Mind & Scent Games For Puppy

[koalathebear]

Glad you liked the photo of Luka...he is a big beautiful boy now. Sometimes I wonder where my little baby fuzzball puppy went! He used to look like this

...

I'll try and take some more pics of Luka and his other toys...like most dogs whose owners are on DOL he has waaaaay too many! Maybe not quite as many as fbaudry's lucky doggies though!

Gah. Luka is soooooooooooooooooo cute - then and now. I just want to pick him and cuddle him

I fear we may have to move on from the muffin tin. Elbie is now taking

Thank goodness our clickers should be arriving soon.

[koalathebear]

We continue our search to find toys that will keep Elbie entertained.

We bought a tucker ball from wagsalot.com.au and it arrived today. It is a nice alternate to the kong given that the kong can't fit that much kibble. Elbie seems to love it - video

. The collision with his crate door was a bit unfortunate

Elbie loves squeaky toys so we also bought him a pig squeaker mat. It has 16 squeakers in it ... naturally he will only play with it under supervision because we don't want him eating a squeaker. The label says: "It may drive you crazy but your pet will love it!"

Edited August 10, 2010 by koalathebear

[Genabee]

Maybe I need to buy G some more toys....

The muffin tin is so cute! I could just see G putting her paw underneath the whole thing and flipping it upside down.... then barking at it because she wouldn't be able to flip it back the other way!

Playing treasure hunt with the food is a good thing to try! We can now evacuate the water bottle in about 3 minutes...

[minxy]

Thank you! If Elbie is going through a chew phase, I think you should save your money for now! Archie (and Olaf as well for that matter) has never been a chewer so we now have way to many toys

This picture was taken when he was 8 months, and I reckon now we would have double the amount of toys

Holy jesus, that is a much loved dog! :laugh:

[toofarnorth]

I love the photo above...gorgeous! Which one is Elbies favourite toy?

I tried the muffin tin and tennis ball exercise last night with my cocker and the little guts had it sorted within a couple of minutes. He didnt bother with picking the ball up in his mouth, just flicked it out with his nose whilst desperately trying to get the food. lol.

Edited August 10, 2010 by toofarnorth

[koalathebear]

wizzle: We thought that Elbie would flip the whole thing over as well but oddly enough he doesn't and works through it the way he's supposed to. Elbie has a LOT of toys ... he loves squeakies the most and will entertain himself for ages squeaking away - it's embarrassing when we're on the phone Also, if G is that fast with the water bottle, try the Tucker Ball - that drops out treats but not as quickly as a bottle does.

toofarnorth: Heh heh tht is an awesome photo. That's Archie not Elbie so we'll have to wait for fbaudry to come back to this thread and tell us Elbie has many favourite toys depending on his mood! For sleeping, he loves his stuffed toy badger, he has a number of squeaky toys, he loves playing with a plastic drink bottle ... Oddy enough the only toys he doesn't like are:

- we can't get him to use his home alone dangling ball thing even if we slather peanut butter on the tug

- we bought hima green rubber bone that's supposed to be good for his teeth and breath and he has zero interest in it

With the muffin tin, you could try putting it under only one of the balls and seeing if he can find the ball that has the food? Also, I find that using a kong ball or a harder/smoother ball provides more of a challenge than tennis balls :rolleyes:

[Genabee]

wizzle: We thought that Elbie would flip the whole thing over as well but oddly enough he doesn't and works through it the way he's supposed to. Elbie has a LOT of toys ... he loves squeakies the most and will entertain himself for ages squeaking away - it's embarrassing when we're on the phone Also, if G is that fast with the water bottle, try the Tucker Ball - that drops out treats but not as quickly as a bottle does.

Thanks Koala! Someone has also suggested the goodie ship is worth a go!! I thought G had a substantial amount of toys until I saw some others' collections!!! I think I have been depriving my dog!

[Bundyburger]

The tucker ball is great, but it's not very tough, so that's something to think about

Bundy has suddenly declared his love for his Cuz after not touching it for months *sigh*

[Niques]

James is on a toy ban - I foolishly bought him some cheap dog toys with weak stitching and he now has a taste for blood I came home yesterday to find his tennis ball torn open - I've created a monster!!

That squeaker pig looks so cool. Is it fairly solid and well made?

[koalathebear]

Thanks Koala! Someone has also suggested the goodie ship is worth a go!! I thought G had a substantial amount of toys until I saw some others' collections!!! I think I have been depriving my dog!

Of course you're not depriving your dog! My husband and I just really bad that we're constantly buying things for Elbie :p The irony is that the toys he likes are totally random and he'll go bananas about an empty juice bottle and ignore the expensive Home Alone ball :p

The tucker ball is great, but it's not very tough, so that's something to think about Bundy has suddenly declared his love for his Cuz after not touching it for months *sigh*

How did the ball get destroyed?? I keep reading about destroyed kongs, torn leashes and seatbelts and am quite startled. Elbie will chew his toys but he hasn't destroyed anything (yet). Even the soft toys he has mangled have all been repaired (albeit patchily I suspect we're going to have to retire one of his badgers soon, poor thing.

James is on a toy ban - I foolishly bought him some cheap dog toys with weak stitching and he now has a taste for blood I came home yesterday to find his tennis ball torn open - I've created a monster!! That squeaker pig looks so cool. Is it fairly solid and well made?

Haha Poor you, poor James. Elbie gets two toys to sleep with at night and during the day his toys are rotated - none have been totally destroyed yet. The squeaker pig is lasting well so far but weirdly enough, Elbie doesn't seem to love it yet - he seems to prefer his squeaking $5 Kmart cow!

Hopefully he will discover the love later.

[wuffles]

I love the video of Elbie with the tucker ball How tough is the tucker ball? I'm thinking about getting one for Ava but our two can destroy anything if they set their minds to it. I've avoided the home alone toy because I don't want to encourage Ava to jump too much - she jumps enough as it is

Ava's favourite toys - trampoline bed, outdoor chairs, clam shell pool (eating it, not playing in it), garden beds, Satchmo's ears and chops, plants, pegs.

Ava's least favourite toys - rubber chew toys, balls, ropes

Ava's in between toys - Kongs, squeaky chicken, tug-a-jug, squirrel dude, Cuz

Edited to add: Satchmo has a huge mouf, so if I leave a plastic bottle in the yard he will eat through the bottle to get to the treats

Edited August 11, 2010 by wuffles

[SammieS]

This thread inspired me to go out and buy Asti a muffin tin pan and 6 tennis balls... I was very surprised at how she problem solved to get the treats out - she just rolled the balls until they stuck to the ball and spun out of the bottom That is not what I thought would happen, so now she knows that short cut I'm going to have to find some other types of balls to hide the treats under.

I love everyone's ideas and so will Asti!

[koalathebear]

wuffles: hope you had an awwwwwwesome birthday yesterday with lots of doggy kisses

The tuckerball is pretty tough but Elbie's mouth isn't that big so I got him a medium ball and he can't bite it - just nudge it. Maybe if you bought the large sized ball? The homealone ball has been a failure so far. We were hoping that it would keep Elbie occupied while we were at work but the only time he plays with it is when we're at home swinging the ball for him :p Elbie doesn't jump for it - he does a kind of strange doggy dancing move.

Ava's favourite toys - trampoline bed, outdoor chairs, clam shell pool (eating it, not playing in it), garden beds, Satchmo's ears and chops, plants, pegs.

Poor Satchmo!!!

Ava's least favourite toys - rubber chew toys, balls, ropes

Ava's in between toys - Kongs, squeaky chicken, tug-a-jug, squirrel dude, Cuz

It's interesting how it goes like that - some dogs love those things so much and Elbie is so ho hum about his tug toys and so forth. He luuuuuuuuurves

though

sammi82:

This thread inspired me to go out and buy Asti a muffin tin pan and 6 tennis balls... I was very surprised at how she problem solved to get the treats out - she just rolled the balls until they stuck to the ball and spun out of the bottom That is not what I thought would happen, so now she knows that short cut I'm going to have to find some other types of balls to hide the treats under.

Ah - Elbie did that, too at first - he'd paw and nudge the at the ball until the treat flew out. We have one very hard kong ball that's slightly smaller than a tennis ball and at first it took him ages to figure out how to pluck it out of the muffin tin with his mouth. Now he does it super fast but it did slow him down. You could also try the 'flat' treats that won't fly out to see if Asti can be challenged

ETA: Asti is soooooooooooooooo cute. He has Ears of Awesome.

Also - I am going to hijack my own thread since the Dog Tricks sub-sub-forum seems to be the least visited area of the forum :p Can anyone help me with the dead trick? At present he looks like a dead bug on his back. Thanks

Edited August 11, 2010 by koalathebear

[koalathebear]

I've re-examined the tucker ball. Elbie definitely can't break it - it's way too big for his mouth so he just nudges it around with his nose and paw. We put his dinner in it tonight and while we were watching Big Brother UK, Elbie's darting around the kitchen feeding himself via the tucker ball. It took him about 45 minutes and it was absolutely hilarious - he never lost interest for a second, just kept batting it around and vacuuming up the kibble. At one point the ball got stuck under our little kitchen stool and Elbie barked at it from one side, went to the other side and barked at it again. I was going to go and get it but my husband told me to wait and sure enough, Elbie batted the ball out with his own paw until it slide out from under the stool again. So funny. The only bad thing is that they really should provide a funnel or something - putting kibble in the ball takes ages especially if it's a full meal

[Niques]

Elbie's play dead is absolutely adorable! And he can do it from standing as well!

James does a pretty impressive dead (particularly when you get him on an awkward angle and he has to take a dive onto the ground) but can only do it from a sit or lying start. Does Elbie have a good "stay"? I started teaching it by just luring him into rolling onto his side and telling him to "stay", and then adding the rest when he knew what the end position was meant to be. He very quickly learnt that lying limply on his side = ecstatic praise I now occasionally get him rolling over and playing dead when I simply ask him to lie down.

Although I'm really a fan of Elbie's dead cockroach approach - the videos are too cute.

Next step is working out how to make him close his eyes

[koalathebear]

James does a pretty impressive dead (particularly when you get him on an awkward angle and he has to take a dive onto the ground) but can only do it from a sit or lying start. Does Elbie have a good "stay"? I started teaching it by just luring him into rolling onto his side and telling him to "stay", and then adding the rest when he knew what the end position was meant to be. He very quickly learnt that lying limply on his side = ecstatic praise I now occasionally get him rolling over and playing dead when I simply ask him to lie down.

Too cute! Do you have videos? I'd love to see James' 'dead' trick. The problem with Elbie is that he doesn't do limp well - he's lying there pulsating with energy and anticipation.

Although I'm really a fan of Elbie's dead cockroach approach - the videos are too cute.

No dignity in being a dead cockroach! Then again, Elbie has no dignity full stop It is funny though - my husband I crack up each time we watch the video where he staggers around and then topples over and also the very delayed reaction death

Next step is working out how to make him close his eyes

Haha - I was just mentioning that today and saying that I have no idea if that's even possible ;) So ... shall expect to see videos of James soon

Edited August 11, 2010 by koalathebear

[Genabee]

I think Elbie's version of dead is awesome! And I love the command you give him to get him to do it!!!!!!

IS the tucker ball known as anything else? I was looking on the wagsalot site and couldn't find it?? I must be looking in the wrong place. Is it cheaper buying them online than going into a store?

[koalathebear]

I think Elbie's version of dead is awesome! And I love the command you give him to get him to do it!!!!!!

IS the tucker ball known as anything else? I was looking on the wagsalot site and couldn't find it?? I must be looking in the wrong place. Is it cheaper buying them online than going into a store?

Hiya, we got it from here: http://www.wagsalot.com.au/index.php?targe...;product_id=189. The small is out of stock but they still have medium.

It's also here but the price is a lot more for some reason.

This one has a decent price for a small ball.

As for Elbie's 'dead', I do think it's funny as well but I might ask our instructor on Sunday if she has any ideas about how to fine tune his performance His 'spin' used to be totally demented before he settled down

[Niques]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZzIckZsbo

^ There's a uh, highly stylised play dead :D I can't work out where I've stored the original video, but you get the gist. That was about a month ago - he doesn't need the hand movement so much now.

[Genabee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZzIckZsbo

^ There's a uh, highly stylised play dead :D I can't work out where I've stored the original video, but you get the gist. That was about a month ago - he doesn't need the hand movement so much now.

So clever!!!

:D

Thanks Koala! I will definitely be getting one of those!

Edited August 11, 2010 by Wizzle