What activites are best for puppies?

I was just wondering what kind of activites are best for puppies? She seems to have boundless energy. I can barely keep up with her. Its lucky that we have Sugar to play with her sometimes (well actually she always wants to play) but I dont like them playing for too long causeI think it gets too rounh for a 8 and a half week old pup. Any suggestions for activites she can do will be appreciated. Thanks!

When India and Geordie were pups, I remember spending lots of time on the floor letting them climb on me and playing with their toy collection!

Yep, one of my favouite places is on the floor playing with my dogs... of all ages.

Some puppy fun are a little ball to roll along the ground, plush-toy attack, where the plush toy gently attacks puppy & he can defend himself & attack back, an empty plastic drink bottle will keep him entertained for hours, scrunched up paper is also fun, so are empty cardboard boxes. Peek-a-boo where you cover his eyes & go boo at him when you take your hands away. Puppies just love learning & having new experiences so be inventive.

Just thought of something else we learned in puppy kindergarten classes.

Gently inspect your puppy every day - touch her paws, look in her ears, check her body, maybe brush her hair a little with a soft baby brush. These are things you want her to be comfortable with. Slowly and gently let her get used to these things, because you'll need to groom her more when she grows up, and she'll need to get used to vet exams and nail trimming, etc.

You might want to buy her a baby toothbrush and some dog toothpaste. Let her lick the toothbrush with a small amount of toothpaste on it. Later, at 5 months old she'll be teething and her mouth will be sore, so don't expect to brush her teeth at that time. But she will at least be familiar with her toothbrush and the paste for later.

These are fun activities you can do daily while playing with her on the floor.

Lots of running games! Fetch and chase mummy (watch out for their little feet!) are 2 faves that are played in the big backyard, without a backyard they may not be so easy. :flwr:

Good one Cathy, re the handling tips. Some other important ones are to handle the feet, separating toes, look inside ears, open up mouth, roll him on his back. Lift his tail up to look at his little bottom. Kind of play being the vet. I like to give a one word command for each of these things as they get to know what is coming next and often times they will even help facilitate what needs to be done.

Hide & seek is also good fun. Start really easy, like ducking behind a lounge & call him, reward with treat when he finds you. Then you can start making it a bit harder by going into different rooms.

Probably our best fun is sing & dance. That is where I try to sing & make pitiful attempts at dancing. The dogs think I am a star, tails go up & they prance around, doing loop the loops & jumping in the air. It is good exercise fo rme too. :rah:

Scout is VERRRRY active as well. It's definitely a change of pace for me, who was used to quiet nights at home.

He has a few favorite toys that he is obsessed with, but we also spend a lot of time letting him chase us around the house ... wears him out well.

Darcy loves beating up his Mom Princess the most right now! She worships him even though he is 3 months old now, as he was a singleton puppy they had a very close relationship right from the start, it is lovely to see. Another favourite is the ragger, which is a large piece of rope with a big knot in each end, he loves to play tug of war with Josie with that, his ultimate toy though is Josie herself! I hope to show Darcy later in the year and have told Josie maybe she had better handle him in the ring for me as he is so fixed on her, her response? "Argh!! NO Way!! I'm too shy!" Josie was 9 last week-end, going on 19! Hmmmm :luv: :luv:

Boundless energy is right!! If we could find a way to harness puppy power, there wouldn't be an energy crisis :lol:

Here's one a lot of our litters like. We have a 5 gallon pail that we took the bottom out of and took the handle off. The puppies love playing in it and it teaches them (we think) to walk on unsteady surfaces.

Excellent Cathy! In addition, get the puppy used to being on her back; not all puppies like that very much. And when Cathy says check her body, check and touch EVERY part! No time to be shy, you never know when that may be important.

My Scout also had (has) boundless energy. I'm lucky enough to have a very large yard, so we spend a lot of time outside. Sometimes she plays with me, sometimes with Breeze and sometimes on her own. I spend a lot of time sitting or standing in the yard keeping an eye on her.

It does take a while for puppies to calm down, until then like everybody has said lots of sitting on the floor in the house playing with little toys.

Cathy and everyone else has great suggestions. Playing with the feet, etc. Also, I'm not sure if this was mentioned, when I feed my dogs, periodically I stick my fingers in their bowls. I do this to let them know they do not have to feel threatened by a person or another animal being close to their food bowls. All three of mine (2 dogs, 1 cat) eat at the same time right next to each other, very calmly.

Hang in there, it does get very tiring and tedious sometimes, especially if you are tired or just not feeling up to it, unfortunately your puppy doesn't understand that all they want to do is run and play.

Scouty girl said:

Also, I'm not sure if this was mentioned, when I feed my dogs, periodically I stick my fingers in their bowls. I do this to let them know they do not have to feel threatened by a person or another animal being close to their food bowls. All three of mine (2 dogs, 1 cat) eat at the same time right next to each other, very calmly.

Hang in there, it does get very tiring and tedious sometimes, especially if you are tired or just not feeling up to it, unfortunately your puppy doesn't understand that all they want to do is run and play.

Click to expand...

GREAT idea. I'm going to practice hanging in and around Scout's food/water bowls to get him used to the idea.

Hang in there - I was totally overwhelmed at first ... but coming here and getting reassurance that they eventually calm down was a lifesaver for me!

Til then ... enjoy every tiring minute of it.

Also a treat ball or puppy kong (just don;t put too much food in it -- I like mashed banana wih a bit of kibble as it is low in calories; you can freeze it and it takes them much longer to get the food out), nylabones... you also want activities that work her mind or keep her calm but busy. I started teaching Jaspar fetch from when he was little, just lots of praise at first if he'd even chase a throw toy, then praise for picking it up, and LOTS if he actually carried it over to me. He caught on fast and my life has been hell ever since. :lol: But seriusly it is a great way to exercise a cavalier inside or out in a garden, to have them chasing a soft toy and retrieving it.

Generally puppies and adult dogs play pretty wild and it looks rougher than it actually is. As long as she doesn;t look scared or under pressure or isn;t getting hurt; or the adult doesn't look like it is getting too overexcited, I'd let them play.

I found everyone of the ideas presented here work great with Kodee. But when all else fails - somedays its not so much physical exercise but mental wearing out she needs. There was a period (about 12-16 wks) where I did numerous short bursts of training with a frozen green bean reward (kodee's chocolate). She sometimes just needed the one-on-one concentration for 5 min or so and then she'd settle right down to chew a nylon bone for a few minutes more and crash. Since then we have given her toys that make her think for these modes when they hit. She likes the cube that comes with soft squeeky balls in them - she concentrates so hard in holding one in her mouth and making the other two be guided slowly (she keeps it under her paw) from one end of the house to the other. Dont know why but she works mighty hard at it some days for 20 min - I keep meaning to get a video of it! The other is my daughter puts all 4 balls on the fireplace and she again puts one in mouth and uses her paw to get the other on the floor but puts it under her chest so it cant get away while she goes for the next. My odd little Kodee! You'd think a dog like this would like trying to get treats out of a ball - nope. But she loves the bottle on the floor - but that is more bark and scoot play not concentrated.