This holiday season, you might find you have more time to spend at home with your new puppy. In addition to snuggling and relaxing, the puppy experts at Petland recommend that you also bond with your pooch by playing fun games. These games are designed to help socialize and train your puppy, as well as […]
This holiday season, you might find you have more time to spend at home with your new puppy. In addition to snuggling and relaxing, the puppy experts at Petland recommend that you also bond with your pooch by playing fun games. These games are designed to help socialize and train your puppy, as well as entertain you both!
One of the first things that your puppy will have to learn is his or her own name. That might seem simple enough, but for young puppies, learning generalized behaviors is actually quite challenging. In this case, the term “generalized behavior” refers to responding to his own name in the same manner whether your puppy is at home or at a dog park with you. In a broader sense of the term, you want all of your puppy’s behaviors to be generalized. You don’t want him to jump up on your guests at home and you don’t want him to jump up on strangers at the park, for example. No matter where he goes, he shouldn’t “jump up.”
But for puppies, learning to do or not do certain behaviors can become associated with the location where they learn the rule. It may be easy for your puppy to give you his attention when you call his name at home, for example, but when you’re at a park, he ignores you.
This is why we recommend that you get into the habit of playing the name game with your puppy wherever you two go together. It can be a warm up exercise, too, to practice before you play other games. When you go to a new environment with unfamiliar smells or sounds, simply say your puppy’s name. When he looks at you, reward him with a bit of a treat. Repeat this as many as 5 times as your puppy is getting accustomed to a new, exciting environment. This will help him to not only understand his name, but understand the importance of giving you his attention when you call his name.
There’s nothing quite as enjoyable as walking your dog off-leash during a hike or in a dog park. This is a great long-term goal to work towards, and if you start now when your puppy is young, there’s a good chance you will end up with an obedient dog who will heel when necessary later on in life. The key is to engrain in your puppy the rules and benefits of walking beside you while off-leash, which is best done by rewarding him with the shadow game.
Start at home in a quiet environment with your puppy on a leash. Have some treats on hand to reward him with and start to walk around in any direction. Any time your puppy catches up to you, give him a treat. If your puppy gets ahead of you, simply turn 180 degrees and place a treat on the ground. As your puppy eats the treat, walk ahead a few paces but be ready for him to catch up to you again, and give another treat when he does. Go forwards, backwards, sideways, fast, slow, and every which way. All the while, your puppy should follow you like a shadow.
If you continue to regularly play this game at home, eventually take off your puppy’s leash and see how he does. He should be more interested in following you like a shadow than in sprinting off, but it will take time for him to mature. As he does, he will develop a great deal of self-control and that’s when you can experiment with playing the shadow game at a public park.
One of the greatest things about puppies, aside from them being overwhelmingly adorable, is that they learn the fastest when their training seems like a game to them. In fact, puppies socialize and learn most of their life skills while playing with their littermates and other dogs. Hide and seek is a fun game for your puppy to play, which helps him to practice the important skill of using his sense of smell, hearing, and logic to find you. This could come in handy later in life if, for example, you’re separated during a hike.
We recommend first playing hide and seek at home inside, then moving the game outside if you have a large backyard with hiding places. Eventually you can play this game in a larger outdoor area, but you’ll probably notice that the interior of your home provides the best hiding options.
The first game you play, be sure to have some treats on hand. When you begin walking away from your puppy to go hide, make sure you stay within your puppy’s line of sight and don’t go too far. It’s best if the first time you “hide” it’s pretty obvious where you are. This will help your puppy comprehend the nature of the game. Once he really understands what the game is all about, then you can really hide by going to a different floor of your house and totally tucking yourself out of sight.
It can help to have a friend “play” too by distracting your puppy while you hide. As soon as you’re out of sight, call your puppy, and when he finds you, give him a treat. When your pup has grasped the idea of the game, make the hiding places more ambitious and include the whole family so he can find each of you one by one.
There you have it! Three puppy games to help train and socialize your new fur baby! We hope you have a great holiday season bonding with your furry friend. And if you’re ready for another puppy, Petland Texas can match you with the best breed for you. Check out our available puppies or stop by one of our Texas locations!
