100 dog things

Any substacker / writer dog trainer / lovers out there? I was procrastinating / not writing and ended up making a list instead…

• Catch a treat. Even if they’re completely rubbish at it they’ll soon nail it. Cooked sprouts, chunks of carrot, diced up cheese, hot dogs, chicken, or plain old kibble. Play around with size, colour (some colours will be easier for them to see) and saliency (taste and crunch).

• Slow motion film the above. Try it, it’s funny.

• Catch on the move. As above but do it whilst walking. This can help if you are struggling with teaching them loose lead walking or focus on you, too.

• Take them somewhere new. If your dog is reactive, make it somewhere that avoids triggers. Remember that it doesn’t have to be out in nature for them to enjoy sniffing new smells. Be creative. Explore. If you usually go left, go right. Car parks, city centres and industrial estates are good places for avoiding other dogs and humans. Alleyways and anywhere smelly will be a fun place for them to explore.

• Canicross. Get a running belt and a harness. Give it a go. Canicross can often really help reactive dogs. You can teach them to run beside you and out in front (alternating with cues). Canicross belts are great for saving your joints on lead walks, too.

• Connect with your local community through your dogs. Put a shout out on Nextdoor or social media to meet up with other dogs and their humans. You can even suggest to meet up without your dogs. You’ll already have something in common and those who have bombproof / laid back dogs can bring theirs.

• Parallel walks. If your dog’s reactive you can do as above but ask for people who have calm / stable / socialised dogs who might be willing to parallel walk with you to build your dog’s confidence at a safe distance.

• Take them to water. Take them to the seaside or find a stream, river or lake near you. If they aren’t a natural swimmer, you can try a few hydrotherapy sessions to build their confidence. They might only like to paddle or splash about but they will enjoy the novel smells of the beach / river bank.

• Charge the clicker. Click and treat. Click and treat, Click and treat. You can then use the clicker to mark specific correct behaviours (for example when training a sit click as bum hits the floor). The click = treat on its way.

• Put food delivery methods on cue. ‘Find it!’ (for a treat dropped on the ground) ‘Chase!’ (for a treat rolled or bounced away fast) ‘Catch!’ (for a treat thrown to their mouth) ‘Take it!’ for a hand delivered treat. A few minutes of this mixed up will tire them out, believe it or not.

• Have a rest day. Take your dog out to poo and pee but otherwise have a day off dog walking. Cuddle up together and chill out. Dogs need rest, too!

• Get a crate. Your dog might like a covered crate to retreat to, door open. Make it all cosy like a den. Don’t let kids go in there, it is your dog’s special place to retreat if they want some alone time.

• Leave the music on. Think about leaving some low volume relaxing ad free radio (radio paradise is a good one) or dog relaxation music on when you go out, particularly if your dog is a bit nervous and likely to be startled by outside noises.

• Get a calming collar / diffuser.

• Prepare them a food platter. Place a range of different tastes and unusual foods on a large square of cardboard or big platter. It’s interesting to see what they pick out first and what they leave. Some dogs like fruits, nuts and vegetables, some dogs not. See what textures they like best.

• Chase treats by sight. Make it easy at first with large pieces and don’t throw them too far. Increase difficulty. They will get really alert and up for it if they’re at all food driven - food dispensed this way is much more exciting than in a bowl.

• Chase treats by sound. On a hard surface throw hard treats first one direction then another - your dog will learn to wait for the sound of the bounce and find them that way.

• Scatter feeding. Instead of giving them their kibble in a bowl scatter it in the grass or anywhere, it will tire them out more eating this way so good to do on a rainy / busy day.

• Playfighting. If your dog enjoys it, get down on all fours and bump them / play around with them as if you were a fellow dog. You can even growl and play bow. Some dogs love it!

• Play tug. Some dogs love it. You can use a rope toy or a cuddly toy or a piece of rag. Some dogs like toys covered in real fur best.

• Use a flirt pole. Some dogs love it. Careful to make sure they are warmed up first.

• Carrying. Encourage them to carry something around. It can be a toy, a proper puppy dummy, or a newspaper.

• Follow a lure, high arousal. Teach your dog to follow a food or toy lure. Really amp them up and deliver the food or toy after a few ‘follows’.

• Follow a lure, low arousal. Teach your dog to follow your hand slowly slowly or even to just follow something with its eyes (‘Watch’ / ‘Stalk’) and only ‘Take it’ on cue.

• Spin. Once you have taught the dog a low arousal lure you can use it to teach them to spin, first one direction then another. Put it on cue, fade the lure.

• Pattern game. Count One Two Three as you make a stride on every count. On ‘Three’ place a treat on the ground. This should help the dog to loose lead walk with you and increase confidence to ignore distractions and things that worry them out in the big wide world.

• Lickimat. Spread with cream cheese, tinned food, sardines, peanut butter (not with artificial sweetener). Freeze to make it harder.

• Kong. Fill a kong (as above) and give it to your dog to lick it out.

• Treat packages. Cardboard / brown paper bags / egg boxes / loo roll inserts. Let your dog watch you fold up treats into paper / cardboard and let them dissect them to get at the treats. Make it easy at first then progressively harder. Once they get this you can leave them several to unwrap when you go out to keep them busy.

• Snuffle box. Fill a cardboard box with kibble and scrunched up brown paper, cardboard etc. Signal your dog to rummage in the box to get at the treats.

• Snuffle mat / towel. Sprinkle treats in a rag rug or roll them up in a towel and signal for your dog to find them, help them at the beginning if they are struggling.

• Just be. Take your dog to the park and set up a rug to just hang out outside. Take a book and a chew toy or kong or puzzle for your dog and maybe a picnic for you to share.

• Find the toy / ball. If your dog has a toy or ball that they love, hide it and ask them to find it. You can do this in the house or garden. Start by doing it in front of them then graduate to hiding it out of their sight.

• On your mat! Teach your dog that their mat is a good place to be. Lure them to their mat and reward them when they have four paws on it.

• Buy them a memory foam mat. They are really great - particularly for old dogs.

• Frisbee.

• Grooming. Take your dog to a grooming salon for a wash, groom, nail cutting or do it yourself at home.

• New clobber. Treat your dog to a new lead / collar/ bandana.

• Thunder shirt. Worth a try for dogs who are anxious during thunderstorms.

• Equafleece. For when it’s really cold.

• Life jacket.

• Rucksack.

• Snow boots. (Good luck putting them on.)

• Dog tracker.

• Dog disc. Check it’s in good shape.

• Dog puzzles. Buy or make.

• Lay a trail. Tell them to wait (or tether them) whilst you lay a trail of biscuits on a hard surface for them to follow by sight. You can also smear a hot dog trail through the grass for them to follow by scent. As they get better at it increase the distance between the treats or zig zag the scent trail.

• Trick training. There’s so many tricks you can teach your dog! Sit / stand / down / paw / high five / double high five / spin (clockwise) / twirl (anti clockwise) / bow / play dead / sit pretty / crawl / flat / roll over / kiss / shy / hug / shake / kick back legs / paws up / chin rest. Some are easier than others. Once you have a few in your repertoire you can demand a series in succession which tires them out nicely.

• Teach a recall.

• Blow bubbles. You can get dog flavoured dog bubbles that they will want to catch.

• Go to a pet shop and let them choose a toy. If they are calm, let them watch and smell the small animals / birds.

• Take them to the shops. Plenty of shops now allow dogs in, particularly DIY stores.

• Bones etc. Give them a bone, pizzle, rabbit ear, duck neck or pig’s trotter to chew on. Be careful with rawhide (not advisable) and always monitor whilst chewing.

• Play with balloons. But be careful if they are nervous around sharp sounds as the inevitable popping might freak them out! Some dogs love it though.

• Go for a drive with the windows cracked open so they can sniff sniff sniff.

• Teach them heelwork.

• Dog dancing / freestyle. Look it up and get inspired!

• Line up. Teach them the words for different toys and see if they can pick them out correctly.

• Middle. Lure your dog between your legs and reward with treats. You can teach them to move with you in middle and even turn directions 180degress whilst they turn staying in between your legs.

• Make a calendar of your dog.

• Play football. Some dogs love playing goalie and you trying to get the ball past them.

• Hand signals / verbal cues. If you use one, try to teach the other.

• Whistle signals. As above, try to put some of your verbal cues or hand signal cues onto a whistle cue (for example Sit! With me! Down! Come!)

• Go on a road trip. Think of somewhere you and your dog will both enjoy.

• Go out for a pub lunch. Take a special packed meal for your dog to eat at the same time under the table!

• Go on an adventure. If your dog is fine with public transport go on an adventure. If you live in West London take the tube across East and visit Epping Forest for example, or overland it up to Hampstead Heath.

• Nose touch. Teach a nose touch and add duration / distraction.

• Take a selfie with them. Just you and them or the whole family. You can use it to make Christmas cards.

• Dress like your dog and see if anyone notices. I used to do this when I was young, my border collie cross and I all black and white.

• Get arty. Think about drawing your dog or taking arty photos of them. Zoom in on a body part, monochrome it, etc.

• Make a sign. Get your kids involved in making a sign with cardboard and some ribbon / rope to hang round their neck and snap a photo to send to loved ones.

• Balancing treats. Teach them to balance a treat on their nose or paws.

• Crime scene. Teach your dog to lay down flat on its side and lay biscuits all around it. Try to get it to move away leaving its outline traced on the floor.

• Cavaletti. Improve your dogs sense of proprioception.

• Stairs hunt. Tell them to wait (or tether them) and place a biscuit at either side of each stair and release them to get them once you have finished.

• Dock diving. Some dogs love it, not all!

• SUP - try it out with your dog if they’re a water lover, similarly try taking your dog out on a boat if that’s a possibility.

• Squeezey cheese in a tube / liver pate. Use it as an alternative to taking treats with you out and about, easier. And dogs can often lick even when they are too over-aroused to take treats. Also good for dogs who have to wear a muzzle.

• Patient circles. Set your dog in a down and slowly increase their ability to wait there whilst you increase the distraction. This is about impulse control. Graduate to being able to fling toys and balls over their head and run around in circles around and even over them them throwing treats about and being hyper whilst they sit still until the release cue.

• Bake some home made dog treats - you can get dog or paw shaped cutters. You can make liver cake too, look up the recipes online.

• Make some frozen treats or ice cream - you can get paw shaped moulds or just use silicon ice cube trays.

• Make your dog a birthday cake or some cupcakes using dog friendly ingredients. Serve a slice to them on a plate.

• Capture their paw prints. You can order the wherewithal to do this online. Make cards with them to send to family or put them in a frame.

• Get a dog tattoo! Of their name or paw print or a photo of them.

• Use the premack principle to train them. Ie get your dessert if you eat your greens. Think how you can use this to get them to do what you’d like them to do (drop the ball to have it thrown, go to your mat and wait if you want table scraps, etc)

• Walking waits. If they are trained to loose lead and sit / down / wait, try to get them doing this on a whistle or verbal cue. Work on making it snappy.

• Mantrailing. The one where the dog tracks a person down.

• Dog tracking. The one where the dog tracks a scent down. Find someone running a course near you

• Dog first aid course.

• Toys to destroy. Buy them some soft toys from a charity shop to destroy (careful to remove hard bits and monitor in case innards are dangerous).

• Get their DNA done. And research breed specific traits / behaviours.

• Housebound neighbours. See if they’d like to borrow your dog for company.

• Tell them a story. Encourage children to read out loud by saying your dog wants to be told a story.

• Play dead. See what your dog does.

• Vanish behind a blanket. Do that trick, see how your dog reacts.

• Predation sequence. Observe them and think about what part of it satisfies them. Chasing? Dissecting? Stalking?

• Scentwork. Check out the School of Canine Science’s Scent For Six course, brilliant.

• Play chase. Chase them in a playful manner and see if you can get them to do zooms.

• Agility classes. Or, less formally, parkour. Get them walking along fallen trees, jumping up on tree stumps, weaving through and balancing on and jumping over and ducking under things. Use nature as your playground. Or set up some agility equipment of your own in your garden or in the park.

• Doggie wingman. Go out with your dog with the aim to meet people, dogs are a great ice breaker.

• Siesta with your dog. The best.