hi everyone! My guy just turned 1 and is still mouthy when he gets worked up. We exercise him really good twice a day and it helps so much!!! He typically goes swimming in the lake or has leashed walks with periods of chasing a soccer ball off leash. We are neutering him next week and he will be on exercise restriction for 2 weeks. Any tips to keep him mentally stimulated and physically tired? I plan on doing training with him but that only goes so far when he wants exercise.
Mental games. Tire his mind out. Lots of little short training sessions. This is some of the useful information Julie posted after her experience with Charlie's TPLO op (the first one I think) https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/things-to-do-for-dogs-on-restricted-exercise.10654/ Might be a good place to start.
This was a recent thread too, cheap and simple homemade ideas https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/home-made-brain-games.20586/ You might be pleasantly surprised that he bounces back quickly from his op, and although he can't do loads of running around, he will be able to do decent length lead walks after a week. Also, I'd put all his food into frozen kongs for a week or so.
Just like girls in season, some find restricted exercise times a great opportunity to perfect and reinforce perfect lead walking.
Sniffer dogs is good. Make him go in the other room Hide his favourite toy. Let him in to find it. Hours if fun and it makes them think. Good luck
