Dog training for Rigby, our naughty-but-cute English Bulldog, has been
interesting of all words I can find. Like most dog-owners, I could write a book about all of the situations that come up on a daily basis between feedings, potty, and training. Well, lately my husband and I have been at a loss. We are three months in with our dog, and no where to go. (Dogs under four-months have to be kept away from other dogs i.e. dog parks and walks are out the question)
We are constantly reading and trying to figure out ways we can exercise him. At night and in the middle of the night, we are finding that he doesn't like to sleep, so right before bed we try to exercise him. Ross likes to play soccer, and I like to play chase. However, for some reason, those games aren't enough. So I took these concerns to our local dog trainer and she gave me some wise advice:
Figure out how to be creative with his mind. A tired dog=a happy dog. So, for the past couple of meals I have tried a few ideas she recommend and a few of my own I thought I would share. Hopefully for those of you who have dogs, and run into the same problems, or want to change it up, these seem to work:
1. Buy a KONG toy from your local pet store. These usually run you around 10-20 dollars. They aren't the cheapest, but they help reduce your mealtime from 30 seconds, to 30 minutes. And if you are having trouble finding kennel activities, give your dog his meal right before you leave so you can escape without him noticing you're gone.
2. Home-make a feeding toy. Recently I took my Greek yoghurt container and cut a hole in the bottom and placed some food in it and let Rigby go nuts. So at least for 5-10 minutes he was occupied with it. Cut a hole that is big enough for his dog food to come out of either one-at-a-time, or however many kibble pieces you want.
3. Scatter the food around your house. The other dog I stumbled upon this because I dropped some of his food on the floor and watched as he chased the pieces around. So I took the rest, dumped it on the floor, and watched as he chased the food for 5 minutes. This seems like a strange idea but in the end he was definitely tired.
Our trainer gave us some good pointers, which I needed to hear: She encouraged us to relax and to raise our dog with as much creativity as we wanted. So her challenge to me this week was instead of going to the bowl, go somewhere else for a meal, or two. And I couldn't be happier with how it's turned out for Riggs and for us.
