Hello, Just looking for tips on how to mentally stimulate Bruno my 9 month Labrador, after having a 30 minute on lead walk, and 30 minute off lead walk we get home to him whining, I can only put this down to him being "bored". Please give me some tips as this is my first dog and I want to tire him out mentally. Looking for games to play, maybe some home made toys/ games? I did have a Kong but he destroyed it!?
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy This book, Learning Games, is full of ways to stimulate your dog. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1890948365
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy Do you think he maybe needs to learn to "settle" or perhaps learn how to amuse himself rather than continuing to stimulate him after an hours walk? Thinking of kids here.....always needing you to be doing something with them. Would drive me bats. Sorry if I am misinterpreting this. just a thought
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=9475.msg136526#msg136526 date=1421072776] Do you think he maybe needs to learn to "settle" or perhaps learn how to amuse himself rather than continuing to stimulate him after an hours walk? Thinking of kids here.....always needing you to be doing something with them. Would drive me bats. Sorry if I am misinterpreting this. just a thought [/quote] As this is my first Labrador I'm not 100% if mental stimulation is the problem. I just know that he whines an awful lot, he has bones, antlers, pop bottles to chew but still persists to whine?! It does feel as if its for attention as it is when his right by my feet - do you know how to combat attention whining maybe? Also how would you suggest i "settle" him or try to make him amuse himself?
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy Hi there! Benson is 15 months old now, and I remember clearly what he was like at 9 months old! Full of energy, and needing a lot of mental and physical stimulation throughout the day to manage his high energy levels. (He still does,,,) We split his walks and training throughout the day, starting with his first walk off lead around 6.30 am in the morning with a quick 20-30 mins off lead, followed by 5 -10 mins of mental training/games, which could be simply to hunt for a piece of liver cake hidden in the garden. In that time we practise things like "checking in" sit...stay, and a release cue. He had another walk at lunchtime for an hour plus another training session when I get back from work, and 10 mins around 11 pm for a quick wee and sniff We found that frequent, but shorter training/walking sessions worked out better, he can use the downtime after to rest, and process what have done or learnt. During the day some of his food allowance he gets in a frozen kong, although these don't last long he is used to this routine. He always gets his kong, or occasional raw hide in a different room to us, this helps him to get used to his own space, and not need to be around us (or under my feet...) all the time
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=Beanwood link=topic=9475.msg136534#msg136534 date=1421074793] Hi there! Benson is 15 months old now, and I remember clearly what he was like at 9 months old! Full of energy, and needing a lot of mental and physical stimulation throughout the day to manage his high energy levels. (He still does,,,) We split his walks and training throughout the day, starting with his first walk off lead around 6.30 am in the morning with a quick 20-30 mins off lead, followed by 5 -10 mins of mental training/games, which could be simply to hunt for a piece of liver cake hidden in the garden. In that time we practise things like "checking in" sit...stay, and a release cue. He had another walk at lunchtime for an hour plus another training session when I get back from work, and 10 mins around 11 pm for a quick wee and sniff We found that frequent, but shorter training/walking sessions worked out better, he can use the downtime after to rest, and process what have done or learnt. During the day some of his food allowance he gets in a frozen kong, although these don't last long he is used to this routine. He always gets his kong, or occasional raw hide in a different room to us, this helps him to get used to his own space, and not need to be around us (or under my feet...) all the time [/quote] Will definitely try the more frequent but shorter walks/ training, also think I will invest in a new Kong (would you recommend a certain size?). Have noticed though Bruno's recall has gone a bit "sloppy" he will be fine when no dogs are around but as soon as he sees one he will be straight over to them playing and will not listen at all, could you offer any advice or tips on this?
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy Chepi is 8.5 months and sometimes prowls around looking for mischief or has a little whine; she will then curl up for a sleep. Maybe your pup could just be ignored for 5 mins to see what he'd do?
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=Jane Martin link=topic=9475.msg136545#msg136545 date=1421078109] Chepi is 8.5 months and sometimes prowls around looking for mischief or has a little whine; she will then curl up for a sleep. Maybe your pup could just be ignored for 5 mins to see what he'd do? [/quote] I have left him to whine on many occasions, he will just then wonder around whining, where eventually he will go to the stair gate at the top of the stairs (we live in a two floor flat) to go outside, where he does not need to toilet, but will just stand by outside gate staring at nothing haha! Which is another thing he whines at, to go outside when he does not need to toilet, can i stop this? how would you suggest?
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy I would go back to basics with recall. Try recalling him when you see a dog in the distance before Bruno spots it. I would also up the value of treats. As for the whining, Harley whines occasionally if she is hyper excited or bored. I found having 4 x 10 min training sessions every day helps. I pick one or two things a day that I want to train like sit and wait or 'find' which involves me hiding a treat someone and she has to go find it.
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=Naya link=topic=9475.msg136554#msg136554 date=1421080134] I would go back to basics with recall. Try recalling him when you see a dog in the distance before Bruno spots it. I would also up the value of treats. As for the whining, Harley whines occasionally if she is hyper excited or bored. I found having 4 x 10 min training sessions every day helps. I pick one or two things a day that I want to train like sit and wait or 'find' which involves me hiding a treat someone and she has to go find it. [/quote] I try recalling him when he hasn't spotted the other dog but I'm anxious and he probably picks up on this and doesn't listen, so i agree i think its back to basics and practicing recall on a long lead. I have not yet played "find the treat" - what treats do you use? I currently only use "Markies" by Pedigree, and i don't think these are very appetizing.
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy I would suggest taking a bag of toys on your walk and having several short play sessions - Molly finds a game more of a reward for a recall than a treat. Have you taught Bruno to retrieve? Fetching a ball, dummy or soft toy is a good activity and you can build on this by dropping the object while he's on lead and then perhaps 10 yards further on, letting him off the lead and sending him back for it - my dog loves that game, especially as the reward is a tuggy game with a rope toy. I also have cheap charity shop soft toys on lengths of cord for Molly to chase - combined with a 'give' command. I'm still practising 'stay' with Molly but after it she has to wait for the command 'play' to have an exciting chase the toy game. Games will tire your dog mentally and make you an interesting person to return to. I also started to give Molly a treat every time she came back without being called and now she runs back and nudges my hand every 5 minutes! (I use very small bits of food though, much smaller than markies).
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=Jane Martin link=topic=9475.msg136545#msg136545 date=1421078109] Chepi is 8.5 months and sometimes prowls around looking for mischief or has a little whine; she will then curl up for a sleep. Maybe your pup could just be ignored for 5 mins to see what he'd do? [/quote] Inca does this too. She can be a proper whinge bag on occasions. We have managed to ignore most of her other undesirable behaviours until they went away but this one is quite persistent.
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy I don't think Lilly is as high energy as some of the others We have just discovered Kong wobblers (well we knew about them for ages, just started using one) I think it is a really great distraction and way of keeping a dog who "isn't ready to settle" amused. I can really recommend them. We haven't used it as a meal substitude, mostly as a small extra, so far, but think we will split her meals up in it for days we are around.
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy For treats I use either chicken, ox livers, sausage, cheese or barker and barker liver treats. Harley can't eat most dog biscuits due to her sensitive tummy.
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=9475.msg136595#msg136595 date=1421088323] I don't think Lilly is as high energy as some of the others We have just discovered Kong wobblers (well we knew about them for ages, just started using one) I think it is a really great distraction and way of keeping a dog who "isn't ready to settle" amused. I can really recommend them. We haven't used it as a meal substitude, mostly as a small extra, so far, but think we will split her meals up in it for days we are around. [/quote] Interested in reading this.. Bob seems much more restless during the day now and has started whining a bit. I've started using his GREEN feeder now which makes mealtimes last a bit longer. Maybe we should give him a few treats in one of these kong wobbler thingies to keep him entertained. What sort of size would you say we should go for? Lou x
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy Hi, Having bought nearly every kong product available for Monty from age 9 weeks onwards, here's my suggestions: - the classic kong is great for stuffing in food, I've found some bone shaped dog biscuits which you can put in the top to sort of wedge normal kibble in place a bit. I would only buy the black extreme ones, they are so much more durable than the classic red ones and only a tiny bit more expensive. Great for freezing with things in the summer. Large size is fine. - there's a bone shaped kong one which is great for stuffing small treats in, I worked out that two thin rawhide strips held tiny pieces of ham, chicken, cheese in place, taking him a good ten mins to get through, for what is just a tiny bit of food - the kong wobbler is good, tended to get stuck behind chairs, sofas, or plant pots out in the garden, also a harder plastic, I think he might just break through it if he really tried, crikey it makes a noise on the wooden decking - bought the Leo and Mike toys, but they are not very durable and quite expensive, also depending on n the type of kibble you are feeding they might not work at all. would avoid these unless you get a bargain - I think I paid £10 each, and not worth it. - There's a kong ball which you can stuff, a smaller opening than the normal kong but with ridges in for smaller pieces of kibble or a bit of cheese to entice them in. - Monty still occasionally chews the teething chew - a sort of very thick tube with lots of ridges in, again a dab of peanut butter / cream cheese can last a good few minutes. - I've also bought a slow feeding bowl, it's a big swirl shape which means meals now last a good 5-7 minutes rather than twenty seconds. I should have shares in the company the amount of kong stuff I have bought - I threw money at the problem to come up with things to occupy him to make a little bit of food last a long time! Fortunately a few of them worked
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=leejane link=topic=9475.msg136626#msg136626 date=1421093939] Hi, Having bought nearly every kong product available for Monty from age 9 weeks onwards, here's my suggestions: - the classic kong is great for stuffing in food, I've found some bone shaped dog biscuits which you can put in the top to sort of wedge normal kibble in place a bit. I would only buy the black extreme ones, they are so much more durable than the classic red ones and only a tiny bit more expensive. Great for freezing with things in the summer. Large size is fine. - there's a bone shaped kong one which is great for stuffing small treats in, I worked out that two thin rawhide strips held tiny pieces of ham, chicken, cheese in place, taking him a good ten mins to get through, for what is just a tiny bit of food - the kong wobbler is good, tended to get stuck behind chairs, sofas, or plant pots out in the garden, also a harder plastic, I think he might just break through it if he really tried, crikey it makes a noise on the wooden decking - bought the Leo and Mike toys, but they are not very durable and quite expensive, also depending on n the type of kibble you are feeding they might not work at all. would avoid these unless you get a bargain - I think I paid £10 each, and not worth it. - There's a kong ball which you can stuff, a smaller opening than the normal kong but with ridges in for smaller pieces of kibble or a bit of cheese to entice them in. - Monty still occasionally chews the teething chew - a sort of very thick tube with lots of ridges in, again a dab of peanut butter / cream cheese can last a good few minutes. - I've also bought a slow feeding bowl, it's a big swirl shape which means meals now last a good 5-7 minutes rather than twenty seconds. I should have shares in the company the amount of kong stuff I have bought - I threw money at the problem to come up with things to occupy him to make a little bit of food last a long time! Fortunately a few of them worked [/quote] Some good reviews there, thanks ;D
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy The best way to mentally tire a dog is a training session. Make a list of all the things you could train your dog to do (tricks, useful stuff like heel, sit, drop and stand, games like go and sit in a hula hoop, fetch, find the hidden toy....) and work through the list. Spend ten minutes twice a day on this and it will help!! Aim to do your training sessions right before the times of day when he's likely to be most whiny.
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy [quote author=Joy link=topic=9475.msg136567#msg136567 date=1421082601] I would suggest taking a bag of toys on your walk and having several short play sessions - Molly finds a game more of a reward for a recall than a treat. Have you taught Bruno to retrieve? Fetching a ball, dummy or soft toy is a good activity and you can build on this by dropping the object while he's on lead and then perhaps 10 yards further on, letting him off the lead and sending him back for it - my dog loves that game, especially as the reward is a tuggy game with a rope toy. I also have cheap charity shop soft toys on lengths of cord for Molly to chase - combined with a 'give' command. I'm still practising 'stay' with Molly but after it she has to wait for the command 'play' to have an exciting chase the toy game. Games will tire your dog mentally and make you an interesting person to return to. I also started to give Molly a treat every time she came back without being called and now she runs back and nudges my hand every 5 minutes! (I use very small bits of food though, much smaller than markies). [/quote] Ive taught Bruno to retrieve, but his bring back and let go is somewhat "messy" he will run back with it, but straight back past me, hoping for me to chase him! Could you offer any ideas on how to combat this? I'm guessing I will have to teach the command "drop"?
Re: Mentally Stimulating 9 Month Puppy I hope this link I've pasted will work. It's instructions as to how to clicker train a retrieve, including delivery, and it's what I used with Molly when she was around 9 months old, as although I was having gundog training lessons, she frequently ran off with the dummy. It was my first go at clicker training and I found it absolutely brilliant. For us it just worked like clockwork and she has never run off with the dummy since, so worth giving it a try. I take a dummy and a rope toy out and when Molly has fetched and handed me the dummy we than have a short game of tug with the rope as her reward (i no longer click for this as it's fully ingrained). Strangely she still doesn't retrieve balls properly as I didn't bother to clicker train with a ball (shows how dogs don't generalise behaviour!) http://totallygundogs.com/clicker-trained-retrieve/
