One way to give your dog consistent play and exercise is call Professional Pet Sitting Etc and sign up for Daily Dog Walking and Playtime!
Play is Essential to Keep Your Dogs Young and Healthy,
Mentally As Well As Physically
Author, Dorinne Whynott, Owner of Professional Pet Sitting Etc.
Dogs get bored, and when they do, the results can be very disastrous. Keeping your dog busy with mental stimulation games, as well as social and physical interactions, are crucial for maintaining proper behavioral health. Enrichment games can help relieve the dog’s boredom and stress, and this can make a huge difference in their day to day life. Boredom can be reduced by keeping the dog’s brain busy with mental games, training, and playtime when you are at home, and ensuring the dog gets adequate exercise. Enrichment games do not only reduce stress and end boredom, but they also provide you with a chance to bond with your furry friend. For majority of the dogs, the best type of enrichment games involve interacting with people.
In this article, we are going to give you the best enrichment games for dogs.
Trick Training
Dogs love learning new tricks, and even little bursts of brain exercise, can help a dog that’s bored. You can start off with some basic commands and tricks, and only do a couple of minutes of training at ago, with frequent breaks. You can teach you dog easy commands like sit down and paw, and see how quickly the dog can do them. You can add few more fun tricks to keep things interesting. YouTube has lots of trick training videos which you can use. You should stop whenever your dog shows any signs of frustration.
Chase
There are some dogs that love chasing things, but have little or no interest in bringing the objects back to their owners. The Chase enrichment game for dogs is ideal for such dogs. To play this game, you can try tying any one of the dog’s favorite toys to the end of a rope, and attach the other end of the rope to a sturdy stick. Use this stick to drag the dog’s favorite toy around on the floor/ground. Dogs usually find this type of game very exciting, and will chase the moving toy til they are exhausted. Remember to let the dog catch the toy a few times.
Hide and Seek
Feeding time is a great opportunity for enrichment games for dogs. You can feed the dog at least 1 meal a day in the food puzzle toys to give his/her jaws and brain the much needed workout. Food puzzle toys are basically sturdy containers, which are usually made of plastic or hard rubber, and can hold treats or food inside but do not give the dogs easy access to what’s inside. They have holes on either side or end, and the dog has to shake, paw, roll, nibble or lick the food puzzle toy in order to get access to the food.
You can make the dog hunt for its’ food by hiding the stuffed food puzzle toys around the house for your dog to discover. Initially, you can hide the food puzzle toys in easy to find areas, and later on when the dog is good at finding them, you can hide them in places which are harder to find. You can vary the foods/treats and also the hiding places to keep the game interesting. The food puzzle toys normally require patience, time and problem solving skills; these type of skills that are great for any dog, and helps them enjoy a quiet time alone. This game also encourages licking and chewing, which can cultivate a calming effect on your dog.
Chew Time
Generally, dogs need to chew, and can spend many hours doing it. This helps keep their teeth and jaws strong and clean. They also chew for stimulation, fun, and even to relieve anxiety. Whether you’ve an adult dog or a puppy, it is important to provide him/her with a variety of SAFE attractive chew toys. You can give Kong like toys that can be filled with cheese or peanut butter (place in freezer for even longer play).
Scent Games
One of the very best assets of dogs is their nose. Allow the dog to use his/her instinctive skills and sniff, with some scent games. You can start by giving simple scent tasks to bored or frustrated dogs. This game can boost their moods, and also keep their minds alert and active. One type of scent game you can try involves placing soft toys in a properly sealed box with something that’s strong smelling like lavender. After the scent has been fully infused in the sealed box, you can take out the toy and encourage the dog to play with it for a little while so he/she can pick up the scent. Now go and hide the scent infused toy somewhere in the house, and get the dog to search for it. You can add in a cue word like ‘go search’ or “find it”. When the dog finds the toy, give him/her lots of praise and allow him/her to play with that toy as a reward. Initially, you can start with simple locations, and then gradually make the locations harder as the dog becomes better at the game.
Hiring A Pet Sitter
In our busy lives, we sometimes do not have consistent time for ourselves, never mind our pets. Hiring a pet sitter to come in every day during the week can help your dog mentally and physically. Getting consistent play time and exercise can help your dog sleep better and be healthier.
Professional Pet Sitting Etc offers this service. We can come in every day while you are at work and get your dog that much deserved and needed fun and playtime as well as a bathroom break.
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About the Owner and Professional Pet Sitting Etc
Dorinne Whynott, is a long time animal professional. She is a successful business owner establishing one of the largest pet sitting companies in New Hampshire since 1990. Click to Read her complete History.
Professional Pet Sitting Etc. is a leading business in the pet care field and continues to grow since 1990. It is an AWARD WINNING business, having been awarded the 2015 Best Pet Sitting , 2015 Best Dog Walker, Business of the Year Awards in 1996, 1997, 2006 and 2010. It boasts 30+ amazing pet sitters on staff, over 3000 clients in 38 cities from Nashua to Concord, NH. Hundreds of satisfied client testimonials can be found on their website and more 5 star reviews on their Facebook page, Google+ page and more. They have sustained an A+ rating with the BBB, A rating with Angie’s List and are unmatched in the Pet Sitting Industry in New Hampshire.
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