Rainy weather Archives - Brisbane Dog Training & Pet Behavioural Specialist

Create your dog’s bucket list

What is on your dog’s bucket list?

Firstly, let’s define what I mean when I talk about your dog’s bucket list. I don’t mean a list of experiences that are difficult to organise and therefore our dog only gets to do once or twice. I want a list of things that we know our dog loves, that we will have the ability to do at least once a week if not more often.

Why should we have a ‘regular’ bucket list?

Our dog’s bucket list should have experiences we can do regularly, simply because life is short. When we are busy, it’s easy to put off the experiences that take more planning and time. It should be simple to give our dogs regular experiences that help them feel happy and stimulated. Help yourself and your dog out by making the list full of fun yet simple stuff.

Also by doing fun and interesting things with our dogs on a regular basis, we know we are keeping their ‘emotional cup’ topped up as per the beautiful poster below by Lili Chin and Sarah Owings. By keeping their emotional cup topped up, we are less likely to see behaviours that humans typically don’t like such as resource guarding, over excitement or overly destructive behaviours.

This is about your dog’s bucket list, not about what we want our dogs to like

To create a good bucket list for our dogs, we have to put ourselves in their shoes and really think about what types of experiences they like. Just because I want my dog Henry to love playing with lots of other dogs, doesn’t mean that he actually wants that (in his eyes other dogs are scary).

Create your list

To give you an idea, here are some of the most favoured bucket list items for my dogs.

Henry’s Bucket List

Morning and evening play sessions – some sessions with the humans, some sessions with Liana
Running in a big open field (no other dogs in sight)
Cuddles on the couch
Digging in the garden
Sniffing something new

Liana’s Bucket List

Eating something novel
Eating poo from other types of animals
Sniffing something new
Rolling in something that is semi decayed
Having slow and gentle pats and massages (provided that the human doing the patting is not looking at her…she likes the affection but not the attention)

There are many more experiences I could put on for each of my dogs’ bucket list, however the point is that each of these experiences are easy to provide for our dogs. These experiences should also come with the caveat that we only want to provide them if they are safe for our dogs. For example, Liana doesn’t get sick from eating possum poo so I let her go ahead with it. Your dog may be different.

What you get from fulfilling your dog’s bucket list regularly

Of course you will get a dog who is happier if you are making an effort to do more fun things with them. With a happier dog you will also get less unwanted stress based behaviours such as excessive barking or destructive behaviours.

You will also get a dog who sees you as the person who provides all of this fun stuff for them. As a result your dog will be more likely to want to hang out with you and do stuff with you if they see you as a source of fun things.

Lastly, as if you need any more convincing, you’ll have fun and get to enjoy just being with your dogs.

My heart hurts in such a good way to see Henry running full pelt towards me with joy in his face. In the same way I love seeing Liana’s face relax in a way it does at no other time than when I give her a gentle massage.

So, go and write your dog’s bucket list with them. But don’t let it sit on a shelf and gather dust, it’s there to tick off on a regular basis. You might just find that some of the things on your dog’s bucket list are also on your own list.

If you need help working out your dog’s bucket list, then feel free to reach out to Cassandra to book a one on one session.

exercising dogs indoors | Brisbane South Dog Walking

Exercising dogs indoors | Brisbane Dog Walking Services

Rain rain go away, my dog is driving me mad again.

We are coming into the dreaded wet season. Which means days upon days of potential rain and doggy cabin fever. Your beloved pooch will suddenly become possessed by a demon and run around the house or worse still through the house wet and muddy like a bull in a china shop. The BOM is predicting this summer to be wetter than average. I thought it might be a good time to share my top tips for exercising dogs indoors and avoiding their self-exercising madness.

Sit on the floor with your legs crossed. Make sure there is enough space around you for your dog to run in circles. With a tug toy tease your dog and move the toy around your body. This takes practice at being quick at swapping hands so that you get some speed. Only occasionally let your dog catch it, and change direction occasionally to stop them from getting dizzy. Once you get good at smoothly transitioning the toy between each hand round your body, your dog will soon be huffing and puffing. This is a great one for physically exercising dogs indoors.
Teach your dog to seek and find treats that you hide around the house. You need to start very easy with this one, so they learn how the game works. Start by putting your dog in a room with the door closed. Say “hide” as they go into the room. This will make it quicker and easier for you in the future, as they will start to take themselves to the room to hide. Then place a treat at the opening of the door and open the door and say, “find it”. Repeat this and gradually move the treat further away from the door and into trickier hiding spots. Once they know the game you can play a lazy version. Which is where you throw a treat in one direction in the house and while they are retrieving it. Throw a new one somewhere they can’t see and say, “find it”.
Teach your dog something new or refresh their manners. Research has found that when a dog uses their brain, it is more tiring for the dog than physical activity. Remember to keep it fun and don’t get frustrated with your dog. If your dog is not getting it, maybe you are making it too difficult.
Be prepared for the rainy weather and make sure on the rainy days your dog gets their meals in a treat dispensing toys or frozen in a toy. Remember to mix it up, your dog will get bored if it’s always the same toy. If your dog doesn’t swallow plastic, you can use plastic bottles, pizza boxes or any other safe rubbish. The smell of the left overs will make it extra enriching.
Take them on adventures with you. If you are going to the shops or for drives take them in the car with you. Remember it’s not safe to leave them in hot cars.

Of course, you could just get a dog walker. Services like Fur Get Me Not dog walking services in Brisbane South will still walk your dog in the rain. When the weather is particularly bad or you don’t want your dog walked in the rain then they can still do a home visit and exercise your dog indoors and ensure that your dog is physically and mentally exhausted. You can find out more about getting a Brisbane dog walker here.