Tag Archives: play with your dog

Throw your dog away & other games

Throw your dog away

The absolute, sure-fire, fun game almost every puppy and dog on the planet love is “Throw your dog away.” With your palm, you just gently shove your dog in the chest to move him/her back an inch or two. At first, most dogs seem a little surprised. But they quickly get into the game. Especially if you’re teasing them: “I don’t want you.” “Get away, silly beastie!” “What are you doing here? Didn’t I throw you away?”

Almost 100 percent of dogs will crouch back on their haunches, then stick their butts in the air in a classic play-bow, and come bounding back to you for more. They love this game. And it’s fun to see the dogs, and their people, grinning as they learn the game and love playing it. Just this week we got to see the biggest grin on the face of both owner and dog and a year-old Standard Poodle got “thrown away” and learned his mom is actually fun!

Playing tug

Another great game with minimal stuff is tug. A few years ago there were all kinds of experts telling people not to play tug with their dogs. It went along with making sure you go through a door first, or not letting dogs on furniture. All nonsense, to us. Tug is a great game. When we hear people say “my dog won’t tug,” we show them how. Slowly drag your tug object back and forth in front of your dog’s paws. If your dog is just staring at it, make sure you drag it across their paws. Be annoying and engage your dog’s prey drive. It’s the same thing puppies do to get older dogs to play with them – be annoying.

We particularly like tug because it’s a workout for your dog’s core and legs, and they can’t play it alone. Simon tries – stepping on the tug toy and reaching back as far as his neck will go. But it doesn’t work too well – he’d rather play with his mom.

Boop your dog

Another silly little game we play with our dogs is “nose button.” It doesn’t really have a name, but it’s fun and engaging and makes us and our dogs happy. When we touch (boop) our dog’s noses, they lick. So we call it the nose button game. When they don’t lick, we make a whole production out of their button being busted. And push it some more to “fix” it.

The point of all of this is to have more fun with your dog. Henry Ward Beecher’s quote “The dog is the god of frolic.” We have no idea who he was, or what he was famous for, but he was right about this. You got a dog for fun and companionship. Have more fun with your dog!

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Just for fun – sniffing out new dog games

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With few places to go, we’re getting creative with new dog games to play inside. Our morning play session with our dogs is one of the highlights of every day. It ensures that every single day starts with something to smile about.

Getting creative

The challenge, for us, is to keep it fresh and fun. Teaching our dogs a new dog game is Hope’s favorite part. Figuring out each “step” in the process, and how to communicate it to the dog. Then, once we try it with the dog, we learn how to change things up, based on that individual dog’s response.

This week Fran was introducing Booker to the bowling game. Torque’s been playing this one for a while. Hope sets up the toy bowling pins and sends her French Bulldog Torque off – “Go Strike!” to knock them down. Torque bashes into each one with his big head and dashes back to Hope for his reward. We think it’s adorable.

Booker is a Boston Terrier. He doesn’t have a “big giant head” and certainly doesn’t use the one he does have to bash into things. Instead, like a Boston, he uses his paws.

We’d never seen that before in the bowling game. Thinking about it, Fran decided that, since Booker was more comfortable using his paw, slapping the pin would be Booker’s version of the game. His rules can be different from Torque’s. The game depends on the dog.

Sniffing for fun

Torque’s newest game is sniffing scents. His love for Hope’s essential oils actually gave her the idea. That, and reading about many friends competing in “Nose Work” dog sports. In Nose Work, dogs are brought into an area where certain scents are hidden, and the dog has to signal where they are.

In our basement game of sniffing, Hope puts a couple drops of essential oil (we’re using clove at the moment) on a cotton pad and Fran hides it while Torque and Hope are turned away. When it’s in place, Hope tells Torque to “find it” and he dashes around, sniffing everywhere. It’s a pretty new game for them, but Torque just loves it and seems to be catching on quickly. Except when he grabs the cotton pad and tries to eat it. Mostly he signals by pawing at it.

But we’re not sure this game would be a good idea for Booker. When Booker is feeling unsure, he “checks out” and goes sniffing. He disengages from Fran and loses focus and fun. For Booker, sniffing is a stress behavior. We’re not sure if making it part of a game would stress him even more, or normalize sniffing.

New dog games adapt

When we’re developing a new game for our dogs, we try the set-up and see what our dogs do with it. All games change based on how that individual dog reacts and “plays” the game. Dogs who are used to learning new things, and know they’re allowed to try stuff, can be very creative in their reactions.

We may have a picture in our minds of how a new dog game will go. It’s a rare occasion when it goes as planned. That’s part of the fun.

New dog games develop over time. And it’s so much fun to have a selection to choose from. Every day we can choose a beloved “oldie” to dust off and play, or a new favorite, or play a “work in progress” game.

Just a few minutes a day can grow your dog’s brain, your bond with your dog, and start the day with a huge smile. It doesn’t take much room, much time, or much effort. What a huge payoff!

What games do you play with your dog?

3 Inside Dog Games to Play at Home

Inside Dog game #1: Kitchen chaos

All you need for this game is a muffin tin, tennis balls, and treats. Simple enough – put a treat or six in the bottom of each section of the muffin tin. Cover them each with a tennis ball. Put it on the floor. Let your dog have fun.

Muffin tin with treats for inside dog games

If your dog is a tennis-ball maniac, you may want to use something else to cover the treats. One of ours is, and he’d much rather run away with the ball than pursue the treats. For him, we put little paper cups over the goodies. It works for him, and when the cups are destroyed, it’s not a great loss.

Inside Dog Game #2: Sniff for it

One of the most popular and growing dog sports is scent work. In the version we know about, dogs learn to distinguish several different aromas, anise, birch, clove, and cypress. Then they find scented items that are hidden, buried, inside, outside, etc. There are lots of levels of difficulty which we’re not sure of, we haven’t really explored it completely.

But you don’t have to know all the rules of the sport to enjoy playing it. Hope thought it would be fun to teach her French Bulldog Torque to use his nose, instead of just barrelling into anything around. She also had some clove essential oil, so started there.

At first, she just put a drop of the clove oil on a cotton pad and showed it to Torque. As soon as he sniffed it instead of trying to eat it, she rewarded him. Then she had two cotton pads, only one with oil, and let him choose. When he picked the scented one, he got a reward.

Dogs learn what gets them rewarded really quickly. In almost no time, Torque was choosing the scented pad, rather than just grabbing everything in front of him.

To “step up” the game, Hope enlisted Fran to help out. While Hope had Torque with his back to the room, Fran “hid” the scented cotton pad. She was the only one who knew where it was, so she had control of the “clicker” to mark when Torque found it.

We were pretty amazed at how quickly Torque started scanning the space, his little nose sniffing a mile a minute. He loves this game and gives a Frenchie “wiggle” when we sees us reaching for the cotton pad.

Speaking of which, we keep the pad in a plastic sandwich bag between uses, and refresh with a new drop of oil on the days we play.

Inside Dog Game #3: Hide and seek

For this inside dog game you need either a very reliable “stay,” or another person. It’s easy – just grab a few treats and go hide from your dog. It’s the leaving the dog that’s the tricky bit. All of our dogs seem to follow us from room to room wherever we go. We never have to go looking for our dogs – they’re always with us.

On the other hand, a friend of ours with Shiba Inus knows where her dogs are because they have favorite spots in the house – not always with her. It’s a different dog mindset, and one we’re not accustomed to dealing with. But it would make “Hide and Seek” easier to start. The hard part would be getting her dogs motivated for the “seek” part.

With your dog on a “stay,” or being held by someone else, go “hide” from your dog. You can really hide behind something, or you can just go into another room. After a countdown from 10 (or more, if you have a lot of ground to cover), release the dog. Until your dog understands the rules of the game, you can call the dog’s name and, when he/she finds you, celebrate with lots of praise and some treats.

When your dog understands the game, you’ll no longer need to call – just release from the stay or tell the other person to say “find So-and-So!”

Play away routine

Dog games break the monotony of an ordinary day. It’s a simple, fun thing you can do with your dog. Let us know your favorite inside dog games!

Snow got you down? Play with your dog!

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