Some of you may be interested in this link to a free ebook with 20 odd 3-minute games. A lot of you will already know the trainers & the games https://nbn.absolute-dogs.com/optimismrocksbook
Thanks for the link. I’ve downloaded it for general interest / to further my education rather than for specific help. I’d be interested to hear what other people think about the section on ‘ditch the routine’ as I have reservations about it. Of course you don’t want to be tied to an exact routine that can never be changed, but I think it would be more stressful for a dog never to have any regularity in its life. One of the joys of being retired is that I can do things when I want to, but I still mostly prefer to decide in advance and like to start the day knowing roughly what I’m going to be doing that day. Molly isn’t always walked at exactly the same time (and we go to lots of different places) but she does always have a morning and afternoon walk, is fed after the afternoon walk and at our meals she has a Kong. I think it would be quite unsettling for her not to know that these things were going to happen.
Joy, it sounds like you have found a perfect balance of what’s ‘right’ for you & Molly so it’s a mix of routine/ditched routine. You describe a ‘ditched routine’ in many aspects, various places, times for walks, you decide your plan for the day at the start of the day so, it automatically has unpredictability for Molly. I think a lot of times the dogs make pairings – we put our shoes on & dogs presumes walk = frantic dog, pick up lead… etc So, by ditching the routine we become unpredictable, put shoes on then go sit down, drive past the beach without stopping etc… For me it’s hugely beneficial, my two are both highly excitable so I work a lot on calmness so to support this I need to be unpredictable. I don’t want mine to have an anticipation of excitement lead to an exciting event. I don’t have a walk routine as it just doesn’t work for my two, I don’t even walk them daily, but they get plenty of exercise with games, etc They don’t get fed from a bowl, if occasionally I do use a bowl it’s a small amount. Their kongs are when I ‘need’ them for a bit of extra calmness. I need the flexibility with the business I run too so they can be left at any time, jump in the car to the boat or whatever.
