Playing with your dog has many benefits:
- provides fun, exercise and training opportunities
- uses surplus energy in your dog
- stimulates your dog
- helps your dog develop
- greatly enhances bonding between you and your dog
- considerably benefits health, possibly in you as well as your dog!
Playtime can be as silly as you like. Play is really helpful as it can be used to build on the training you may be trying to accomplish. There are lots of ways of varying playtime with your dog:
- Chasing is a natural activity for a dog so ball or frisbee games, including throwing and hiding, are an obvious choice
- Larger dogs and robust smaller ones enjoy a rough-housing session
- Old socks tied in knots make great toys for throwing
- Most dogs use their sense of smell to differentiate between a child’s ball and their own
- Tickling your dog’s tummy is a great favorite
- Carrying objects while chasing about is enjoyed by many dogs
- Hide and seek, including while out walking
In your garden or backyard you can adapt old stuff to create other ideas:
- Putting planks on blocks to make equipment for your dog to jump over or walk along
- Old children’s slides can be used for dogs to play on, and some dogs will quickly learn to climb the steps as well as the slope
- Old paddling pools can be used with shallow depths of water to put ice or apples in for your dog to retrieve
- Putting rewards or toys under one of a few old sand-buckets, a variation on magic acts, works well with playful dogs
Many of the above activities will create lots of opportunities to build on standard commands and develop various aspects, for example reducing the need for food rewards and replacing them more with praise and affection.
Opportunities for trick training will also be provided within some of the above, creating yet more variation and enjoyment for you and your dog.
Finally, some points worth bearing in mind when playing with your dog:
- Don’t play for too long as it loses its impact
- End all play sessions on a positive note by praising and stroking your dog
- If playing any game of fetch or similar exercises, always get the object back from your dog
- Young dogs shouldn’t be over-exercised as their bodies are still developing
- Old dogs will still play but at different speeds and levels to their younger counterparts. Just because your dog is ageing, if it is in reasonable health the fun does not have to stop.
Have fun!