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The games and social interactions are fundamental for the dog's well-being and happiness, for this reason, motivating him to play should be one of his main priorities in his daily life. Besides, it's a great way to improve your relationship.
In this article by PeritoAnimal we will offer you a small guide to advice and tips to motivate your dog to play, basic ideas to encourage you to exercise and have fun, whether at home or in the park. Keep reading and discover our advice.
1. Out of the house
In general, outside the home the dog is in a much more diverse environment and rich in smells, people and stimuli. On the street we have a wide variety of options to motivate your dog to play and exercise with you.
- You can go to the park and use any toy to motivate you (balls, bones, teethers,...) as well as objects from the natural environment (sticks and branches). Sometimes some dogs don't seem to show interest in conventional toys, you can look for one that makes noise to get your attention.
- If toys don't seem to motivate your dog enough, you can head to a dog park to distract yourself by dating and chasing other dogs. For this, it is essential that your puppy is well socialized so that it has an appropriate behavior with other dogs.
- Taking a walk in the mountains or on the beach is a good option if you are a healthy adult dog, as this way you will enjoy new places, running and getting to know new places is a good way to motivate your dog to have a good time.
- We can also motivate dogs by chasing them anywhere, in fact dogs are very fond of human company, especially those who take care of them and protect them. For this reason, playing with it directly is an excellent option.
2. at home
Although the exterior gives us more options, the truth is that indoors we can also motivate you to play. Without resorting to intense exercise, we can also motivate the puppy to play and have a good time:
- Practicing obedience not only helps us to have an animal with a serene and appropriate behavior, it is also a great way to motivate and play with it. Teach him to sit or look for other orders he has not yet learned on the PeritoAnimal website. Practice every day for 15 minutes and with prizes. Remember that you should always use positive reinforcement.
- As you may know, food is a strong stimulant for the dog, for this reason you will find on sale a wide variety of intelligence toys such as Kong.
- An economical version of the previous point is to hide food around the house waiting for the dog to find it. If your dog is unable to find the prizes, guide him.
- Inside the house you can also use simple toys such as balls and dolls, if you don't seem interested, include yourself in the activity chasing him with the toy.
- It can motivate him to play by fantasizing about it, or at least try to do so. Dogs like to get attention, so they're likely to enjoy being pampered a lot.
My dog is still not motivated
If you think none of the above tricks worked, then consider these factors:
- The dogs may not relate correctly toys with their own play activity, should be constant and strive to motivate. Take it with other puppies to learn how to play with them and learn how to behave.
- You old dogs they usually sleep much longer and show a very relaxed attitude towards playing, which is typical of their age. If your dog is entering the elderly phase, don't worry and keep trying to motivate him when he finds himself awake or especially cheerful.
- It may happen that the puppy is over-stimulated from so much play, allow him to play whenever he wants, it may be that his personality is not particularly playful.
- dogs with high stress levels they may show stereotypies, as well as general apathy when moving and interacting. If you've recently adopted a puppy you should give it room to adapt and start to recover from its previous situation. Little by little it will open up.
If you can't motivate him in any case and time is showing him that he's not recovering, it might be a good idea to consult an ethologist specialist.
