Play with your dog!

Playing tug with my Teddy

I was assisting the instructor at our obedience club's puppy class on Tuesday night and a very sad thing occurred to me. Most people don't seem to know how to play with their dogs.

Sounds odd, doesn't it? And it was a strange realization for me, too. The half-dozen people in class range in age from teens to mid-sixties. Their puppies run the gamut, too; from a four-pound Chihuahua to a six-month old Viszla, with a Boston Terrier, a KleeKai, and two French Bulldogs in the mix.

One of the Frenchie people was having trouble getting her dog's attention. He was interested in the other dogs, in me, in the instructor, in the dogs in the Rally class across the room - everything but his very nice "mom." There were a couple of reasons for that - the first one being that he didn't have to look for "mom" because she had his leash so tight he knew exactly where she was - at the other end of the very taut leash. The other reason is that mom's not much fun.

I encouraged her to get his attention by playing with him - and she responded that she hadn't brought a toy to class. And she seemed astonished when I said "You don't need a toy - have him play with you!"

It never seemed to occur to her - or most of the other people in class.

So I got down on my knees and gave her dog a little poke. Then I put my hand against his chest and gently pushed. It got his attention. So I gave him another chest push. And he rebounded back, ready to play and eager to interact with me. And we had a lovely few minutes playing "throw the puppy away." And his mom was astounded - she'd never seen him so happy to play with someone and she'd had no idea how to start the game.

Dogs are many things in our lives; companions, friends, protectors, comforters, but they're also play machines. Let yourself play with your dog - get down on the floor and be a silly kid for a while. Toys are wonderful - play fetch, play tug, play keep-away. If you don't have a toy, play shove-the-puppy, or tummy-tickle, or you-can't-catch-me. Don't worry about anyone else seeing you, or what anyone else will think. If they have any sense they'll admire your spirit and be a little bit jealous that you know how to have fun.

Dogs can live a lot of fun in just a few minutes and they're excellent reminders to live in the moment we have.

Caught in the act

No toy is Ceilidh-proof.

My clever boy!

Here's the incredibly cute Roc - who learned to make his car go by watching me do it!

The face of genius!

I've always thought that Roc was one of the cutest, loudest (he barks at the tv), and smartest dogs on the planet. Last night I got proof of his brilliance! We were having a play session after dinner and he was pretty bored with the toys I pulled out of the toy bin. (Toys left out are subject to instantaneous Boston Terrier destruction. We've mentioned Ceilidh before, haven't we?) So I reached into the bin a little deeper and came up with a toy he hadn't seen in a while.

It's a little car-shaped stuffie toy, with a pull-string. When you pull it, the car goes skittering around in circles. I pulled the string and set it down. Roc loved it - batting at it and chasing it. When the string retracted all the way and the car stopped, he brought it back to me and watched, fascinated, while I pulled the string again and set down the toy.

After about three repetitions - Roc did it himself! He held the car with his two front paws and pulled the string with the ring in his teeth. Then he let go and chased it around. And did it again! No fluke! Who says that dogs can't learn by watching?

This weekend I'm going to try to get a video of my boy being brilliant. Of course, he won't ever do it again - but he could if he wanted!

Baby Destructo strikes again!

Dax was very proud of herself yesterday evening. She managed to disembowel and shred her favorite toy in the whole, wide world - her Squeeze Meeze Elephant. It took some effort, but once the initial hole was made, latex and stuffing flew merrily around the room.

From talking to all sorts of dog people, I know that most seem to look for "indestructible" toys. As the owner of dogs and a dog store, I absolutely guarantee there's no such thing. Given time and determination, any dog can destroy any dog toy. Ceilidh, Fran's Boston Terrier, is notorious for her ability to reduce any toy, of any material, to shreds.

I'll also admit that the destruction doesn't bother me at all. I pick up the pieces and toss them out without a pang. If they were precious objects, they'd be in display cases. At my house, dog toys are meant to be played with, destroyed and replaced.

I've heard stories about dogs who cherish particular toys, treat them gently, get anxious when they're in the laundry, and carry them tenderly through their lives. I believe it can happen. It just doesn't at my house.

The lengths we'll go to...

Dog training, especially when you have a "non-traditional" performance breed, can stretch your creativity to its limits. And acting on the ideas you come up with can get you labelled a kook or a genius, depending on your success.

This winter I started taking Dax (my French Bulldog) to agility classes. One of the basics in agility is to make it fun for your dog and keep your dog's focus on you and the task at hand. One way is to get your dog to play with you - especially by tugging on a toy.

That's a challenge for us. Dax rarely tugs anything. Never in public. So, I had to get creative. Dee, our instructor (and Nancy, her assistant) pulled out all the suggestions they could come up with - from rubber milking machine inserts (fresh off the farm) to socks stuffed with food. Nothing worked for Dax. What can I say? She's shy about tugging in public.

So I put my thinking cap on. What does Dax love more than anything in the world? Oddly enough, the answer is vegetables. She goes ape for arugula, insane for asparagus, kookoo for cucumbers - you get the idea.

So I brought a nice, limp rib of celery to class for her to tug on. And it worked. Aside from having to pick the "celery strings" out of her teeth. And they'll be telling stories about this for years - with the names changed to protect the nutty.