What not to do when playing with your dog?
Norma Kassulke
2025-06-02 22:45:06
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Simply tossing a ball over and over until your dog falls down, exhausted, might sound like the best idea for a quiet life, but can create a serious obsession for your dog. It can also create injury issues as the dog repeatedly lands on the same joints over and over in a frenzied attempt to catch. Chasing your dog might be hilarious as a mock ‘I am gonna getcha!’ game, but it actually teaches the dog to run away from you. This has to be the very last thing you want your dog to learn. Play fighting, where you encourage your dog to mouth on your hands or clothes, is not a good idea, even if they are gentle, you are teaching your dog that mouthing people is a great game. You have taught a dog to play with people using their grabbing and mouthing behaviours, which could be easily misinterpreted as biting. Using their mouth on people is a habit we do not want any dog to learn.
Yoshiko Ruecker
2025-05-21 12:14:05
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Unconstructive play can lead to mouthing, jumping up, pulling on clothes, snatching toys out of your hand or encouraging excessive chasing. Some examples of unconstructive games include pulling on clothing, playing games that encourage mouthing on hands and feet and games that overexcite your dog and encourage jumping up or mouthing. These games should be avoided as they encourage jumping up, mouthing and tugging on clothes, behaviours that your dog may begin to do in day-to-day life if they continue to practice them during play. If you are playing with a tug toy, try to avoid jolting the toy upwards sharply, as this can encourage your dog to jump up, and can hurt their neck. The most important thing to remember during constructive play is not to overstimulate your dog too much. We want them to be excited but not so excited that they aren’t able to respond to commands. If your dog breaks their ‘sit’ or ‘down’ before you say ‘get it’, reset by asking for a sit or down again.
Dean Hintz
2025-05-21 09:51:24
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Dogs are totally entitled to their dinner and while you can add interest to mealtimes, you don’t want to create frustration – or make getting their meals contingent on solving complex and difficult puzzles. Dogs who don’t get mental enrichment or who don’t get an outlet for their natural hardwired behaviours can resort to behaviours you are going to find undesirable – perhaps by chewing the sofa, becoming hyperactive or over attention-seeking, or playing with things you don’t want them to. In other individuals, boredom can cause depression and so they may sleep a lot, lose interest in training and your relationship may start to break down.
Read also
- Is fetch mentally stimulating for a dog?
- Can dogs play fetch every day?
- Why do dogs enjoy fetch?
- Is playing with toys an exercise for dogs?
- Is 20 minutes of fetch enough?
- Can a dog be too obsessed with fetch?
- Is fetch good or bad for dogs?
- What is the best mental stimulation for dogs?
- How do I know when to stop playing fetch with my dog?