Fighting the February Funk

February – always seems like longest month of the year to me. After December and January, winter has lost its charm and now, like any other guest who has stayed too long, winter is becoming tedious and annoying.

So this blog is about making February interesting for our dogs (and, side benefit, for us as well). We pet owners can take a page from zoo keepers books and think hard about enrichment. How to enrich our dogs environment so they stay interested and entertained so they don’t find their own things that interest and entertain them like furniture tasting, cat annoyance and counter surfing.

Pip and I fight the funk in a parking garage. Here we work on our sidestep!

Here are a few options:

Making Meals More than a Minute
This is probably the most well-known and widely practiced enrichment activity in the dog world. What probably began with marrow bones (which many still use and I am not wading into that debate here) moved to Kongs. Kong really owned this niche for a long time but then others began to catch on. Recently Premier’s Busy Buddy toy line with the kibble dispensing the Twist-n-Treat has become my favorite. Adjustable to make kibbles of varying sizes easier or harder to get at, easy to open and completely clean – this toy has my heart. NOTE: Do not use peanut butter or such in this as dogs will like it and figure out how to unscrew it, this is just for kibble.

Kongs are for the wet stuff – soak the kibble, mix with wet food or a bit of peanut butter (careful with the high fat items for waist reasons and waste reasons – a lot of fat consumed suddenly can cause diarrhea). Some freeze the Kongs making it even more of a challenge.

You can also stuff sterilized bones just beware hard floors and bones – this can be a noisy game and if you have downstairs neighbors this can be a game that creates conflict.

Food Finding
Another way to use food is to hide it – inside or out. Inside, having your dog down and stay (or having a helper hold your dog) then show your dog a treat, walk into another room and put it on the floor. Come back, tell him to “Find it” (or whatever words you wish to use) then go with him and cheer him on. Repeat, only each time make it a bit harder to find. NOTE: Unless you want your dog digging through the cushions, taking books off your shelves or rummaging in trash cans, don’t hide treats in those places. Keep hiding spots low and in areas that don’t require any destruction to get to them.

Outside, if you have snow, toss a treat in front of your dog where he sees it and encourage him to get it. Use a pole or broomstick and jam a hole in a snow bank, drop in some goodies and watch the fun!

Click
If you’ve never clicker trained your dog, give it a try. You’re bound to have fun and it will improve your timing as well as make you an avid hunter of rewardable moments – both good things. If it goes wrong, oh well. The world still spins and you can try it again.

Though purists would cringe, I say do whatever you need to do to get things going including (but not limited to) luring. The idea is to laugh and teach something new, not to defend your actions to a PhD committee. So, go play!

Bracken learns to put away her toys - useful and fun!


Novel Activities
This winter I taught Pip how to stand on the rungs of a horizontal ladder. Why? Why not! Well, truthfully the why is because she is quite straight front and rear so any game that causes her to have to balance herself builds up her muscles making her less prone to potential injury. I have a stability ball but find the ladder game easier for us to do on a regular and prolonged basis. Other novel activities that strengthen your dog can be found in Debbie Gross Saunders excellent DVD’s on the subject available at her website.

But you don’t need anything special to come up with ideas. Have your dog lie down on one stair (if he fits) or sit with his butt on a book, how about stand with his front paws in a box or on a box, how about making a tunnel with some chairs and a blanket and luring him through? Anything new that makes him think is just what we’re after.

Or teach novel things that are useful – have your dog carry things to family members by name, get you a roll of TP when asked, find your keys or the remote, close the door behind you, turn lights on or off at the switch – the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Not sure how to teach such things? Come by www.MySmartPuppy.com and ask us in Community. We’ll help!
Pip doing a Novel "Place" on a varikennel - in class. She found this interesting.


Have Some Class
This is a great time to take some local training class – a bit of agility or a round of rally perhaps? Get you both out and doing something new once a week? Give it a try!

This is also, depending on the weather, a great time for field trips. Car isn’t too hot and a stroll around a local pet supply store can be just what the Doctor ordered (I know, I know, purchasing will be involved but I can’t help that part).

Melissa Fischer takes her young Aussie, Petra, out to a Tractor Supply store with excellent results. :)

Be Silly
We all are predictable in our own ways. We touch our dogs, speak to our dogs, interact the same way every day often in routine ways hour by hour. Mix if up a bit. Doesn’t have to be fancy – sit on the floor for a cuddle, suddenly scoot down the hall laughing and clapping, sing, hide toys around and toss them over your shoulder as you go by (assuming you have one dog or, if more, that this won’t create havoc), suddenly duck behind a door and hide then call your dog. Side benefit: You may have a bit of fun yourself!

If you have willing helpers, a good game of hide and go seek is a romp. Teach you dog to find your kids by name. We hope you never need this but if you did, how useful would that be?

My goal, in the greyest of grey months is to make sure everyone in my household has at least a little fun every day and that includes me! We hold the keys to our dog’s well being which goes way beyond the physical.

If your dog is sleeping a lot more, seems listless and well, bored, maybe he is suffering for what we all suffer from these days – FEBRUARY FUNK!