Keep those puppies puzzeled!
Your puppy is incredibly smart. In our first few training lessons, we always talk about how to keep your puppy’s brain active and happy with mental enrichment activities. As your puppy grows, it’s important to continue to challenge him. All dogs, no matter age, size, or breed, benefit from enrichment games.
Mental enrichment can come in many forms! Puzzle toys are a terrific way to encourage your puppy to fire off those neurons. These toys can be store bought or home-made. They don’t have to be expensive to keep your dog challenged. Great ideas, along with pros and cons, can be found in the Canine Enrichment Facebook group. Thousands of people share their experiences with keeping their dogs pleasantly exhausted in this forum.
Another stimulating activity for your four-legged friend, is an enrichment walk, often called “Sniffaris”. This is a long leash walk where your dog is allowed to sniff to his heart’s content. The best enrichment walks are done in a large, new-ish area your dog hasn’t explored yet. During the walk, let your dog sniff, and don’t ask for of any other behaviors from him. Just let him enjoy it. This is his time to read all the “pee-mail” left by every animal for the last 6 months. Imagine all of the information he takes in!
Puppy Client of the Month!
Hiro
Shiba Inu
-12 weeks old-
Loves Mom, Dad, his dog sister Addie and salmon!
Coming Soon!
Basic obedience and puppy classes!
We’re very excited to be partnering with Love That Dog Charlotte and Veterinary Medical Center of Fort Mill to offer group classes coming in late winter. These classes will be in VMC’s newly renovated educational building in Fort Mill on Hwy 160.
Stay tuned for details!
Positive Pointers:
Training tips for you and your dog!
Is your dog jumping on you, your friends and every person she sees? Remember that ANY kind of attention for jumping, even “bad” attention, is attention and is reinforcing jumping so your dog will continue to jump.
Examples of attention include:
1. speaking to the dog (“Down!”)
2. pushing the dog down with hands
3. eye contact
4. or even turning and asking for a sit from your dog
The best ways to discourage jumping are to:
1. turn away and ignore your dog’s behavior if possible
2. remove yourself from the area she is in until she is calm
3. or my favorite, predict when the jumping may occur and redirect BEFORE the dog feels the need to jump. Greet your dog down low and pet and love on her so she gets the attention she’s craving, especially when you return home 🙂