Let Your Dog Entertain You

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By Gerard Raneri

Over the centuries, dogs have been bred for more and more demanding or specific tasks, resulting in an extraordinary variation among breeds, and also incredible physical abilities. Now that so many of our dogs live a life of luxury with companionship as their most important job, it's easy for them to get into mischief, develop troubling or destructive habits, gain weight or simply get bored.

To keep him happy and healthy, we must stimulate our dog’s active brain and exercise its body. For every dog and every household, the right choice on how to accomplish this will vary. However, there are three categories from which to choose when picking the tactics that work best for you and your dog: Exercise, Problem Solving, and Obedience.

Starting with simple obedience training, such as teaching your dog to sit, lie down, stay, walk nicely, and come when called are forms of performance that stimulate his brain. Obedience not only helps your dog understand how to behave in your household, but it encourages him to think. Exercise and problem solving allow your dog to rely mostly on his instincts. Obedience and other forms of training however, stimulate his intellect.

When training your dog, start small, and limit distractions and keep training episodes short. As you and your dog become more proficient, increase the time you expect him to hold a command — such as stay, add distractions, and then new commands. Remember to keep it fun! Dogs love to please their leaders, so give him lots of praise and find skills you both enjoy.

Learning tricks like shake, high five, walking backwards, and rolling over are just a few of the ways your dog's intellect can be challenged. You can advance his skills even further and combine them with lots of exercise by joining clubs dedicated to agility, flyball (see OVM April, 2009, “Go Dog, Go!” for more on flyball), or freestyle competitions.

If you seek a more aesthetic experience for you and your pooch, add music and dance to the repertoire, which includes moves like paw kicks and the moonwalk.

Like their human companions, dogs are life-long learners. They like the process of learning a new command or trick so the more stimulation we provide our dogs by giving them opportunities to think and work, the better we meet their needs, and the happier they'll be. By strengthening our animal-human bond through training and cooperative play, we attain the full benefits of sharing our lives with our beloved pets.

Interested in trying agility, freestyle of flyball? Go to OVMMagazine.com for a list of organizations and clubs that will get you started.

Gerard Raneri is a certified dog behavioral therapist and trainer with Bark Busters home dog training.

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Agility: In an agility competition, you will cheer your dog as he shows his stuff on a course of obstacles including jumps, climbs, weave poles, tunnels, and a pause table. Agility training challenges your dog’s mind and body, keeping him in top form mentally and physically. If you participate in AKC sponsored agility competitions, your dog may be eligible to earn titles in a variety of events such as conformation, lure coursing, earth dog, retrieving and field trials, obedience, rally, and tracking, as well as agility. In Tucson, a good place to start agility training might be to contact the Humane Society’s Companions for Life Center at www.hssaz.org or the Saguaro Scramblers Agility Club at www.scramblers.org.

Flyball: If your dog has a need for speed, flyball might be doggy heaven. This fast-paced, team relay race uses a 51-foot course with four hurdles and a triggered-release flyball box at one end. Competing dogs fly down the course, clearing hurdles at amazing speeds, grab the ball, and return to the finish line. This burgeoning sport brings out a noisy exuberance in owners and dogs alike. Check out North American Flyball Association (NAFA®) at www.flyball.org/aboutflyball.html.Right now in Tucson, you have a choice of two flyball racing teams, the Dust Devils and Online K9.

Musical Canine Freestyle: If you seek a more aesthetic experience for you and your pooch, add music and dance to the repertoire. The Canine Freestyle Federation defines musical freestyle as, “… a choreographed performance organized with music, illustrating the training and joyful relationship of a dog and handler team.” Music can be as varied as the whims of the dancing pair, and the more recent addition of costumes makes the performances even more colorful. The scores of moves and combinations on freestyle skill lists are sure to delight audiences, such as paw kicks and the moon walk. To see some amazing examples of this canine-human art form, look up “canine freestyle” on www.youtube.com. Wikipedia lists several organizations regulating competitive freestyle in United States: the World Canine Freestyle Organization http://www.worldcaninefreestyle.org, the Canine Freestyle Federation http://www.canine-freestyle.org/,and the Musical Dog Sport Association http://www.musicaldogsport.org/.

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