Let's Get Creative!

I'm teaching a puppy class right now and I'm greatly looking forward to my own puppy joining this group for the last couple of classes, once he's had another round of vaccines and is given the go-ahead by my veterinarian. I've had a couple of clients reach out to say that they, too, are waiting to join puppy classes and are looking for more ideas of things to do at home with their puppies to maintain their sanity and that of their other pets! I know I've talked before about bathroom schedules for puppies, the importance of naps, keeping walks short, and doing daily training on the basics for a few minutes every day. But what are you supposed to do with them the rest of the time?  You know, when they're chewing on your furniture, tearing up your rugs, biting your legs, and pouncing on your adult dogs' tails.  Or is that just what's happening here at my house?! LOL.  All kidding aside, if you have a puppy right now, are these things happening for you too?  If so, here are my suggestions for ways to keep those active puppies busy and appropriately occupied between naps, training sessions, and bathroom breaks.

First off, rotate those toys.  We've got two boxes full of dog toys. There are rope toys, squeaky toys, tug toys, cuddle toys, nubby toys, all kinds of bones, hideaway toys, and toys that crunch when you grab them. With all of those choices, you might think that our puppy, Henley, would be happy as a clam just sorting through them every day.  Well, that's where you'd be wrong.  Even with all of those choices, I need to get in there and move the toys around, putting what he played with yesterday at the bottom of the boxes, and moving novel toys and bones to the top.  Why? Because if I don't, he'll get bored and think "Oh, I've already seen all of those toys" and move on to chewing on the furniture, rugs, etc. Any toy you put away for a day becomes new to a puppy when you bring it back into the rotation, so move those toys around.  If your puppy is really craving novelty, but you have a limited number of toys available, there are still things you can do to make those same toys seem different. Got rope toys?  Get one of them wet and put it in the freezer.  A frozen, crunchy rope toy is different from that dry one you play tug-of-war with. Want to increase the value even more? Soak the rope toy in low sodium chicken broth and freeze it.  Now it smells different AND is cold and crunchy.  Rope toys are easily washed in your washing machine so you can do this over and over again. Got bones that your dogs have already emptied of the marrow/stuffing?  Run them through your dishwasher to sterilize them and then stuff them with your own concoction. I like to throw cooked chicken breast and either plain Greek yogurt or peanut butter into my food processor to make my own stuffing.  I can fill those empty bones and then freeze them so the stuffing is harder to get out.  Even though Henley doesn't have the teeth to really work on these larger bones, he sure does enjoy licking out the stuffing.  Wears him out in no time and he seems to enjoy them as an alternative to a stuffed, frozen Kong. 

Speaking of Kongs:  You should have at least two of them stuffed and ready to go in your freezer.  I like to have one stuffed with kibble and a bit of nut butter and the other stuffed with the higher value chicken filling mentioned above. That way, Henley can be surprised with what he gets when it's crate quiet time. 

Never underestimate the value of ice cubes, tissue boxes and paper towel rolls, discarded Amazon boxes, etc. While you will need to supervise your puppies with these things, they are still fun for them to explore. You can cut holes in the boxes and add some treats or smeared peanut butter so those boxes become even more valuable to open up. If it's warm where you are, get yourself one of those small plastic kids wading pools. Put just a small amount of water in the pool and float those ice cubes for your puppy to bob for.  If your pup enjoys this game, then freeze blueberries, small pieces of carrot, or strawberries in water in ice cube trays (I know a lot of you may not have ice cube trays anymore, but you can find them in kitchen stores, online, and at thrift stores!) and add those colorful cubes to the wading pool.  Always supervise your puppies around water, but go ahead and enjoy that water yourself; this is a good time to dip your toes and read a book while your puppy bobs for those ice cubes.

Did you know that you can even use old towels, braided or knotted together as a toy?  Just tuck a few treats in the braids or knots for added fun.

Truly the key here is to think like a puppy. If they are chewing on furniture, then they are looking for something hard to gnaw on.  Give them a stuffed bone, hard Nylabone, etc.  Are they tearing up the rugs and throw pillows?  Give them one of those chilled rope toys or braided towels to chew on instead.  Chewing on you?  Maybe it's time for a nap.  Or a time out to calm down. Most importantly remember that it's critical to teach your puppy to be able to entertain themselves.  You should not have to be engaging them every moment that they are awake.  That's not normal, nor is it sustainable.  It's also true that even if you have other dogs, it's not their job to entertain that puppy all the time either.  Puppies need to learn to back off and do something else if the adult dogs are resting or otherwise engaged. Those puppy naps are as much for the sanity and recharging of batteries for your other pets as they are for your own well-being and that puppy's brain development.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Here's Henley enjoying one of those repurposed bones, filled with ground up chicken and peanut butter! You'll notice the carrot and rabbit toy beside him.  That's one of those hideaway toys where the puppy can pluck the bunnies out of the carrot and the bunnies squeak when they do so! It happens to be one of his favorites.