Ideas for entertaining a very bored dog please.

[Goldmandra]

Our two year old terrier cross has a spinal injury and has to be rested in her crate for three weeks.

She used to love her crate but is getting more and more frustrated, not wanting the door shut, getting upset if I leave the room, etc.

Were taking her out and sitting with her on a bed on the living room floor as much as possible to limit her cabin fever. We're also giving her a Kong with treats in, chews, carrots, putting her crate where she can see the garden, getting her to earn treats by the few tricks she can still do but we're running out of ideas. She can't stand on her back legs and needs not to be too active.

She's also losing weight despite having quite a few extra treats.

Any ideas of how to keep her happier for another two weeks?

Can you lay her on the backseat of the car and take her for a drive ? It's my stock answer for bored dogs as mine loves the car and because he has been out its a bit like a walk .

We have a crate in the boot which is on a shelf so they can see out. I could take her out in that but will check when we see the vet tomorrow if it's OK to move her that much. I do a 20 mile school run twice a day so it would probably be really good for her if I can.

Thanks

Can she pick toys by name? I did that for weeks when my puppy was on crate rest...because you can just keep adding in new objects whenever they get the hang of a new one.

I don't know if there's a better way, but I started off with a ball, said ball every time he touched it, then added in another one and gave it a name and he got a reward for getting it right and so on.

Targeting things with her front paws might be another possibility - it was his front leg I was resting so I don't know how long that would keep her busy for.

I had about 3 kongs on the go...frozen so they lasted longer and with as much variety as I could, lumps of raw chicken worked really well as they stick together and so he had to work at defrosting it as well as getting it out - there are also a load of recipes on the kong website.

That video is perfect!

Thank you

Sorry Tabula, for some reason I couldn't see your post earlier. Freezing the Kong is inspired. Thank you. I will look for more idea on their website too.

This afternoon we've been training her to rest her head our hands which has gone well. We also put her in a deep bath for a bit of hydrotherapy which wore her out so she's been comatose ever since.

I feel better with some ideas. Thank you.

My dog plays a kind of fetch that means he doesn't have to move. He lies on the chair and pushes a toy off onto the floor, I then throw the toy at him so he doesn't have to move to catch it and he then pushes the toy off the chair again, and repeat. Training your dog to do this will also pass lots of time!

ephedra your dog has you well trained ! He's taught you how to play fetch .

He's a collie! He has me trained in all kinds of annoying things like giving up my seat

Tbf to him it is a helpful game as he has something wrong with his hips/legs so he can't always run around like he wants to.

That video is fab. Going to get a muffin tray tomorrow!