Samantha Jones gave me this idea for a post. In her response to someone's post she mentioned using a muffin tray with food in them and tennis balls in top. Is there any other ideas for this type of thing that you can use to get your dog thinking using home made brain games?
I freeze a bowl of water and layer treats or kibble inside. I pop it out of the container outdoors and it's a fun game for our pup. He loves it.
I did the muffin tray one today. Took Koda about 7 minutes to figure out how to move all the balls. But it was fun watching him. I filmed it and sent it to my daughter who's away at college. I'm going to try the kitchen paper towel roll one tomorrow. Thanks! Keep the ideas coming!
Empty plastic bottle, lid off, few bits of kibble in it. At work I use a plastic pint glass with treats in - scrunch the middle of the plastic glass together. In the summer I replace treats with ice cubes. Put a favourite toy in a box with a lid on (not too tightly fitted and a cardboard box). I also hide smelly treats such as hotdog sausages, cut up into small chunks, outside and under things for Bailey to find.
Put treats on a towel and fold up so you have many layers. Roll up. First time it took my puppy a while to unfold to get to the layers of treats - she's quicker now but it's still a nice easy activity. Play 'find it' byspreading out pieces of kibble on the floor. My two will sit and stay for ages while I do this. They then expectantly wait for me to say 'find it' so they can rush to 'hoover' it up.
I haven't tried this myself yet, but the trainer on the '10 puppies and us' programme ripped an old towel/tea towel up into strips and then plaited them and stuffed treats into the plaits. The dog then has to work hard to get the treats out and it gives them something to chew on (the puppy in the show was teething).
We've started a new game with plastic tumblers. The ones I found are quite tall so Homer just can't get the treats out with his tongue. At first I put treats under the upsidedown cups and he knocked them over to get the treats then challenged him by putting the treats inside the right way up cups. He has learnt to knock the cups over but the treats don't roll out far enough and as soon as he puts his nose into the cup the treats go back in out of reach. He has to hold the narrow end of the cup in his mouth and tip his head to get the treats to fall out. It's taken him the better part of a week to perfect the technique. To add to this I put the cups in different places around the house. We also play find it with toys rather than treats. He has to wait, usually in the kitchen while I go and hide the toy in a different room, come back to him and five a "find it " command. Then off he goes to find the toy and brings it back to me in the kitchen for a treat. Good exercise for us both as I have to get up again to hide the toy upstairs. Our trainer says he needs more mental stimulation so will love to try out more games others play.
