The Clubhouse

MEET OUR SOME OF OUR FRIENDS:

 

Dog Games:

Hide and Seek

You hide and your dog looks for you.

1. Go to a room (always use this same room to start off), command your dog to stay.

2. Go somewhere and hide well (choose different spots each time).

3. Call your dog’s name (or use your recall command) in an excited voice (only once). If your pooch can’t find you right away, call him again if they aren’t in sight.

4. Once your dog finds you, greet him/her very excited, praise him/her and reward with a high value treat.

5. Walk back to the room and place him/her on stay and start again!

Find the Treat

Here’s a good game for dogs that are highly food motivated.

1. Command your dog on a “down” or “stay”.

2. While your dog is watching you place a treat in a place where your dog can see it.

3. Release your dog and encourage him/her to get the treat.

4. Once he/she gets it, praise him/her verbally, command him/her on a down/stay again.

5. To make it more challenging, place the treat in an area in the same room but hidden (allow your dog to see). Repeat but place the treat in a different room but not hidden. Repeat but place
the treat in another room this time hidden, and just keep making it harder and farther each time.

Clean up Toys

This game might take a bit more training and a few tries, it will require your pooch to lean “pick up” and “drop” commands. This is a useful command to teach your dog to pick up his/her own toys!

1. Start by placing a few toys on the floor and having a basket a couple feet away.

2. Entice your pooch to pick up a toy. Don’t chase your dog if he/she starts playing keep away.

3. Call to your dog and say “drop” (into your hands) and trade his/her toy for a high value treat.

4. After a few practices with #3 stand straight above the basket and ask your pooch to drop another toy into your hands. Reward and drop the toy in the bucket.

5. Once number #4 is done flawlessly, take away your hand when you ask your dog to drop the toy, so that the toy fall directly into the basket.

6. Repeat 1, 2, and 5 over and over again until your dog almost does it automatically. Don’t forget to vary when you give treats so that your dog doesn’t always expect a food treat, but always
verbally praise.

7. Don’t make this seem like a chore, be excited and once your dog has got this exercise down you can play a little, move quickly to the basket, point to it say “Basket, Drop!” and go to the next
toy. You can make this step a bit more challenging later on by moving slightly away from the basket but always pointing to it and saying “Basket, Drop”; so that your pooch understands that you want him to drop it into the basket.

Fetch

A classic. However, never play fetch with a stick, dogs have been impaled while running with a stick in their mouths and there is always the risk of splinters. Here’s a good way to teach your pooch
to fetch without doing things such as running away from you or dropping the toy in any area other than your hand:

1. Call your dog’s attention tease him/her with the toy.

2. When he/she seems most excited, throw it as far as you can and say “Fetch!”

3. Once your dog has gotten the toy in his/her, mouth call by his/her name and give your recall command.

4. As he/she is coming to you, show him/her a tasty treat.

5. Say “drop” and allow the pooch to place the toy on the floor, give a treat other than the one in your hand (so the one in your hand doesn’t become a bribe).

6. Grab the toy and toss again. (Select a variety of Fetching toys)

Tug o’ War

Remember a few things; only play tug-o-war with one toy and one toy only, so that he/she doesn’t tug at other things. Make sure that you begin and end the game, and always end the game if your dog is becoming too agitated. However always use things in moderation. Here’s how to play a healthy game of Tug-o-War:

1. Pick up a toy and encourage your dog to get it.

2. Once your pooch has it in his/her mouth, give it a little tug and say “Tug”.

3. If your dog isn’t tugging, then wiggle the toy on the floor a little and act all excited for him/her to get it.

4. Keep tugging till your dog’s heart’s content.

5. After you think your dog has had enough (before he/she loses interest), stop tugging and say “drop”. If your dog complies, praise him/her and give a treat. If your dog doesn’t stop, drop the
toy and walk away.

Keep Away

This is a fun game that can be played in two ways, either you chase your dog or your dog chases you. It is important to have control over this game meaning you end it and your begin it.

1. Choose one toy to play keep away with you and use this toy always for this game.

2. When your dog has the toy, move really slowly towards him/her and make it obvious that you are trying to get the toy (but don’t say anything).

3. When you are close enough make a quick dash for the toy (without really getting it) and say to your dog “Run!” (As the cue to a Keep Away game).

4. Chase after your dog for a while and then say in a serious manner “Come!” and ask him/her to drop the toy. If he/she doesn’t, then walk away and ignore the dog.

5. If the pooch drops the toy, get it and run away from him/her and encourage to come to you (this is an excellent way to reinforce the recall command).

6. Vary how you run away and trick your dog to make it challenging too, for instance you can run away go into a room hide besides the door and when your dog runs in you run out.

7. At this point you can give him/her the toy for you to chase or you can stop the game with praise and putting the toy away for later.

Stream Chase

This game is particularly for those dogs that like water and don’t mind getting wet; it’s also a good way to cool down on hot days. Lastly, you can take advantage of this game by giving your dog a bath right after the game if you like!

1. Use your hose to shoot a jet of water.

2. Move it around to entice your dog to chase after the stream.

 

3. Occasionally stop the stream where it is so the dog can actually get it; never spray the dog forcefully in the face.

4. The farther and faster you move the stream, the more exercise this will be for your dog without you having to get tired.

5. Never allow your dog to chew the water hose, simply turn off and praise your pooch for a game well played.

Soccer

This is much like fetch only you are using a ball that he/she won’t be able to carry in his/her mouth nor transport very easily. This is mentally challenging for the pooch because your pooch will
have to maneuver the ball with his/her nose and paws.

1. Entice your pooch to the soccer ball (or another big ball that won’t puncture easily).

2. Once you are a couple feet away from your pooch roll the ball to him/er encouraging him/her to get it.

3. As he/she moves around with the ball occasionally retrieve it and roll it away.

4. Try to get your dog to come to you while rolling the ball your way, this will take some concentration on your dog’s part but makes the game more fetch-like.

Walks/Running/Jogging

A good walk should allow the dog to walk at a semi-fast pace while taking his/her time to sniff and mark. Allowing your pooch to smell new scents and to investigate provides more mental
stimulation than a jog would or than a walk while heeling. Jogging/running provides much more physical stimulation than does walks but also is less mentally stimulating because one isn’t going to be stopping to smell scents when in full jog/run Just remember a few things:

1. No leash pulling. 2. Allow the dog to sniff and investigate-if walking. 3. If jobbing/running, keep away from bushes, upright poles, and trees your dog would normally stop to mark. 4. No running on full stomach or right before eating as this can cause bloat. 5. Walk to new places that offer new smells and sight-if walking. 6. Remember to stop frequently to allow your pooch to recover (have plenty of water on handy).

Teaching Tricks

Looking for new innovative tricks is an excellent way for your dog to get mentally stimulated. Obedience commands are also used to establish your authority and to teach the dog that good things
come to those who listen. Even small kids in the household can help with this, thus teaching children how to properly interact with the dog and teaching the dog that even smaller children are still an authority in the household.

1. Keep sessions short  to avoid boring the your pooch.

4. Don’t only use food treats as rewards, use any of the games described here as rewards too.

5. Don’t forget to phase out the food rewards. Replace food with physical and verbal praises.

Get This! Get That!

 

This game is much like Clean up toys but focuses more on item recognition than the drop it command. An exercise like this can be converted into training to get specific items such as controllers or slippers!

1. Start off with one toy such as a Rope. Encourage your dog to get it by wiggling it on the floor and saying “Rope!”

2. Once your dog has got the rope, ask him/her to bring it to you and drop it. Practice these two steps over and over again.

3. Next add another toy, such as a stuffed animal, and place it next to the rope.

4. Ask for the rope and point to it. If your dog picks it up give him/her excited praise and a high value treat.

5. Next you want him to get the stuffed animal, say “Toy!” and wiggle the stuffed animal to encourage him to grab it.

6. Once the stuffed animal is in his/her mouth ask him/her to give it to you in the same way you asked him/her to give you the rope. (Make sure that the rope is still next to the stuffed animal when
doing this exercise).

7. Once the pooch gets the idea what the ‘toy’ is, ask him/her to get the rope. Say “rope” and point to the rope (by this point in time you shouldn’t have to wiggle the toy, just point to it and say way it is).

 

8. Every time your pooch brings the correct item, praise warmly. Alternate randomly which item you ask your dog to bring. If your dog gets the wrong one, don’t say anything just take the toy and place it back.

9. Later, once your dog has gotten better at identifying the items, add another toy that can be distinctly named (such as a ball or kong) and alternate between the items.

Toys in Pool

This game is best suited for breeds that really love to play in the water. This is an especially good game to play in the heat of summer. All you’ll need is a kid pool, a couple of toys that
float, and that’s pretty much it.

1. Fill the pool up with water (usually the more water the better).

2. Place the floating toys in the pool; make sure they are big enough so that they can’t be carried away by the pooch.

3. Entice your pooch to play with the toys by submerging toy underwater and letting them come up on their own (be careful that they don’t shoot out and hit your dog).

4. Usually this will be enough to get your pooch playing in the water and trying to catch the toys that won’t stay still.

Bark & Beg Gourmet Dog Treats, 3960 Mary Eliza Trc NW STE 600, Marietta, GA 30064

The Shoppes at Due West

Contact number : 404-395-9069