Have An Active Puppy? Here Are 3 Activities Sure to Keep Your Puppy Busy

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3 Activities Sure to Keep
Your Active Puppy Busy

collie puppy

Bringing up a puppy, any kind of active puppy, can indeed be lots of fun at best and very tiring at worst. These energy-filled little beings simply demand your energy, your attention and your time - and that's natural.

The simple act of owning a puppy is laden with many responsibilities and bringing that puppy up as aconfidant, well socialized dog is of the utmost importance.

That being said, I will offer you three simple "exercises" below to practice with your puppy soon after you get it home (and even after that) that will act as a bridge leading to more advanced puppy training methods down the road as well as (the best bonus of all) enhancing the bond and relationship between yourself and your active puppy.

So, to make it easier I'll kind of list these games and activities to try with your active puppy below:

Find The Object: This activity is an excellent way to teach early smell discrimination. This works best, especially in the beginning phases, if you have a helper.

1. Have your helper hold the puppy and let it watch as you put several objects on the floor a few feet ahead of them, such as: a cola can, an empty paper towel roll, and a small item such as a little child's toy. Make sure you're wearing a plastic glove if possible while touching the items. You'll need to have and hide a favorite toy of your puppy (in your back pocket, possibly) as well while doing this.

2. Now, go back to your puppy and your helper. Casually retrieve his favorite toy from your back pocket, rub your hands on it for a few seconds, and let him watch as you throw it over near the other objects you've just laid out.

3. Next, release the puppy and tell him to "Fetch!" As soon as he picks the toy you just threw, praise him, praise him, praise him. Once the puppy gets good at selecting his toy from the others, get one of your old socks (infused with your scent) and use this in place of his favorite toy.

Once he gets good at this, an advanced method would be using only like shaped objects, such as only socks, that do not have your scent (freshly washed) - except for the one you want the puppy to fetch (the one that does have your scent.

If you practice this often enough eventually the methods of scent discrimination will be a part of your lives and something you can use later on - particularly if you have a puppy you eventually hope to use in hunting or obedience work.

Hide and Seek: - This is a great game to teach your puppy to come to you when called.

1. First, put your puppy in a sit-stay (or have someone else hold him) and hide behind a nearby tree or a piece of furniture. Wait a few seconds, then call him to you in a high pitched and excited manner.

2. Once the puppy "finds" you, praise him, praise him, praise him. To make this progressively harder, make each hiding place a little harder and a little farther away from you than the one before. Change it up by returning to your puppy and ending the game early some times so that the puppy is not always looking for you.

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High Jump: In the beginning just walk over the jump with your puppy. You can also use food to coax the puppy over the jump as you begin to raise it in height. One important rule to keep in mind: never pull the puppy forcibly over a jump.

Teaching your puppy new tricks takes both dedication and patience but can be incredibly rewarding - and fun as well. Have fun training your new active puppy and remember, the more time you put into it now, the more rewards you will get in the future.

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"Breed not a savage dog, nor permit a loose stairway." - Talmud

3 Activities Sure to Keep Your Active Puppy Busy

3 Activities Sure to Keep
Your Active Puppy Busy