In the winter months (for those of you who live in cold weather) it’s not always practical to exercise your dog outdoors. I just finished reading an article in Puppy Leaks on how to keep your dog busy AND active, physically or mentally INDOOR. It’s nice to have that option when you get snowed in!
Jen Gabbard suggests many ideas. I’ll just mention 3 of them here. And you can read the rest of them at your leisure.
- teaching your dog to get your slippers or get something from your refrigerator
- teaching your dog to clean up his toys
- teaching your dog to turn on and turn off the light
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
Advanced Fetching
Dogs love having a job to do, even if it’s something as simple as fetching you your slippers. Make them feel extra useful by teaching them the names of some items you wouldn’t mind them retrieving for you. If you want to impress all of your friends teach your dog to fetch you something from the fridge. To make it easy on your dog tie a towel around the handle so it’s easy to pull open the door.
Clean up his toys
If your dogs toys are kept in a container or bin teach them to clean up after themselves. If your dog already knows “drop it” have them pick up a toy and give them their drop it command once they’re standing over the container. Praise them like crazy, then rinse and repeat. Eventually with consistency you’ll have a dog that will be able to clean up after himself.
Turn on / Turn off the light
This can come in quite handy when it’s getting late and you find yourself needing some more light and you’re feeling a bit lazy. Instead of having to get up and turn on the light have your dog do it for you. To start with this trick a touch stick or good “touch” it command are handy. If you have a small dog you might have to improvise to make it possible for your dog to reach the light switch. Don’t attempt this trick if the occasional scratch mark on your wall will bother you.
You can read the entire article here.
Article source: Jen Gabbard on Puppy Leaks
Image source: Elaine Ashton on Flickr.com
