Ideas on mental stimulation please

[Dharmalovesdraco]

16 month old GR puppy has a poorly leg (sliced his stopper pad) is bandaged and restricted to short lead walks only so I could really do with some ideas to tire him out mentally. Whilst walking we do lots of sits and changed of direction but it's just not enough.

Tia

Scentwork...start off hiding a bit of food somewhere easy and build from there, mine has ended up only having the odd few months of being on proper walks and he can now find toys anywhere I hide them...I'm going to start on random objects soon.

Trick training as well, lots of static things like dead, or identifying toys by name (once he's finding hidden things as well you can combine them and send him off to find things). Things like emptying the washing machine or tidying toys up are quite good...and useful, lol.

You can give him his meals in a kong as well, if he's on dried food just soak it and if that doesn't take long enough freeze it as well...and raw bones to chew on as well. That keeps them busy and tires them out.

Things like impulse control training (wait and leave, for eg .) seem to tire mine out more than other things, I assume because it's hard work to not do something you want to do, lol. So working on improving/extending things like that are great if I really want him tired.

Sprinkles!

www.dog-games.co.uk/sprinkles.htm

NCIS has lots of good things to say about Sprinkles, if she's around :)

I'm here Sprinkles is/are wonderful. You need a moist or semi moist food in really small pieces and you 'sprinkle' it over a relatively small area of grass. I used a tin of tuna in water last night, flaked it really small and covered an area of about 2 metres square. Ddog (a sixteen month old Border Collie) spent a good 15 minutes searching and then came in and went to sleep.
It focuses their minds and makes them search slowly, also by using something smelly the scent adheres to the grass and the next time they go out they re search the area, mine went out this morning and slowly researched the area.

I can highly recommend it.

You can also try making him work for all his food, so every sit, down etc gets a bit of food, lots of 'watch me' and heel work in short bursts. Try hiding his food under cups around the house, take him out in the car so he has to watch things. One of the things my collie finds exhausting is a trip round the M25, it's even better if we get stuck in a queue as he has to sit up and watch all the cars moving. I don't take him round the M25 just to tire him out I hasten to add, I may me a mad dog lady but not quite that mad.

Thank you all so much, I will try the tuna sprinkles tomorrow- sounds brilliant:)
I might also try a car journey, not only to tire him mentally but so he doesn't just associate the car with the vets :( he was really unhappy and stressed there tonight, was horrible.

He's a wee bit off his food at the moment too and doesn't have tbe staying power to manage his kibble in a kong but I could try something else semi frozen in it.

Thank you all again!!

When mine was on complete rest I would take him out for a picnic! Short drive, out on lead for a 20m walk to a picnic bench and he would have his picnic food - lots of little bits, so it took a while. He seemed to enjoy the change of scene

Eric really appreciates a cardboard box with a treat in. He loves the opportunity to destroy it. We started with tissue boxes so he could see the treat but now we use amazon boxes and tape them sealed because it takes him longer to get to the treat.

I took Ddog out last night to the station to pick up my daughter, we went a few minutes early and I got him out and we sat by the door waiting so he watched trains and people for ten minutes. When we got home he curled up and fell asleep instead of pestering us with toys, definitely something I'm going to do again.
I never realised before I had this pup just how much small experiences tire out dogs, I always thought it had to be a long, off lead walk. Tis is a good article about the wrong sort of walking.

paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/too-much-of-a-good-thing/

NCIS Eric slept all evening yesterday and I'm convinced it's because we went to the local market town and had a wander round window shopping. Distance wise we didn't go too far but Eric was subjected to different noises and smells and I think that's what tired him out so I'll bear that in mind when he's in his "up to no good" mode.

I had a bit of a melt down the other night on here and git some great advice. Sprinkles is great (except my dog's a whimp and I have to stand outside with him while he searches) and so is feeding from a Kong. I also found this which frustrates but fascinates my dig for ages :)

mumnosbest What is that your dog is eating from? Looks like a cactus!

It does doesnt it Don't know what its called. Its from jollies and it makes meal time last ages. He used to turn his nose up at food before.