| Kyrstin Cote |
“Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day…” It has been a summer of endless rain here in Maine. While we would much prefer the rain over the natural disasters going on in the rest of the country (and world), it can seem pretty boring, dismal, or even depressing. For those of us with dogs, it becomes even more complicated because we want to take those doggos for a walk, and in heavy rain, that can become daunting.
Further, if you have a rambunctious dog like I do, that exacerbates the craving to dwindle the dog’s energy. On days like today, Rei looks up at me with her big eyes and says, “Come on, woman, we need to go outside and play!”
Alas, Rei, we will not go outside today. But we will hone our skills indoors. And so we take to the living room, furniture pushed back, to do some general training exercises. A nice thing about dog training is that you don’t need to have an overly large space to do said training. Working your dog’s brain can be just as tiring for them as taking them for a walk. Fun games and training tricks inside can create just as much stimulation for that busy pupper in your life, without having to tread out into that rainy weather.
Today Rei and I worked on heeling, sit to front, front back to heel, sit/stays. It can be just as fun to train your dog on other tricks, like sit, roll over, paw, or down. You may also consider games, such as “Find It,” where you hide treats around the house and ask your dog to find them. In fact, snuffling and sniffing for a dog, even if it is only about 15 to 20 minutes, equates to an hour of walking your dog. You can start out slow in a single room, where you hide a treat close to the dog and then ask them to find it. As they get better at the game, you can start making it more challenging. Letting your dog sniff and find things also really helps to build your dog’s confidence.
On rainy days – or any days, really, if I feel we need to release a little extra energy – Ellie, Rei, and I will head out to the barn and practice our sniffing skills with “Barn Hunt.” Barn Hunt is a game that the Barn Hunt Association created where a dog puts into practice its smelling and hearing ability to identify live rats in a tube. The dog must distinguish the live rat in a covered tube. Other tubes are also hidden in the barn, including rat-scented tubes – no rat, just empty tubes. The dog uses smell and hearing to identify the true hidden rat tubes. Ellie and Rei have successfully passed their Novice Barn Hunt title and intend on moving forward to their intermediate, or Open Barn Hunt Title, next weekend.
Other fun AKC games build on these scent games: Tracking, Scent Work, Field Trials, or Hunt Tests. Tracking can be in a wooded environment or an urban environment. This is where your dog has to follow a deliberately laid track to pass the test. Scent Work is a little less stringent, as the dog must only identify one or more specific odors (usually essential oils) in a small arena-type environment. Field Trials and Hunt Tests often require a dog to use their nose and ears to find and flush a bird. All of these are just fun extras that could be done if you do fun exercises indoors with your dog on these drizzly days.
If you want to challenge yourself and your dogs, you could work on heeling work – where the dog walks in sync with you at your calf and sits when you stop. Or you could practice puppy pushups, which is where you ask the dog to sit, down, stand, roll over, spin, or any other variation of tricks in a random order and then treat the dog. Many of these skills can also build toward AKC obedience titles, including Rally, Obedience, Canine Good Citizen, and Home Manners.
Ellie and Rei hope to compete in Scent Work and Tracking next year. While we have tried training for Field Trials and Hunt Tests, it may not be the sport for us. And it is just as important to recognize your limits and your dog’s limits – if it isn’t feeling fun anymore, it may not be worth doing.
Even for those who aren’t into AKC title-chasing, these skills are a fun way to interact with your dog anytime, anywhere, in public or at home. I am a firm believer that dog training is a gateway to a better and more fulfilling relationship with your dog. And the proof is really in the pudding with my two girls. I cannot ask for finer companions.
Have a dog training question or questions about this article? Feel free to reach out!
