The Importance of Play with your dog

Things Owners Should Know 

We’ve talked about play in previous webinars and articles, including how to distinguish social play between individuals from true conflict, what characterizes healthy play, and how play opportunities can be used as a technique to work with aggression and fear related problems.

In our experience, many dog owners have questions as well as misconceptions about play.  Many of these will be the subject of this Biscuit series. 

In this first Biscuit we’ll talk about what play is, different types of play and why behaviorists believe play to be important.

In our dictionary of animal behavior terms, we found numerous definitions for play.  Two we thought were most relevant for our purposes are:

1. “A set of pleasurable activities, frequently but not always social in nature, that imitate the serious activities of life without consuming serious goals” (E.O. Wilson 1975) and 2. “Any behavior that involves probing, manipulation, experimentation, learning, and the control of one’s own body as well as the behavior of others, and that also essentially serves the function of developing and perfecting future adaptive responses to the physical and social environment” (K. Lorenz 1950).

So play is fun, it doesn’t satisfy an immediate goal, and it’s made up of a jumble of movements and postures from different kinds of behavior, such as stalking prey, courtship and fighting.

Behaviorist Robert Fagan, who spent most of his career studying play holds there are three forms of basic play: creative improvisation, play-fighting (social play), and object manipulation (object play).

Some research suggests that social play can help to strengthen social bonds between people and dogs. We can’t be sure, but suspect that social play may also teach the dog how to communicate more effectively with people and other animals. Various kinds of play may help develop strength, agility and physical skills in dogs.

The AKC just released results of a survey about activities people enjoy doing with their dogs.  Forty-one percent say they play outside, 32 % take their dogs for daily walks, 7% engage in some type of competitive dog sport, 14% engage in indoor exercise, and 5% take their dogs to dog parks.

So people engage in a wide variety of activities with their dogs, with outside social play and walks topping the list.

This brings up the question of what activities constitute play.  Is taking a dog for a walk play?  When a dog participates in certain dog sports such as agility and flyball, is he playing or working? What about manipulating objects (that we call toys) to get access to food?  Is this play or foraging/food getting behavior?  Each of these could be play if the dog seems to be having fun.

Can a dog’s behavioral needs for play be met by taking him on lots of walks but never playing with toys?  Owners have told us their dogs have a HUGE back yard to run around in so they don’t really need to go for walks.  Or that there are all kinds of toys lying in the house and around the yard, but their dogs never play with them so therefore they don’t like to play.  It’s important for owners to learn what kinds of play their dog seems to like and to adapt the play to the dog’s needs.

So what do we tell clients about play?

•            It’s hard to define but we can usually recognize it when we see it.

It seems to not have an immediate function,  it’s fun and it’s made up of a mixture of different kinds of behavior.

•            Sick and stressed animals seldom play, so if your dog stops playing,

look for possible medical or behavioral problems.

•            There are different kinds of play – play with objects like toys, play

with others (social play) and creative improvisation, usually a form of solitary play like running laps around the backyard.

•            Dogs differ in their interest in play. Some like all kinds of play,

some only like  a few or one kind (like tug or fetch games) and some don’t really seem to like formal play.

•            It’s normal for play to decline with age, with older dogs playing

less than younger dogs. 

•            We don’t know if dogs need to play to be behaviorally healthy, but

they do need exercise, mental stimulation and pleasant social contact.

Different kinds of play can often satisfy these needs.

Have a great rest of your week!

Reprinted with permission of BEN networks.

House Training - a quick primer

Housetraining 

While housetraining a dog is a relatively simple concept, it can be quite challenging. The key to successfully house-training your pup is consistency, setting your dog up for success, and following a basic rule, if a behavior is rewarded it will repeat.  

Begin with the pup in one smallish, puppy proofed room.  The room should be central to the activity in the house and contain the dogs crate as well as easy access to the outdoors.  Baby gates and lattice (for larger openings) work well to contain puppies while allowing people in and out.  Exercise pens work for mini puppies as well as large open floor plan houses.

Three Rules

1.     The dog is outside while you are actively watching him and reinforcing any pees or poops.

2.     The dog is inside under CONSTANT supervision.

or

3.     The dog is crated or gated off in a small, puppy proof area.

Four Steps

1.      Create a schedule

2.      Prevent accidents

3.      Positive praise for correct action i.e. every time your dog goes to the bathroom outside, click and reward.  

4.      Progress slowly

Create Schedule

Create a schedule that includes the times for feeding, water, crate and playtime. Knowing when the food and water goes into your puppy will result in predictable needs and therefore reduced accidents.  Remember, if the puppy has an accident it is not because they are bad, it is because you were not paying attention!  Most puppies can be put on a schedule that allows them bathroom breaks every 1-2 hours to start if they are using a crate.  A puppy that is out and active may need potty breaks as frequent as every ½ hour.  A general rule of thumb is that a dog can comfortable ‘hold it’ during the day for 1 plus the number of months old they are, so a 2 month old dog should be able to go 3 hours between breaks when crated.  The exception to this is at night, even an 8-9 week old puppy can generally make it through 8 hours at night without a break.  Smaller dogs may need more frequent breaks.

The schedule you put together will depend on your needs as well as your dogs, but you should consider the following things.  A young puppy should not be left in the crate more than a couple of hours at a time, followed by a couple of hours of well supervised play time.  As with young children, puppies do need lots of sleep, schedule those naps to occur while the dog is in the crate.  Early evening is a time of much activity in most households with dinner prep, homework, and other activities, consider scheduling your pup for crate time during this evening rush time to avoid accidents.

Prevent accidents

            Unless you are 100% with your dog he/she should be confined in a “den like” area or his crate. Anticipate your dog’s needs and take frequent breaks until your dog develops a routine.  When accidents do happen, put the dog away and clean it up with enzymatic cleaner.  No punishment, no hoopla.

Positive Praise

            Have a pocket full of GREAT treats ready at all times and be ready to deliver – right AFTER the deed is done!  Timing matters.  If you start to praise the dog as he begins to eliminate the pup may not finish his business, so hold your praise until he’s all done!

Progress Slowly

            Once the dog is reliable in one room, expand his indoor area one room at a time.  Go SLOWLY.  Be sure to be present in the new room 100% of the time during its introduction, use the same rules in each new room as you did at the beginning of the process.

Other Hints

            If you have an older dog, make sure there aren’t any underlying medical issues such as urinary tract infections which can be a cause of housetraining regression.  Schedules help, keeping feedings and playtime on a tight schedule will help to reduce accidents and create more positive opportunities.

            Reading your dog’s signals

·       whining

·       circling

·       sniffing

·       just woke up

·       just got out of crate

·       just ate/drank

·       suddenly stops playing/chewing and starts sniffing

·       heads toward an area that has been soiled before with nose to the ground

·       paces near the door

Keep the dog on the leash when you take them out to eliminate, this helps to direct them to the correct spot and will prevent having a dog that will not eliminate while on leash.  Many people like to train their dogs to eliminate in a particular area of the yard, to do this be sure that all bathroom breaks are supervised on leash, lead (or carry in the case of a very young pup) the dog directly to the designated area and as soon as the elimination has occurred praise and reinforce with yummy treats!

Tip: Make sure your puppy eliminates before you play with them, this will help instill a sense of urgency about getting their business done and avoid issues in the future.

One alternative to creating a schedule is to tether the young pup to you as you go about your business in the house. This keeps the pup from wandering off and doing his business without you seeing him and keeps you very aware of your pups every move.  I love this technique, but it is not for everyone.

A word about paper-training: It seems harmless to leave papers about “just in case” however, paper-training your pup will make the overall job of housetraining harder and take longer. By only allowing the pup to relieve itself outside, you're teaching it that it's not acceptable to eliminate in the house. Using newspapers will contradict this training and cause confusion for the dog.

Using a crate can make house training a lot easier, it also creates a place where your dog can go and get some alone time.

Use the crate when you are too busy to watch the pup, you are leaving the house, your puppy get’s the “crazies” and needs some time to wind down, when you need a break or when you are sleeping.  Also, if the dog has just been outside and has not relieved himself, put him in the crate and try again in 15 minutes.

Just had to share this one!

One of my clients staying cool in the pool!

Jasper - one cool dude!