Barking Embarkers

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Last week I wrote about fido friendly fun festivities, which included awesome ways to find pet friendly activities near you! This week I wanted to give even MORE fun ideas but on an easier scale. Sometimes we just want to go outside and play games with our dogs. I love being outside and so does Chloe Rue! Sure, we love to play fetch, but there are so many other fun games that your pup can learn! The best part is that these games lead to important skills (link to travel training post) you can use on your traveling adventures. Building recall skills, prolonged stays, listening, focus, and adaptability are all great skills for your adventure pup to master.

It’s time to prepare your self… get a good healthy variety of treats (some string cheese is EXTRA special), pick out a couple favorite toys (maybe a ball, maybe a squeaker toy) and put your tennis shoes on, because today is all about doggy game time.

For this post I am going to assume we have some basic training skills, including sit, stay, down, watch me, ignore the food, etc. I won’t assume beyond that, but be ready to use positive reinforcement training for teaching these new games. Progress the challenge more slowly than you think is possible, to build confidence. Isn’t teaching your dog new things SO exciting?! I would recommend picking one game each day though, to avoid confusion. The pup will pick up on these games again in the future and it will be easier than the first time. It’s also important to know your pup, and which games he or she will love the best. If you have an older dog with muscle pains, maybe play simple hide and seek, or catch the bubble games. Or if you have a baby pup who is still working on excellent recalls and is CHALK full of energy, choose a game involving chase, like tag or RIGHT/LEFT. And if it’s raining, and your dog is sleeping, maybe choose the best game of all- creating a doggone song.

Hide and Seek

This game is SUPER fun and can be done in a variety of ways, to increase the challenge.

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Start by placing a treat on the ground while your pup ignores it. Then say “find it!” And they will smell and find the treat. You can progress this to have her stay, and hide the treat further away. Then you can either use a toy, or a person (I’m solo so I have to use a toy, but would LOVE to practice with a person eventually.) Hide the treat with your person or toy and say “find it!” Or “find *insert name here*!” When they do, they get the treat.

You can progress this to the person or toy hiding in pretty challenging spots! I’ve hidden Chloe’s toy behind the camper tire, after pretending to hide it in 3 other spots- she still found the right treat!! This is great to do if you have kids- your pup can learn their smell and if you ever struggle to find your child the dog can help. You can teach your dog names of items as well, simply by stating find ‘whatever’. Other ways to play are hiding treats under cups and shifting them about, burying treats or toys to be dug back up, or placing multiple treats in the grass to be found.

Playground Adventures

Have you ever walked by an abandoned playground and thought- omigosh, I just want to go play on it! So has your dog. Yes, so has your dog.

I love to practice crawling through tunnels, jumping on and off things, climbing up or sliding down slides. Chloe does too! She is a doggy-see, doggy-do kinda girl, so if I crawl through the tunnel and say “tunnel!” Pointing to it, she will crawl through toward me, with a treat reward. Then we circle around to it again, and repeat. Eventually I can point to the tunnel and say “tunnel!” And she’ll follow the command. I do the same using “up up” and “down down” in playgrounds. This is an awesome fun game to build doggy confidence too, learn some exciting tricks and prepare for agility obstacle courses. Confidence and adaptability are SUCH important traits for our adventure pups! Working on these characteristics using games will help our adventure dogs adapt to new environments and situations with greater ease.

I am not very good about taking photos during training or playtime- but here is our outdoor playground example in the Redwood Forests in Northern California.

RIGHT and LEFT

Okay so I’m a crazy dog mom. I think we can all admit this. But I so enjoy running around with Chloe. Just RUNNING and her off leash or on a long leash chasing. We practice running around trees, to learn her ‘rights’ and ‘lefts’. And she had to follow me the correct direction! Easy, fun, crazy game.

Start by slowly jogging and giving a treat when your dog follows you. Then choose a copse of trees, and weave around them. Every time your pup responds correctly to a right or a left command, or runs next to you rather than in front of you, give them a treat!

You can increase the challenge by adding ‘over’ ‘under’ or ‘through’ commands. Chloe does these on the playground too, and jumps over/under rocks or tree stumps as asked! Some dogs can even balance on stools, but Chloe can’t do that on command quite yet.

The Great Bubble Chase

You heard me. Bubbles are INCREDIBLE. And when you encourage your pup to start chasing bubbles? It is not only entertaining, but awesome and wonderful.

Start by blowing bubbles- not directly at your dog so it scares them when they pop, because that is extremely likely. But beside them, and then chase after the bubbles yourself, and catch one gently in your hands. Is your pup interested yet? You can then point to the bubble saying ‘get it’ and encourage him or her to chase the bubble. Start with only a few bubbles, but you can make it more stimulating with more bubbles. Windy days are great exercise, but calm days are perfect for older dogs.

TAG You’re It!

This is a SUPER fun exercise to play when working on recalls, or when you’re craving some time running but you’re tired of the gym.

Start by wandering away from your dog, who should be in a fenced area or wearing a long leash. Then when you ask your dog to recall by saying “come!” Or in Chloes case we clap twice. Then run away from your dog as FAST as you can, until she catches you! Then reward her for an awesome recall!

This game can be played with a friend too, where you practice calling your pup as he or she runs back and forth between you.

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Make Up a Doggone Song

Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this… One day I was playing “take it, leave it” with Chloe using one of her FAVORITE bark box toys. I have NO idea what this thing is… but it looks like a rabid crab in a rhino jacket.

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Here’s our song-

“It’s a rabid crab in a rhino jacket, a rabid crab in a rhino jacket, a rabid crab, a rabid crab, it’s a rabid crab in a rhino jacket.

It jumps and it wiggles and it SQUEEEEEKS a bit it’s a rabid crab in a rhino jacket. It hops and it SQUEEEEALS and it does the twist it’s a rabid crab in a rhino jacket. It leaps and it sings- it SQUEEKY SINGS it’s a rabid crab… a rabid crab… a rabid crab in a rhino jacket.”

…and so on… So one day I was hanging out inside my camper with Chloe at our campground in Minnesota. We were SQUEEKY SINGING about rabid crabs… and rhino jackets… and Chloe Rue is having the time of her life, taking and leaving her favorite toy. She tries to squeak at the right parts of the song but mostly she just squeaks. And suddenly, amidst the silence of the campground I hear this LAUGHTER, this hysterical, belly jerking laughter. The kind of laughter you try to bury but it just bursts out and you can’t stop. My windows were open. Yup, it was my next door neighbors. My friends, they heard every word of my song and couldn’t stop laughing.

If this doesn’t make me internet famous I don’t know what will. For an exclusive video with our favorite doggone song, join the BRAND NEW facebook group! Though the rabid crab has long since been destroyed, she has a crazy slug and a fuzzywuzzycar to sing about too.

Well friends, if you made it this far, you have some pretty dogtastic creative ideas to do with your dog! I got most of my ideas from the book called, “The Puppy Primer” with its reference listed in the learn more tab!

Please share and subscribe if this post made ya smile! What games do you play with your dog? Any embarrassing moments about singing to your puppers? You all are wagging wonderful, thanks a million for following these Chloe Ventures! Fur always and furever, happy tails to you all.

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