Our gang can get pretty restless on rainy days…. especially lately when we’ve had one rainy day after another. The month of May flew by…. where did it go…. it seemed to rush by with the over-flowing waters of the streams by our house. Now it’s June, and we’ve had more rainfall than sunshine….
Well, true, we don’t have any control over the weather – but we do have control over our restless dogs… THE ANSWER: use mental exercise to tire your dog. I first read about mental exercise in one of Patricia McConnell’s excellent books on dog training. I can’t remember which one…. I have a copy of every book she’s written – for reference – and have reread them several times. I must admit, it’s something I often forget to do with my dogs when we’re stuck inside all day…. but with this long bout of rain, I’ve taken each one of my four into a separate part of the house for some special training time. Lots of drills and fun stuff – like tricks. Each dog gets 20 minutes. I’ll do it a couple of times a day. They LOVE it – and it’s a good break for me. They truly are well-behaved and just lie around at my feet all day while I’m at work on my computer – but the stimulation is wonderful for them. A great human-canine bond builder! Try it on our next rainy day.
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