By: Adam G. Katz
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and I thought
I would quickly send this out to you, before I leave for the
weekend.
We were discussing how to keep your dog's mind stimulated.
Remember: Bored dogs cause problems. If you don't keep your
dog's mind stimulated, chances are that he'll find activities to
stimulate his mind, himself. And you won't like those
activities.
A dog that is mentally stimulated on a daily basis is a happy
dog. And happy dogs don't cause dog problems.
Here's a quick list of how to keep your dog mentally
stimulated:
1. Exercise. Lots of exercise. If you can incorporate exercise
with another activity such as playing, "Find the ball," or doing
some agility exercises, then that's even better.
2. Brain teaser toys. I'll be adding some of these to our web
site store, later next week. There are a number of cool toys
that actually challenge your dog's mind. For example, one of the
more popular ones is the "Buster Cube," a plastic cube that
releases a pellet of food, every third or fourth time the Cube
is rolled over.
3. Small rituals done at the same time of day, every day. For
example; feeding time, grooming, walks, "cookie" time, car trips
around town, etc...
4. Dogs like to work. Teach your dog to bring in the newspaper,
carry mail back from the mailbox or to walk out with you when
you take the trash out. (Whenever I go through the drive-thru
window at McDonald's, Forbes - my dog - gets to carry the trash
bag to the trash receptacle when we're finished. Sound silly,
right? But the dog loves it!)
5. Do obedience training with your dog. Obedience training
requires your dog to use his brain and think. Knowing that he
will be praised for making the right decision and corrected for
making the wrong decision (and allowed the opportunity to make
the right decision again) instills a sense of responsibility in
your dog and demands that he use his noggin. Remember: Dogs are
bred to work. They've been blessed with super-human instincts
and drives and they need an outlet for those drives.
That's all for now, folks!
Adam
