Is your dog whining a lot? Does he rip newspapers or bark excessively? Does he eat your furniture for reasons aside from anxiety and nervousness? Maybe you're simply dealing with a bored dog.
The causes of boredom include:
1. Lack of exercise
2. Lack of mental stimulation
3. Isolation
What to do?
1. Establish a schedule for play and walks.
2. Basic training.
3. Take advantage of technology once in awhile. TVs and gadgets can make great temporary diversions. Make sure not to rely on them too much.
4. Toys like Kongs are great for food motivated dogs.
5. Occasional playdates help too.
Hey Haopee,
Thanks for the tips on bored dogs. I will pass this information on to my neighbor who's dog barks non-stop. Sometimes the dog can be too spoiled, like a child who gets his own way all the time. They bark and whine, and pester constantly for attention. After a while it is hard to ignore the racket they are making and it is easy to lose your temper or just give in and make them worse than ever.
Do you have any tips for the spoiled rotten dogs and their owners?
I'm guessing you'd have to make the owners exercise and give them some basic training as well xD
Kidding. Anyway, those are good tips. I have to get a new Kong. Ours mysteriously disappeared(dog probably accidentaly threw it off the balcony lol).
I think teaching just-for-fun tricks helps as well. Keeps them busy memorizing things. "Old dogs don't learn new tricks" is a complete lie. Just do clicker training and you'll have any dog doing weird stuff in no time
These are great tips, Haopee! I think people forget that dogs need some sort of stimulation in their day.
I know there is a difference with Misha on days when she doesn't get enough exercise and days she does. She becomes like a child who bothers you all day. Luckily, it doesn't take much to keep her satisfied. A 20 minute walk in the morning, a little playing with her toys, her treat balls, and stalking family members in the kitchen usually does the trick.
If she sees particularly restless, I just do a little back to basics training with her. She'll do anything for a piece of dog food.
I definitely agree with your tips. Our chow was forever barking and getting into mischief when she was a pup. When we started her on a routine of walking in the morning, playing in the early afternoon and another walk early in the evening she behaved much better. We also socialize her with different dogs and people as much as we can.
By the way, what do you guys put in your dogs' kongs? With mine it was either not challenging enough or too challenging(as in, he couldn't get it out of the king at all xD ). Is soft canned food a good option once in a while, or would it just spill out of the kong? What else?
I see so many people recommending those Kongs toys, I'm going to have to check them out. You can put treats in the middle of them right, then the dog has a big challenge to get them out? Mine used to love tearing apart cloth toys, but she seems less interested now, but she chews nyla-bone type thingies a lot, she loves those. She's always jumping up on my lap and throwing one at me so I'll hold it for her and so she can get started.
