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I use paper cups and dry cheerios, hiding a cheerio under one cup, moving them around and letting them discover which one the cheerio is under....LOL They love that game
...sounds like a great game but I'll have to wait...my Sheltie pup would eat the cups right along with the treats
He's now big enough to counter surf and since my previous dogs weren't big enough...I'm learning new house keeping methods...pile everything up on the top shelf
Another one I've heard of but never tried is hide and seek. Hide toys and treats around and teach them to hunt them down.
That's a great game. My pup was intensely interesting in fetch and retrieving. When he was young he could fetch for hours. Literally.
Teaching dogs to retrieve is a blast...he had a very high prey drive, so he was a joy to train.
One way to teach H & S (with a treat): Have your dog in sit/down stay position (or out of the room, yard, etc.). Tie a string around a special treat, something with a strong scent. Drag the string around the yard or room so as to leave a scent trail. Then hide the treat at the end of the trail. Make sure the critter follows the scent, even if you have to point out the trail and encourage along the way. This worked wonders to wear off some of my dog's hyperactivity....(thank goodness!)
Other than that, I play catch (just throwing the ball or stuffed chew toy), where he catches the toy in the air and brings it back, putting it in my hand. Great for the stay command, releasing the dog only after several seconds.
Whatever we do, I always make it a game, where he is rewarded and praised afterward.
Am I correct in thinking that fetching is throwing something and the dog bringing it back to you, whereas retrieving is bringing back a specific item amongst many diff. items? Hope I didn't mix that up!
Like the cheerios under the cup game and the dragging a scented item around to create a trail. Discovered moments ago Hobbs has little interest in the Frisbee but boy, can he retrieve trash from the trash burn pit! Have to fence that in now.
My 2nd lab, who was exceptionally intelligent and a quick learner, enjoyed this game and also playing hide and seek with me. I'm wondering if Hobbs will be like Latetotheparty's dog and just enjoy long walks sniffing everything--problem is he'll roll in anything smelly.
oh yeah ... bailey will too.......
and i am waiting for her to run across a skunk .... am sure that will be happening sooner than later......
I play "hot and cold" with my shepherd--essentially hide and seek but I say hot and cold to her as she hunts down a toy.
The best exercise for her has been the raquetball, which I hit with a tennis racquet in a grassy lot. I never taught her to fetch, she's always done it on her own.
With labs, I think anything that involves water is going to be very popular.
Get a larger hard plastic kiddie pool and some nice plastic squeaky balls. I throw them in the pool. My lab mix loves going in and out of the pool for the balls.
We play 'come find me' a lot. My son and I get bits of hotdogs and each hide. We take turns calling Luna. "Luna, come find me!" and then she races to each of us for treats.
It only lasts a few minutes but she loves it. We keep hiding in different places and she has to seek us (and her treats) out.
She is also part lab and doesn't like to fetch balls very much, but will proudly carry her babies (stuffed toys) or sticks or branches all over the place. She also loves walks and swimming.
[quote=GypsySoul22;9088594]We play 'come find me' a lot. .........
She is also part lab and doesn't like to fetch balls very much, but will proudly carry her babies (stuffed toys) ]
My last lab, a female, carried toys around--stuffed ducks that quacked were her favorite--she'd whimper at them, treating them like puppies she never had. My new dog carries his toys around, looking for a place in the house to "stash" them--what's that all about?
I play "Naptime!" The way it works is that I run and get in bed and get situated amongst the cool, comfy pillows and blankets while Bandit watches patiently from the ground beside the bed. Then once Mommy is all arranged, I pat the bed and say, "Come up!" and Bandit jumps onto the bed and snuggles beside me and I put my arm around him and we take a nap.
It's our favorite game...at least until October when the heat and humidity abate.
Joking aside, my dog, who IS fit and trim, is not very playful and never has been. I keep a large assortment of tennis balls in the house and will fetch them out from underneath the sofa for him. And he loves for me to give him a whole (cored) apple, which he'll bat around the floor before finally settling down to gobble it up. But he's not a dog who likes to chew or tug or fetch or wrestle.
If we're outside at the dog park, he'll play with the other dogs and chase balls (never fetch) and follow me around as I do my "walkies." And that's about it.
This time of the year, we both slip into a catatonic state that lasts for about 10-12 weeks. All we do is hibernate in the cool comfort of the AC and the ceiling fans. Playing is out of the question.
His sister knows this game as well:
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Have to fence that in now.
