games??

hi.. i have a 4 year old min pin.. and i was jus wondering what kind of games u play with your dogs?? bcuz all i can rly think of is tug of war, and hide and seek every once in a while.. well thnx.. raymond

My girls and I like to rough house a lot, wrestling etc.. Fetch is a good game though, and it's always fun to teach new tricks...

I was going to start a thread about Dog Games, but I figured there must already be one somewhere.

I love playing Hide And Seek with my dogs. It tests their hearing and smell and allows them to practice Stay and Come. I tell them to STAY and then I go and hide somewhere in the house, and yell for them to COME. Then I just watch in amusement as they look all over for me. The first one to find me gets all the treats in my hands. This is definetely my dogs' favorite game. Mikey has a habit of trying to cheat and peek around the corner to see where I'm hiding.

We also play Hide The Treats, which tests their memory and smell. I tell them to STAY and then I place treats throughout the room with them sitting there watching me hide them. After I've hid about a dozen treats I'll give them the release signal OKAY and tell them to GET EM.

A variation of this is the Cup Game where I'll have them SIT and watch as I hide one treat under a cup in a row of cups. Sometimes I'll then mix the cups around so they have to try and remember what cup the treat is under. I tell them the release signal OKAY and whoever remebers what cup it's under ends up getting the treat. If they tip over the wrong cup, then I end the game and take back the treat.

My black lab is a big fan of Catch Me If You Can. In this game I stand in the middle of the room, and my dog runs to the opposite wall. I take a play stance and tell him to RUN, and then he races towards me as fast as he can, gets really close, and then runs to the other side of the room. The object of the game is just for me to catch him before he runs past me. No treats are involved, it's just a way for him to get a lot of excercise.

A variation of this is the Blanket Game. Works the same way but instead of catching the dog, I toss a blanket over him if he's too slow. They seem to have more fun with the blanket.

My black lab also seems to be very amused with any game of Peek-A-Boo. Cover your face, or hide behind a curtain, and pop out and he goes crazy.

My dalmation/lab loves to play Come And Go, which is really just a way to practice the COME and GO commands but it's become like a game to him. I tell him to COME to me and as soon as he reaches me I point in a random direction and tell him to GO. When he goes in that direction I throw him a treat and tell him to COME back and GO in a different direction. He's gotten very good at Going in whatever direction I tell him.

He also loves to play Soccer. That just involves me kicking around a soccer ball and him trying to steal it from me, and then him kicking it around (it's too big for him to pick up) and me trying to steal it away from him. Eventually I'd like to teach him to kick it through some goal posts, but I haven't got that set up yet.

Then of course there are all the basic Fetch games and variations. I often turn training time into game time. I'm teaching my dalmation/lab to learn his colors now, so instead of regular fetch I'll throw several tennis balls and tell him to bring me back a certain color. If he brings the wrong one I won't play, I just say "RED". When he brings the right color ball back he gets a treat and I act excited. He's also learned the names of his toys (Froggie, Ball, Cow Ball, Teddie, Soccer Ball) so we can play games that require him to fetch specific toys.

Homeless, I think you definitely should start a Games thread. Put it in the training forum and I will sticky it!

I also play hide and seek with my Chihuahua. She never gives up until she finds me.
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Just had to add this .... Nora plays this game with herself and its the cutest thing..... she will go up the stairs with one of her favorite squeeky toys (porcupine, dog and bone) then let the toy go down the stairs and she'll go down the stairs after it. She will do this over and over. It sounds lame, but she will do this over and over and when your in the Living Room, all you can see is the bottom of the stairs and see the toy land and here comes Nora! I'd look at my daughters and say "she's playing the game again"

Sadie likes chasing golf balls when the weather is nice EVENTIALLY! lol

Mikey LOVES fetch but with him it's more like -I kick the ball and he goes and gets it (he's learned how to block with his body too) and then he runs around the yard with it, does the death shake and if I call him he'll USUALLY come back and drop it at my feet. LOL

Maverick is a fan of the game 'jump at me and I'll bow and run around like a crazy dog' lol Mikey doesn't get that game. He tries to get in the middle and whines. LOL But Maverick and I have done that since he was a pup. Or I'll stomp after him and he bows playfully and then runs around me like a crazy dog. LOL And then usually I'll run away and he'll follow me and I'll spin around and jump at him again. LOL What would you call that?

I play hide and seek sometiems. I've decided that Lassie they are not. I hid in the closet last week and called them and were they ever stressed out. They would stand right next to me (and there are no doors) and I'd be in the shadow and they didn't figure it out right away. Sigh. I hope I never need to be rescued. BTW It's always Mikey who finds me first and he's always thrilled. I think he gets worried. "I can hear her but I can't see her"

I do the treats under a cup too but they need to be quite good at 'down' and 'sit' for the set up. lol

Homelessdog! Do start your thread. I think that would be a great sticky. I haven't seen a similar thread.

Rocky loves to fetch with a little miniature soccer ball I bought for him, he loves it when I throw it and it hits something, he hears it and practically pounces on it. And then, like a good boy, he brings it right to me.

Princess plays the same game Saje that Maverick plays. Its her all time fav game. I'll stomp, she drops into a bow, I take a step and she takes off running in circles all excited then drops and I take another step towards her and off she goes again. Then I run away, go hide around a corner and she tries to sneak up on me, I jump out and she runs in circles all excited . Then sometimes I dont know what this game is but she runs laps from the theatre room up to the sofa, jumps on the sofa, doesnt stop, jumps down, back down to the bottom part spins around runs back up leaps onto the sofa and right back down. Like she's in a race, its so funny to watch.

LOL Becca! That's it! That's Maverick's (and Princess') game What goofs.

Carey loves when we blow bubbles for our little girl. She snaps and pops as many as she can. The bigger the better, She'll stand up on her hind legs to get them. My daughtter thinks it's hilarious, she makes sure Carey knows when it's time to blow them. Then Maggie (my daughter) loses interest in them so we blow them just for Carey.

Oh yeah! Bubbles are fun. And that reminds me that Maverick used to play with those little pointer lasers (not in the eyes). He'd pounce like a giant cat on this little dot. And Mini (cat) would chase it too - with much more agility. LOL It was funny. I should get another one.

Carey likes the laser pointers too or a flashlight. We also play hide and go seek. Carey always tells Maggie where I am when we play in the house.

I've been playing hide and seek more often with the 'pups.' It makes me giggle. I have to hold my breath while I'm in the shower/closet/corner... because I can hear their confusion. Mikey, without fail, is always the first one to find me. He never gives up. Maverick gets frustrated I think. LOL But Mikey runs back and forth and forges into the closet whereas Maverick just sticks his nose and doesn't look too hard. So, I think Mikey will be my hero. (I already knew that) and Maverick will be my large pussy cat.

Oh yeah, Bubble and Laser Pointers! I didn't think about them. Cats love both of those thing too. Puppies seem especially fascinated by bubbles. I need to bring some with me to the animal shelter.

You can make bubbles. I forget how but you can! hmmm. I'm going to look that up. I remember we did a whole bubble making day in elementary school and made those huge bubbles and all different bubbles. Well, they were all round and clear...

here it is. this makes a LOT

http://www.missico.com/personal/kids/make_bubbles.htm

Me and Zeus an now Pakak has caught on to this game. I call it KING OF THE MOUNTAIN. Either Zeus or Paka stands at the stop of the stairs and i stand at the bottom in a play stance. Them barking me and me running up and few steps and then jumping at them. They absolutly love this playing bowing and yapping their heads off lol. The whole point is for me to get them so excited that they come down the stairs to play but instead i run up the stairs and in my bedroom and they run up on to the bed and we wrestle lol. Its fun. i also play Peeka Boo with Shaker lol fun stuff