The theme for this month’s Positive Pet Training hop is “indoor activities and games”. The dogs and I have already had a preview of being stuck indoors lately, since it’s been raining almost every day for the last week or more. Luke is already showing his signs of being bored with being stuck indoors – whining in the evening at me! I like to think we’ll continue to get outside in the winter, and we’ll try, but when it starts to get bitter cold or we’re in the middle of a big snowstorm, we don’t have much choice.
One thing we’ll be doing a lot of this winter, especially with Luke, is training. There is no shortage of things to work on when you have a reactive and fearful dog! We already are starting on a few things: crate training, muzzle training, and one more enjoyable thing for him is learning to ring bells to go outside.
We haven’t formally worked on the bells yet, but sometimes I have Luke touch them before going outside to start to give him the idea. We received this nice set of Potty Bells from Caldwell’s Pet Supply free of charge. We’ll share more about all of these things as we get more successful with them.
Currently, our focus is the muzzle training, because Luke is overdue to go to the vet for his yearly exam, and the muzzle is unfortunately necessary for that. Mostly we’ll just be talking to the vet anyway, because chances are Luke isn’t going to let her anywhere near him. I’m dreading going, but we must do it. He’s coming along well with the muzzle, but like everything else it’s a slow process! It has to be in order to succeed.
Crate training is coming along fine too, while also slow. Currently, I’m just letting him do what he wants with the crate and that is working. As I write this, he is lying in the crate behind me, though it’s still partially open. My hope is to have him comfortable being closed in there by Christmas time when we will have company.
Winter can’t be all about work though! We will continue to do nose work training (despite the name, nose “work” is more fun than work!), and after the holidays I may sign up for the second class at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy (or we might do a reactive dog class first). I’ve been doing nose work with Cricket too and she is also coming along! She doesn’t focus quite as well as Luke though so I don’t want to distract her with the camera just yet.
We finally got around to doing Luke’s first “Mock ORT (Odor Recognition Test)” in our garage. We got the Dadz to do a secret hide in a box for us. The first time didn’t go very well. Luke was very distracted; I think because it was the first time we’d had Dadz there observing. We hadn’t spent a lot of time in the garage either, so we practiced more out there before trying again.
The second time he aced it! He was just a little distracted initially but then got right to work. Over the winter we’ll mostly do fun hides in the house. I have the little magnetic containers so I can hide them on various metal objects in a room. Cricket is still working with just containers at this point, so we have lots left to work on with her.
One of the joys of having senior pets is that they don’t act out if not entertained. However, we still can’t forget Sheba! Sheba is not much for training, but she loves to play with toys so we have a lot of those around the house, and I try to find cheap ones so she can just destroy them which is what she enjoys. She and Luke often play together in the evening, fighting over the toys. Cricket also loves toy play and just the other afternoon, she was running up and down the hall with a toy when Dadz got home from work. That’s pretty good for an old lady with arthritis!
We’re still hoping for a reasonable winter weather-wise, with lots of snow and no rain or ice! It’s our preference to be able to get outdoors, and with enough snow we have lots of woods to explore on snowshoes. Either way, we’ll be out walking in the woods and playing in the yard. Once hunting season is over and the ticks have gone to bed it will be even better, but we’ve already been out exploring more of our woods in between rain showers.
What are your plans for winter when stuck indoors with your dog(s)? Will you be doing any training?
Thank you to our blog hop hosts Tenacious Little Terrier and Rubicon Days. This hop begins on the first Monday of every month and runs all week long. Please visit other blogs through the links below for more indoor entertainment and other training ideas!
It sounds like you have a good plan for winter. Do you have a muzzle that will allow you to feed Luke treats while he is wearing it? That is how we taught our dogs to wear the muzzle. We just fed small treats while wearing it. Even if you don’t have that, you could get a loose muzzle and work up to a tighter one.
Oh I always have too many training projects! I have some new tricks I want to teach him and we’re currently taking the Fenzi play class which I’m behind on. I’m thinking of taking the cooperative care (handling, grooming, vet care etc) class early next year too. He’s pretty good about handling but I think it would be nice if he enjoyed the process more! Thanks for joining the hop.
Oh, I hadn’t seen the cooperative care class before – that is definitely something we need! So many classes…so little time…LOL.
I need to figure out what our next trick is going to be. We’ve got the muzzle training done now, and will just need to practice from time to time. I guess I’ll do the bells next, but I’d like to try something else just for fun too.
I’d love to try nosework at home with my dogs, they love playing hide and seek. I really want to teach them to find keys, maybe even my glasses by tagging my stuff with scents. I’m actually looking forward to the winter so we can try these new activities!
That is such a good idea! I started Luke out with simple hide and seek and he did so well at it, I just knew we had to do more. You are going to have a fun winter! 🙂
Sounds like things are coming along and have a great plan. It’s so nice of you to get Luke used to the muzzle before his visits. Wish more people would do that and recognize that sometimes it is necessary and that sometimes the muzzle actually has a calming effect as it presses on there calming pressure points on their muzzle.
I never considered that aspect – that it might calm him more. I sure hope so!
I think there’s a stigma attached to muzzles – don’t you? People assume that means the dog is aggressive, and of course that’s not always the case.
Work it, Sheba! Poor Luke, I’m sorry he has to go to the vet. It’s so stressful on us when they don’t like it! Good luck!
Thank you! I’m probably more worried about going to the vet than Luke is. 🙂
My go to activity is always a squeaky ball with a good game of chess. It’s hard to believe that Luke is so bad at the vet, he’s such a cutie. I was at the vet yesterday and I was very good of course. Love Dolly
I’m trying to find a good squeaky ball for Luke! I got a Kong one, but he and Sheba destroyed it in no time.
Nose work sounds like so much fun. I’ve been doing little things with Bentley to introduce him to the idea. We’re hoping for snow as well. In Seattle, we usually just get a ton of rain, but the news stations have been talking about snow already!
I can’t believe we haven’t seen snow here yet, other than some flurries here and there. It’s very unusual for us to get so much rain instead of snow in November.
Before I took the nose works class, I used to just hide treats in boxes or around the house. Luke and Cricket both had fun with just that too!
Luckily we have mild winters here, but it gets cold and occasionally snows. We have more rain than snow though. If it’s not raining we take a walk every day. When housebound we all get antsy. Doing training is a great idea, we also play little hide-and-seek games with treats. I guess that’s somewhat like nose work? I’m making Toby a snuffle mat for Christmas to help him stay entertained too.
Yes, before we took the class for nose works, we used to play hide-and-seek with treats. I used boxes at first to train them, but then I would just hide treats around the house.
I’ve seen those snuffle mats and they look like a very good idea too!
Loved your mock ORT! And what Emma said… for the ORTs – you use the same size box so it’s good to practice on those USPS boxes or even shoe boxes. Also – loving the potty bells! I would love to train the boys to do that. I always see these bells and think about this but now I’m motivated!
I know you had suggested pizza boxes too, but I hadn’t gotten around to seeing if I could get some yet. Shoe boxes are a good idea too, I think I actually have quite a few of those around (no, I never throw anything out – LOL).
As soon as we get this muzzle training out of the way I plan to focus on the bells more. I think Luke will catch on quickly as soon as there are treats involved. 🙂
I never tried the bells, I would have but Harley started tapping the door with his paw very early and the others just followed suit. I think it’s a nifty idea. Especially when they get older and you don’t have to worry about accidents. Whenever they think they have to go, they just tell me. Hows things going with Ms. Sheba?
Sheba is still doing very well, thank you! Other than the huge lumps on her side, you’d never even know she has cancer.
It sounds as if you are very prepared for winter fun! I love our back door bells. Pierre uses them but Bentley prefers to slam the blinds. ????
LOL – we used to have a cat that would slam the blinds – in the bedroom very early in the morning! We tried to make him an indoor cat but we decided getting some sleep was just needed more. 🙂
You’re such a good dog mom! We are having rain for the first time in over a month, and it will continue for the next two days. That means that the chances of getting Tallulah out for her morning walk (i.e., quest to exhaust her for the rest of the day) will be slim. Thanks for reminding me that training is a good alternative. It might be time to break out all those Amazon boxes for a little scent work. 😉
Trying to exhaust Luke is more exhausting for me than him! LOL I’m trying to remember at what age dogs really start settling down, but I have a feeling we still have a few years to go. 🙂
You’ve got such a great plan for indoor games! We’ve had such a great weather the last week or so that we’ve been avoiding being indoors as much as possible. It’s going to be a tough adjustment when November decides it wants to be normal 😉
Now that it’s finally stopped raining here, we haven’t needed the indoor games either. We’ve been having quite a bit of warmer weather lately. I’m sure November will get back to normal at some point – and probably all at once!
Love nose work! I am so glad you are playing that with your shy dog, very helpful. Good luck Luke on your continued success.
I try to do what I can to build his confidence, and I think the nose work and trick training both help a lot with that. Thank you!
Dang, the bell ringing is pretty cool!
Love the potty bells idea!
I ring the bell when I have to go out side too
Lily & Edward
I have to correct you because for us dogs, nose work is hard work, but it is also fun work we enjoy! Great on the ORT mock up. Mom volunteered at an ORT all day Saturday. Madison will be needing one down the road, so it was helpful to watch the dogs and handlers to get some tips. Also, if you want to have 12 boxes that are all the same…hope the USPS isn’t reading this…stop at the post office and pick up 12 of the flat rate boxes. Build them together at home and then you have a perfect ORT set. They are almost the same size as ORT boxes too.
OK, I stand corrected, and Luke and Cricket appreciate you pointing that out to me. 🙂
Thank you for the tip on the USPS boxes, I am definitely going to do that. There are some you can buy online but I really didn’t want to spend the money if I didn’t have to.
Oh I would love to come and to find treasures with you in your house…. I’m a super scent hound, I even find the things the mama didn’t hide… :o)
Or probably the things she hid that she didn’t want you to find! 🙂
We bet you and Luke could have fun racing to see who could find the treasure first. ♥