Pooch and Mutt's expert trainer, Jon, is here to explore different ways you can play with your puppy, including ways that promote development and their overall well-being.
Puppies have a lot of energy to burn, and alongside training, playing with them is a great way to do it! It also helps build that all-important bond with your puppy.
Playing with your puppy: Top tips
- Playing with your puppy is a lot of fun and a great way to bond. Puppies learn through play, so it is also a fantastic opportunity to teach your puppy some skills that will act as the foundations to more formal training.
Most importantly, playing games is an ideal opportunity for you to direct the rules and boundaries of the game, whilst cementing your place as leader.
- The best games involve mental and physical stimulation. Encourage short bursts of energy, interrupted by brief periods of calm or impulse control, before releasing energy again.
If you get it right, your ability to gradually control how your puppy switches their energy on and off starts here.
- Little and often is best. Ten two-minute games are way better than one that lasts twenty.
Don't exhaust your puppy as this can make them cranky and irritated. Finish the game when the pup is still really engaged. This will help your puppy learn through experience to calm down.
- Don’t play games in the same area all the time. It’s more engaging if the environment changes and teaches them to transfer the behaviour they are learning to locations.
The same game on different surfaces teaches new skills whilst also increasing your puppy's confidence.
- Children love playing with puppies. But they should always be supervised, and they also need to understand how to play appropriately. Puppies learn through experience, and we don’t want our puppies becoming over excited around children.
- Be sure to use the right toys. Make sure they are big enough not to be a choking hazard and won’t degrade too quickly. Be mindful of your puppy’s teeth when playing tug. Puppies have delicate but sharp teeth. They can snag in soft toys or be broken by hard ones.
- The games we play, need to reflect the type of behaviours we are going to need from our pups as they get older and take on more formal training. These would be, recall, retrieve, positions and impulse control.
- When teaching recall and retrieving, throw the toy and command 'here, here, here' as they're on their way back.
- You can also teach 'drop it' by saying the “leave” or “drop” command when they naturally drop their toy.
- These play times are part of shaping your relationship with your dog. Learn to manipulate and control your puppy's energy through voice and body movements.
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