Think you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

In partnership with Parkview K9

Many of us will have recently found ourselves spending a prolonged amount of time with our furry best friends, and whilst we have to agree they make excellent substitutes for our usual co-workers, it may also have made you realise that they may not be as perfectly trained as you first thought. Faith Richardson chatted with Adam Wilson, dog trainer at Parkview K9 in Hebburn, (http://parkviewk9.co.uk) to help give you some practical tips to keep your dog mentally and physically active during these long days indoors.

He said: “Following the Coronavirus pandemic, I’ve had people contact me to ask what they should be doing with their dogs whilst they’re either working from home or self-isolating. We’ve put a list together working through some helpful ideas and games you can build into your routine to ensure your dogs are receiving the physical and mental stimulation they need.”

Flirt Pole

Flirt poles are essentially a fishing rod with an elastic cord and a tug or toy attached. They’re great for building prey drive in dogs and enable you to really exercise your dog with limited available space. Use the flirt pole to build frustration with the dog to make them really want to catch it, then when they show real effort to catch it let them win and enjoy playing with it.

Basic Obedience Training

Use your dog’s food to improve their basic obedience training. Work on sit, down, stand, backwards, spin, retrieve, speak and leave – to name just a few. If your dog knows all of these already you can increase the duration they can do it, the distance between you and the dog, and the level of distraction they can do it in.

Threshold Training

Does your dog get over excited at the mere mention of a walk? Use this time to train your dog to wait before going through doorways. Many dogs drag their owners over the thresholds when they know they’re heading out on a walk. Instead, use this time to teach them patience and to wait for a signal before walking through. This is a simple training method that you’ll be thankful you taught them.

Snuffle mats

Snuffle mats are essentially feeding mats made of polar fleece that encourage a dog to forage around the fabric, finding little pieces of food that you’ve hidden there as they go. It’s super rewarding for the dog, as the rate of reinforcement is high and its great mental stimulation for them. We make snuffle mats ourselves so if you’d like one just drop us a message and we can make one up for you! 

Hide and Seek

Take your dog’s favourite food or toy and hide it somewhere in the house. Release your dog to go and find it. Make it really easy at first so they understand the game, then gradually make it more difficult over time. Try starting with hiding something close by, then slowly move it further and further out of the room. Move onto hiding it in another room, then upstairs.

Recall

Recall is essentially less about training than it is structure and perceived value. If you want your dog to have a good recall you need the dog to view you as more valuable than other dogs. You need to be more interesting than anything else around it. Try handing feeding every meal so they learn that food comes from you. It’s also worth stopping any and all interactions with other dogs so they begin to think of you as more interesting than other dogs. You can also work on this by removing toys that are just scattered around and only playing with them when you want to play. This improves your dog’s knowledge of obedience and they learn you are fun and worth coming back to. After that, teaching them to respond to their name in relation to food and fun will ensure your dog always returns to you.