Alexandria, VA – The summer months give us longer days and more opportunities for outdoor activities. But when the temperatures rise too high, even a walk in the early morning or evening can be draining. Although the summer can provide more outside time with our pups, staying out too long can be dangerous when a heat wave hits.
Nat King Cole sang about “Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer” in 1963. While the heat can make us feel lazy, our dogs might get stir-crazy hanging around the house all day. When boredom sets in, dogs often look to find their fun. Unfortunately, sometimes what they consider fun can be inappropriate in the human home.
Engaging your pup in fun indoor activities and training games that work their brains and provide needed mental stimulation to tire them out will go a long way toward setting them up for success while having fun and bonding with your pup.
Here are a few activities to keep you and your pup happy and cool in the summer heat:
Ditch the Bowl. Serve some of your dog’s meals in treat dispensing toys, snuffle mats, and food puzzles. Make a mash with some of their food, canned pumpkin, or sweet potato, and then stuff and freeze a Kong with their breakfast or dinner. Kong.com has excellent recipes on its website.
Splish Splash with Your Pup. What better way to spend a sweltering day than to splash around in a pool with your canine companion? If you don’t have a full-size pool, get a kiddie pool. They are an inexpensive and fun solution to any hot day. Throw a few of your dog’s favorite floating toys in the pool filled with a few inches of water and see if your dog wants to get in. Of course, you can also get in the pool to entice Fido to join you.
Indoor Fitness and Agility. Set up an indoor fitness course using broomsticks, boxes, and step stools. Have fun luring your dog through the course with yummy treats and encouragement. You can add a kid’s tunnel and teach your pup to go through it.
Up and Down. Walking or running up and down stairs is tremendous exercise. To encourage the behavior, sit at the top of your steps and toss a few tiny treats to the bottom. Once they get them, call them back to the top, reward them for returning, and repeat until they’re ready for a nice nap!
Puppy Push-ups. Playing puppy push-ups: sit, down, sit, stand, and down from a stand burns some physical and mental energy while improving reliability. When your dog is new at it, start with one rep: sit, treat, down, treat, sit back up, treat. Then start chaining the behaviors together before rewarding them. For example, start luring them with a treat, then fade the lure and use a hand signal without the treat in your hand. You’ll still reward them afterward.
Play Scent Games. You can tire and relax your dog with low-energy doggy brain games. Humans have a puny 5 million olfactory receptors in our noses, while dogs have over 125 million. Wonder why our dogs sometimes seem distracted when we think there’s nothing of interest. An easy one to teach is “Search for the Treat.” First, work on teaching your dog to stay on a mat. Next, hide the treat where he can barely see it. Release him with “Go search.” Gradually increase the challenge – hide it where he can’t see it, have him wait in another room, switch from a smelly treat to his favorite toy, and so on. Collect some small boxes and hide treats in them for an added challenge.
Proximity Zone Game. You don’t need to be outside to practice and improve your dog’s leash-walking skills. Practice walking around with your dog inside your house. Reward your dog for showing up next to you while building focus and attention on you. Proximity and connection to you have value! Be exuberant with your praise; your dog will think this is a blast. Try this both off and on the leash.
Reward-based training stimulates a dog’s brain, leaving them pleasantly tired and less inclined to find their own fun. You can teach your dog a few tricks like middle, roll over, or spin. Mental activities are as important as physical. Try some of these cool and fun training games, and remember to save some time for cuddling and chilling with your dog.
Sandy Modell, CPDT-KA, is the Founder, Owner, and Head of Training of Wholistic Hound Academy, Alexandria’s award-winning, premier canine training and learning center — offering classes and private lessons in puppy training, adolescent and adult foundation and life skills, behavior modification, agility, dog sports and canine fitness and conditioning, kids and dogs, pre-pet planning and pet selection. Classes are starting soon! Visit www.wholistichound.com to enroll in our programs, and like us on Facebook.com/wholistichound and follow us on Instagram at Instagram.com/wholistichound.
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