Ideas needed for playing with dog

busyboysmum

I've been a lurker for quite a while but have contributed on the odd occassion.

I have a 9 month old dog who has just started her advanced training, we have to think of an idea of how to play with our dog without using a toy and this is part of the exam, I've rattled my brain and can't think of anything. I did try kneeling down with her and tapping the ground left to right but she started to mouth at me and bark so I gave up.

Any ideas would be greatly received.

Oh just thought, we don't have much individual space at training as it is held in a church hall.

Thanks for reading.

OnAndUp

That's a hard one! Not sure if it's the type of thing your after? But my dog loves playing find it where I hide bits of food (nothing special I just use pieces of his normal dried food) around the house or garden then send him off to "find it"!

Or you could try and hide and make her find you? or just run about and get her to chase you? :rotfl:

Everything else that springs to mind involves toys!

busyboysmum

That's a good idea hiding treats for her to find, I'll try that. Many thanks.

minimoneysaver

I hold my puppy and my daughter runs to hide and calls her name and I then let her go. Great for exercise and early stages of recall training.

minimoneysaver

Just a thought, but have a look on Victoria Stillwell's site or ask on her forums. x

WeirdoMagnet

Hide and seek is great, or a game of chase. You can play it in a small space, just keep moving in short sharp movements - so long as your doglet doesn't get too excited!

sarabe

I'm not sure that I would be encouraging play without using a toy as such, especially if your dog is a lurcher as I would imagine that she needs to bite something during play.

Perhaps you could use a scrunchy in your hair that she can pull out or a credit card (an old one) that you can take from your pocket and throw frisbee style.

julesmby

We play the wait game with bits of gravy bones, place just in front of dog with the wait command build it up slowly we now do this with half a gravy bone on each paw and keep going for longer periods also do this on end of nose or on his head. it helps us as well outside of this game as he will just stop and wait for a new command what ever he is doing .

busyboysmum

Thanks for your replies.

Minimoneysaver - We already do recall both at training and at home. I will look at the Victoria Stillwell site.

Georgina - We play chase at home but she seems to need a lot of space for this which unfortunately there isn't much of at training. I will give it a go to try and limit the space she uses.

Sarahbe - My dog is a springer (no one told her though lol, she is very laid back). The only reason to want to play with her without a toy is for an exam for dog training, no other reason. She loves taking my scrunchie out of my hair so not much practice with that would be needed.

Julesmby - We've been doing the wait command at training, she will have to sit still for 2 minutes for her exam, I've got to 1.5 minutes so far so getting there. Lol re putting a treat on her nose, will try her with that.

Thanks again everyone for reading and giving me your ideas. :beer:

Kinski

How about getting a target stick and doing some training with that or try some clicker training with her.

twinklie

We play touch. That means when I say touch she has to touch my hand with her nose NO MATTER where my hand is. She loves it and quite often tries to instigate the game when out on walks which makes her walk REALLY well.

She's much more attentive since we've started playing this game.