Snow Day Activities!

We have had our share of gross weather the past week: rain, sleet, wind, and snow!

Some of us, or some of our dogs, LOVE IT!  Bring on the weather!

….But some of us really do not want to go outside for our dogs walk or playtime when the weather is SO GROSS. When thats the case, what do we do?

Indoor games and training!

There are lots of great ways to tire your dog out indoors when they cannot get in a long run or hike.  Here are a few options:

  1. Nosework

  2. Trick Training

  3. Husbandry Training

  4. Food Toys (as covered in our previous blog post HERE)

Nosework

Nose work can be as simple as hiding treats for your dog to find, or as complex as teaching them to find a specific item.  To learn more about Nose work, I suggest checking out Revolution Dog Sports in person or for online resources/classes, check out the Fenzi Dog Sport Academy.

Trick Training

Tricks are FUN!  They are fun for both you, and your dog.  YouTube has lots of great trick training tutorials.  

What are some fun tricks to teach? The “Kiss” trick can be fun for you and your dog, and is great for photos.  “Sitting Pretty” is a great trick and can help your dog build and maintain core muscle strength!

How do we teach these fun tricks?? There are multiple ways to teach both tricks. Here are instructions for one way to teach each trick.

Kiss

Teach your dog to touch your open hand on cue (“hand touch” or “target” for my clients!) before starting this trick. If you are my client, we probably did this already!

Once your dog can do this….

  1. Ask your dog for one or two hand touches and reward each one

  2. Place your hand on your cheek, and ask for the hand touch

  3. Mark and Reward dog for touching your hand on your face!

  4. Repeat

  5. Slowly remove hand, I usually do this by pointing to my cheek and asking for the touch

  6. Once dog is nose touching your cheek, replace the cue!

  7. Ask the dog for a “Kiss” and point to your cheek

  8. Remember to reward your dog after each try, and make sure you have plenty of play breaks!

Sit Pretty

  1. Lure your dog into a sitting position

  2. Hold a treat near their nose and lift straight up

  3. As SOON as a paw comes off the ground, MARK (with YES or Clicker) and Reward the dog

  4. Repeat, but each time wait for the paws to be higher off the ground, until both paws are up!

  5. Once dog is doing the behavior, add your cue “sit pretty”

Husbandry Training

Yucky days are the best days for working on behaviors related to nail trimming, tooth brushing, or grooming.  If you really want to get into cooperative husbandry I suggest private sessions dedicated to husbandry, or you can start by checking out the book Cooperative Care by Deborah Jones! Life is much easier when your dog WANTS to have their nails trimmed!

Do you have any other good snow day activities for your dogs? Share them in the comments!