course), “Cooper isn’t here right now. Please leave a message, and he’ll get back to you when his brain returns.”

We joke, we have to joke, because it is so incredibly frustrating.

Like, when another dog has the audacity to stop to go to the bathroom in our yard. Or when our friend’s kid comes over who he loves more than anyone and they start playing chase and all of a sudden nothing in the world exists except this kiddo. Or when the neighbors tie up their giant hound dog in the front yard and he barks and barks and barks and barks and barks…

Wait. I agree with that last one, actually.

Anyway, when Coop is blacked-out-not-listening, there’s literally nothing to do except clip his leash and remove him from the situation.

Truly, I think that’s a good rule for any dog who’s just gonzo. Clip on the leash and walk away.

But what about those other times? The times when you’re working on something or out and about and your dog looks at you and then… decides to ignore you? You know he knows the cue. You know he’s physically capable of hearing you. And yet.

So, what do you do when your dog won’t listen?

Here’s what I do in a few short steps:

Assess whether he really, honestly, wholly knows how to do what you’re asking him to do. This is super-duper important. Sometimes we make assumptions about skills or knowledge. “Why won’t he jump up on this bench? We practice it all the time at the bus stop, and he KNOWS it!” Are you in a new park? A different street? Is one bench concrete and another wood? Since dogs don’t generalize well and people do, we sometimes assume they’re more knowledgeable than they are. So, step 1: Does your dog really know what you’re asking him?
If the answer to 1 is YES, then the next step is to, first, take a big, deep, calming breath because it’s really annoying when your pup won’t listen, I know! Then, redirect. Your dog is refusing to sit? Ask for a down, and reward when he does it. Ask for a shake, and reward. Refocus your pup into work + reward mode and away from the refusal. Then, after a few distracting behaviors, ask again for what you initially wanted.
If he STILL won’t sit/up/whatever, time to acknowledge that everyone has their limits, and your dog might’ve reached his. End the session. Toss a ball. Do something fun. Or clip on his leash and walk away. Just like among elementary school students, the reasons for ceasing to listen can vary but are usually specific: don’t understand, bored, frustrated, distracted, tired, hungry… etc. As the human end of the leash, it’s up to us to acknowledge that and to stop pushing. Move on. Tomorrow’s another day.

All that said, there’s one big caveat to this: if your dog’s safety is in danger.

If your dog is barreling toward a busy street and refusing to come when called, or if he’s heading toward a pup you can tell is itching for a fight, or picking up a chicken bone or used condom (true stories, Emmett did all those and more at our park in DC!), you might have to shout. Flail your arms. Fall to the ground. Whatever it takes to distract and disengage your pup from the danger. The advice above is more for general around-the-house or training-session assholery.

By the way, I have a TON to share about Ripley and how all that’s going, and this post ties into that directly because for a while Cooper was so fixated on Rip that he would. not. listen. Not to a single word. So, I took my own advice, starting with clipping his leash to his collar. More on that another day…

I’d LOVE to hear what you do when your dog stops listening? I mean, other than quietly seethe about what a jerk he’s being… or is that just me? What are your tips and tricks to regaining focus?

On tenacity, redux

06•23•15

Sometimes the universe just smacks you on the head.

Before we proceed, can I ask you a quick favor? Can you read this archived post–it’s super short–or take a speedy glance? Trust me. You’ll see.

I’ll wait…

Did you glance at it?

Thanks!

OK. Now, that was from two years, one month, and one day ago. Wouldn’t you know it, though… As I was ~~staring out the window~~ working this morning, I glanced up and there he was! (Sorry for the crappy-quality, through-the-screen shot… I didn’t think I’d have enough time to get outside to snap the pic!)

Can you even believe it? Same compression socks, same sweatband, same tenacious gentleman. (Not sure why he’s walking in the grass? Less impact? Concrete too hot?)

Anyway, as soon as I saw him–after I dashed off to snap the pic–I looked up agility classes at the facility where Cooper and I used to practice. Rats. No classes. But then I looked back at that old post, and I was reminded: My goal was never agility. My goal was to build Cooper’s confidence. Sure, agility is a great way to do that, but that’s not the end game.

We’ve made some strides. For instance, yesterday, after spending the entire day at doggy daycare followed by a two-mile walk/jog with John and I, Cooper very calmly greeted neighbors who had a baby with them. Heck, he even wagged his tail and went up to the guy to get some scratches. That isn’t something he used to be able to do calmly. Of course, it took wearing him out thoroughly first, but it still happened!

Doggy daycare is one way we’ve been working on his confidence. He goes alone now–no brothers–and while they tell us he’s doing great, he plays, he loves the people, etc., we have our doubts since he’s never, not once been in the pictures they post daily. It could be coincidence, I suppose, but we sort of suspect he’s just hanging off to the side, not in the action. Which is okay, too, as long as he isn’t uncomfortable. They assure us he isn’t, so we’ll keep it up.

The other thing, since we have few formal training options, is we’ve been hyper-focused on exercise. Cooper and I have been doing the C25K training program using this app (thanks, Erin!!!) and just completed week six, day one. Theoretically, two weeks from today, we’ll be running three miles.

Here’s where the universe smacked me on the head: I hate running. Actual hate. It’s uncomfortable. I don’t know where to put my arms (think: Phoebe). I trip a lot. I have crappy shoes. It takes so much time. Then I have to shower, which takes even more time. And our neighborhood is nothing but hills. Running here is seriously uphill both ways. Seriously.

I have all the runs written into my calendar, and every day when I see the dang reminder, I groan. I don’t want to. I don’t. I’d rather stay home.

And then I saw this guy. I have to imagine it’s hard for him, too. It’s hard to tell in the pic, but he looks like he’s in his 70s. And look at him go!

Then there’s Cooper. As much as I hate to run, Cooper loves it. No joke: I put on the hat I wear when we run, and he starts wagging and pacing and whining and wagging some more. He loves it. He trots along, one paw in front of the other, out in front of me with his ears are back listening for, I don’t know, my last gasping, dying breath.

(Actually, we’ve worked on “wait” at intersections, “let’s cross” to cross the street, and “turn” to stay on the sidewalk instead of cross.)

As we go, Cooper’s confidence is building–demonstrated by his greeting those strangers yesterday–and, I grudgingly suppose, my confidence as a runner will build. Maybe. It’s something to focus on, anyway.

I got my reminder this morning in the form of that tenacious, dedicated elderly gentleman who inspires me to keep at it.

I get my reminder every day from Cooper, the little guy who’s terrified of many things but would rather face down his fears for the chance to get out there and run.

Boredom Busters: 5 ways to exercise your dog indoors

01•19•15

In 2010, we faced an icy winter. Our backyard was a slick sheet, and the sidewalks were a slippery, salty mess. The dogs were going bonkers, so I put together this list of 10 ways to tire out your dogs indoors.

After a few years of working through that list each winter, we landed in Louisiana and faced the opposite problem: It was far too hot to play outside safely. We had worked through that initial list, so I brainstormed 10 (more) ways to tire out your dog indoors.

{{By the way, in case you don’t want to click through all those posts, I’m compiling the full list of 25 Boredom Busters into a handy PDF checklist that will go out with the January newsletter! If you’re not on the list, subscribe here so you don’t miss out!}}

Now, we’re back in Indiana and back in winter. While this has been a mild winter, we’ve had a couple health setbacks that have shortened Lucas’ and Cooper’s walks. They still need exercise – physical AND mental – so I’m back to brainstorming some Boredom Busters for the boys. Here’s my newest list: 5 ways to exercise your dog indoors!

DIY games: I love food puzzles and games. But once they’ve played the same ones a few times, they have it totally figured out, and the challenge is gone. I realized that the puzzles we had in rotation were being solved way too fast to truly keep them busy. I DIYed a few variations to mix it up a bit. First up was this Restuffable, Easy DIY Dog Toy from Kol’s Notes. Piece of cake to make (some basic sewing skills required), and you can mix up what you stuff on the inside. I also made a little “find it” game out of two Solo cups. I cut a slit in the bottom of the cup and inverted it over a piece of food. The boys had to target the cup with their nose to earn the food. To increase the difficulty, cut slits in multiple cups and have them select the only one you put food under – a variation on the shell game!
Take a drive: Now, I’d rather your dog be safe than bored, so this one is totally weather-dependent. If the streets are plowed, though, getting out of the house can be fun! Plan errands like driving through the bank because, obviously, you don’t want to leave your dog in the car, or just hit Starbucks – be sure to order your dog a Puppy Latte! Note: When John does this with the boys, he always warms up the car before they hit the road. I, on the other hand, am apparently cruel and never think to do so!
Tag! This is Lucas’ favorite game in the house. We play it a couple different ways, but the important thing is to figure out what you can do to cue your dog to PLAY. (This article is an interesting exploration of that question.) For Lucas, he gets very wound up if we pretend like we’re coming in for a hug. I need to get video of this or something because it’s really different from an actual hug – like an over-exaggerated “I’m gonna get you!” He leaps in the air and spins around, at which point I take off in the opposite direction. He chases me around until he catches me, then I do the “coming in for a hug” again, and off we go for another round! With Emmett, the only thing that gets him going is if he sees you actively try to hide, like if he’s watching me and I duck behind the couch. He goes, “Uh oh! Better go get my lady!” at which point I take off the opposite way.
Rotate toys: For a very long time, all our dog toys lived in a basket in the living room. The boys would dip in and out, choosing what they felt like playing with – but, over time, it turned into the same favorites got the most attention. So, I picked up about half the toys, stuck them in the pantry, and waited. When they seemed disinterested in playing with toys, I switched out three at a time (one for each boy, attempting to be fair… even though they only want the toy the other ones have). It revitalized several long-abandoned toys, and when I open the toy drawer, they get really excited to see what I’m going to bring out.
Strike a pose: Start an Instagram account for your dog… and teach poses! I thought of this one because we needed some new tricks. We’ve been working on many tricks for many years, so I wanted to mix it up and come up with tricks that would photo well, just for fun, and Instagram is the perfect platform for those performances! Cooper is learning “Eskimo kisses” and I want the big boys to master a “pout” by putting their chins on their paws.

There you have it! If you can get through all 25 ways to tire out your dog indoors, you’re going to have a super fun – and exhausting – winter!! I’m sure with these lists I’ve probably missed something. Do you have any go-to indoor exercises with your pup? What do you do when you can’t get outside? Any fun boredom busters?

The Newt Plan: Introducing dogs and cats

06•17•13

Before we moved to Louisiana, I ~~obsessed~~ researched like crazy, read everything I could find, and talked to people with combined households about introducing dogs and cats. Emmett, Lucas, and Cooper had almost no experience with cats, and Newt had no experience with dogs. The one factor that I thought would work in our favor was that neither the dogs nor the cat were “resident animals” since we were all moving into a new place at the same time. No one would feel like their space was being encroached upon since it was neutral for everything.

We started with a three-pronged plan: Get the used to each other’s smells and stuff, let them see each other at a safe/restrained distance, and (eventually) allow them to meet directly.

I wasn’t sure how long each step would take, but we wanted to make sure they were all comfortable before we increased the difficulty.

One crucial aside: The house is set up to make this process super easy. The dogs have the first floor. You go up a flight of stairs into a large living room – the neutral zone. Then there’s a flight of stairs from that room that goes to the second floor, which is Newt’s area. Each zone is separated by a door, but we also have a series of baby gates set up in each “hot spot” to make sure that there’s no way the dogs can get to Newt until we’re ready for that to happen!

A week into it, we’ve had to make some adjustments… Here’s where we are and where (I think) we’re going:

Smells and Stuff

Before beginning this whole process, we made a few predictions. First, Emmett wouldn’t care about her one bit. Second, Lucas would be incredibly interested, though playful. Finally, Cooper would go nuts.

Our predictions have been pretty darn accurate!

We started this first phase by putting the dogs in the downstairs bedroom with the door closed, taking Newt into the kitchen, then letting the boys upstairs. They had ample time to explore her space, sniff every corner, test out her toys, and generally just to understand that there was a living creature up there. Meanwhile, she prowled around downstairs, climbed into their beds, sniffed their toy box, and got a sense of what she was up against. We did the same thing with the “neutral” room – the dogs got a turn in there, then we’d switch them out for Newt, repeat. We’ve done this several times a day without problem.

Seeing Each Other

After a few days of sniffing, we decided to allow them to see one another. We took one dog at a time on leash into the neutral room. Then we’d open the door that led upstairs and let Newt decide if she wanted to come down or not. The entire time, we clicked and treated for calm behavior and every single time they’d look away from her. I didn’t want them to stare her down! The first time, Emmett looked at her once, then was like, “If she’s not going to give me cheese, then I have no business with her.” She crept quite close to him, I think because he had no interest. Lucas was very interested. His eyes were round, his ears were perked, and his back was tense. He cried and cried (and cried and cried). But he was responsive. He sat. He did watch mes. He did a down. I think all the reactive dog training really teed us up for success. She didn’t want to get too close to him that first time, but she did watch him for a while from a safe distance. Cooper was incredibly aroused, so we cut his first view very short. As soon as we got a sit and a watch me, we ended the session so as to end on a positive note.

We’ve repeated this several times with each dog. Cooper has improved substantially. Lucas is still a little too hyped-up. Emmett still couldn’t care less. Which brings me to…

Meeting

Newt got brave. I had Emmett on leash on the couch while Newt observed him from under the side table. Then she got a wild hair and decided that his tail looked FUN! So super FUN! Must get it! So she leapt onto the couch and sunk her nails into his wagging tail.

What did Emmett do?

Nothing. Of course, I had cheese, and Emmett gets hyper-tunnel-vision for cheese. I, on the other hand, had a heart attack. 🙂 Then, a few moments later, Emmett turned his head and nosed her!

We also set up a gate on the steps going upstairs. Instead of letting them meet face-to-face, we’ve let them approach each other from either side of the gate. This has been incredibly successful because they can sniff each other while feeling safe. Cooper and Lucas both licked Newt right in the face, which I took as a good sign, though I’m sure Her Royal Highness was horrified.

So that’s where we are… They can’t be totally free around each other yet, but it’s only been a week! We’re going to keep repeating these exercises every day until they seem nonchalant. I don’t know how long that will take, but I think once we get there – where they’re totally “eh” about each other’s presence – we’ll work out a plan for off-leash introductions (I’m thinking squirt bottles need to be on hand just in case). We’ll see when we get there.

Have you ever had to figure out a plan for introducing dogs and cats? Any tips or strategies? Or, perhaps more importantly, things not to do?