mgardner89 Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I work a full time job. I also have a high energy Sheltie. Recently I asked another friend with a working dog what she does to keep her Koolie entertained during the day. We both use food enrichment toys. Kongs, bones, iceblocks and the like. But I want to know what everyone else does for their dogs during the day. JD gets a run in the morning and a visit to the beach/training/dog park of the evening. But I know she still has stacks of energy during the day and I would rather her be kept a little busy. What keeps your dogs amused while you are out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agility Dogs Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) I work a full time job. I also have a high energy Sheltie. Recently I asked another friend with a working dog what she does to keep her Koolie entertained during the day. We both use food enrichment toys. Kongs, bones, iceblocks and the like. But I want to know what everyone else does for their dogs during the day. JD gets a run in the morning and a visit to the beach/training/dog park of the evening. But I know she still has stacks of energy during the day and I would rather her be kept a little busy. What keeps your dogs amused while you are out? I used to really worry about this, but not so much any more. We have 3 BC's who are either high drive or have been taught to have a high level of drive (if not very high). They all get walked and trained every morning and then again each night when we don't go out to training. Feedback from all the neighbours that that apart from a fence fight at exactly 8:32 every morning they don't make a noise all day. I know they do occasionally chase birds, but I can confirm that the yard is in one piece and that the dogs are quite sane. They do all get a biscuit before I leave (no bones because they can lead to fights in our house), but other than that they are left to their own devices all day. I guess there are three of them though - that may make a bit of a difference. ETA - we leave home about 8am and get home between 6 and 6.30pm 5 days a week. Edited February 10, 2014 by Agility Dogs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentchild Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) My Aussie Shepherd gets a chew or treats in a treat ball, kong or puzzle ball when I leave the house every day, but that is all. I rotate what she gets every day. She has a terrific off switch and knows how to relax when not being asked to work. Sometimes before I leave she will get some form of training, be it heelwork, finding food I hide in a little 'course' in the backyard, short tricks session, or just a walk. She also gets training or exercise in the evenings after work, we usually have training classes to attend twice a week as well as heaps of training at home (I am a junkie for enrolling in online training courses!) as we do quite a few dog sports and I am preparing her for our forray into the trial scene, fitness conditioning work, off leash runs, backyard agility, playing fetch, swimming, etc etc... I think she may be thankful she gets to sleep during those hours at home!! :laugh: Edited to add, she also loves squeaky toys and can spend hours just laying around making them squeak, so I leave her a squeaky toy to play with if she gets bored. She loves squeaking away casually whilst sunbathing. Edited February 10, 2014 by silentchild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 My BC's are older now and one will sleep during the day (the other chases birds and planes) but I used to freeze stock or water in ice cream buckets with bits of kibble scattered through it. I still do this in summer. Hide treats/kibble in a sandpit and scattered around the garden (not where I didn't want them digging/playing. I did have a "home alone" ball hanging from a tree-they loved this to death. My dogs didn't fight over bones so I'd sometimes leave a HUGE bone for each for the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clover Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 3 working line Border Collies here. 2 that are retired from sports, one not sound enough to start sports who is 2 years old. The 2 year old cant eat bones around the others, so they just have every day toys. But they play with one another more than anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mixeduppup Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 I work most days and have 2 kelpies as well as other dogs at the house that belong to me and other family. The dogs just play on the half acre through out the day then have a 6k walk/jog at night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgardner89 Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 I guess I worry about her barking because when we first moved in the neighbours complained. The dogs got reactive to people walking past after some kids tried to break into the house. The dogs are in the house as soon as I get home and then not on their own again until I leave. I curb the barking with a radio and blocking access to the fence. But I figure giving her more to do helps too. She has a chihuahua to keep her company but he is more of a house cat – likes a good sleep and to steal all the food possible. I put out some iceblocks this morning. They seemed to go down a treat. Thanks Scarlet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgardner89 Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 I work most days and have 2 kelpies as well as other dogs at the house that belong to me and other family. The dogs just play on the half acre through out the day then have a 6k walk/jog at night I wish I had that much space for my pups! They have a reasonable size yard but nothing that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xyz Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 I set an automatic tap timer to turn a sprinkler on every few hours in the hot weather for mine to play under!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieDog Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Blue Heeler here - I don't think she does much at all during the day. We have near heard from the neighbours. She does have a buddy with her all day so maybe they play? They have access to inside all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Miss Emma Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I have 2 BC's. I'm lucky that I can take one to work when I want to. But I try not to take them anymore than twice a week each because they need to be able to be away from me and each other. So anyway how it works here.... One comes to work (full day of working and doing things), other stays home alone. The one home alone gets a couple of Kongs, a chewy, some dry food in a bottle/treat ball/across the lawn or floor. Because of my living arrangements in the past 6 months or so they hadn't been at home on their own (and were instead having those days at their grandparents house!) and so I've been exceptionally concerned about barking and whatnot, so as a result I leave the dog door in so they have access to the house as well as the back yard. Both home together - they get fed their breakfast before I leave and they may get left with a biscuit. Hamish won't eat treats if he is left alone with Kenzie (she picks on him over food, they won't fight, but she looks at him and he runs away from the food!) so no point leaving treats for them. Again they are left with the dog door so they can access house and yard. Oh and if they are home I will leave the radio on for them. Regardless of what their day has been I try to get them out for a walk each night (although that doesn't always work depending on the heat and how busy my day has been!) that ranges from 2km-6km. We also go to training on a Tuesday and am also looking at other training on other nights. I guess now that I think about it I do generally do some sort of training most evenings with them. I think I'm lucky though, I've put effort in to teaching them that they don't need to be busy all the time and can just chill and they do tend to do that. Also I think that while I'm at work they really just sleep the majority of the time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perry's Mum Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 When I was working I had a very active Koolie who was home all day - we had a walk early in the morning and another when I got home and some brain work in the evening and a game of ball and she had a job to do while I was out - she had to look after the house - Koolies need a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheena Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 My two very active border collies usually have a mad game together early in the morning doing zoomies around the track they have made in the garden. Then after breakfast we take them for a walk & they do agility training & some heel training etc. Then they have an off lead run & a swim in the dam. Then back up to the house for another swim in the pool. Followed by their bone (frozen turkey neck). Then for the rest of the day, they just sleep & lay around. Another walk before dark & a bit of fun/training in the lounge before bed after their dinner. We don't go to work (retired) but if we did, I think they would be fine, just lazing around till we got home. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph M Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Some cool ideas. I just bought us a sprinkler! Couldn't be left with it as it'd get eaten like the hose (like living with teenager stoners. It just gets shorter and shorter) but can have a good play under it before we go out. We seem to leave as much fun as we can but still come home to something ruined. Lucky it's usually a pilfered sock or a soft toy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podengo Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 On Monday and Wednesday I walk Elsie for half an hour in the morning, usually down to the park where we throw a ball around. During the day she is loose in the house with access to outside where she usually has a bone and a bunch of toys. One of my flatmates is home all day and he said she just sleeps in the sun usually, only goes outside to pee. In the evening after work I walk her for another half hour, and do some training then go to agility later on and do about 10 minutes of obedience and about 45 minutes of agility. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday we walk for an hour in the morning and usually do some agility training at the park and throw a ball around. Same situation during the day. In the afternoon we'll walk for an hour, then usually do some obedience homework in the evening. Weekends if we aren't competing in something we try to catch up with a friend for a forest walk, or go out and do some tracking! My life revolves around her! Elsie is a jack russell x border collie... Thankfully a very laid back dog in the house! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clover Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I was home today but was busy doing stuff inside. The dogs were just out of control ;). Photo 1 - 2014-02-18 by -clover_elvis- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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