Brain Games For Your Dog

To help your dog live a fulfilled life you need to stimulate it mentally and physically. With our busy lives this can be hard to do and just walking the dog is not enough, We need to bring some excitement into their lifes by challenging them and teaching them new things. You can do this by using some of the following games and techniques that will not only help them get rid of excess energy but also train their brain and make them smarter. Some of the techniques use were taken from a brain training programme specifically designed for dogs.

1. Treasure Hunt

This game stimulates the nose and will get your dogs really excited. To start the game you will need to teach your dog the how the game works. Have your dog in a stay position and hide his favourite toy or treat somewhere easy to find not to discourage them. Then give them the go ahead to find the object and upon discovery give them a massive well done and lots of attention.

Once they have an understand you need to challenge your dog mentally by making it more difficult. You can do this by placing the toy in a different room, Different location or in a place that will mask the scent. You can use cardboard boxes, Obstacle courses etc to make it challenging for years to come

2. Hide And Seek

This is an amazing game to play indoor or outdoors especially if you have children. Start by having your dog in a sit and stay position and have the kids hide behind a tree or in a different room. Once hidden give your dog the go ahead to search and find them

3. The Airplane Game

4. Food Dispensing Toys

A really fun way to challenge your dog with toy that will release a treat when they operate it correctly. You can set this up in your garden, Home or when you are on a walk to challenge them mentally and physically. This game will really bring out their natural instinct and you can find additional research on this topic here.

Here are some food dispensing toys we found that would help in training your dogs brain and honing on that natural instinct. This game can also be helpful if you are away for most of the day at work, You can hide the toy around the garden or leave it in a place where the it will be a challenge for the dog to keep them occupied. We don't recommend doing it this way all the time as your dog may get bored.

Here are some toys we came across you mite like:

5. The Shell Game

This is a simpler brain game for your dog and will be a lot easier for them to pick up. Just like a magician you will have 3 cups infront of you with a treat hidden under one. Shuffle the cups around and then let your dog find the cup with the treat. You should encourage them towards the cup that the treat is under.

Here are some amazing variations we found you could use.

6. Toy Pick-Up

Just like a child you can teach your dog to pick up its a toys after they are finished playing. This sounds crzy but it does work. Using simple words like "fetch" and "drop" have them pick up their toys and drop them in a designated area or toy box.

7. Muffin Tin Game

This brain game is really easy to set up using just an old muffin tray. Fill the holes with strong smelling treats and then cover the holes with balls or another object. Let your dog then figure out how to get to the treats.

8. Tug Of War

This is an amazing brain game that will really stimulated the physically and mentally. It does come with a warning as it will bring out their predatory instinct so I would only recommend this if you have a good relationship with your dog and you have set boundaries. Using a dog toy or a suitable rope have your dog bite one end and you pull from the other, Watch it bring out the competitor in them.

9. Teach A New Trick

Whether you teach your dog the basic paw or play dead, Dogs love to make us happy so teach your pet a new trick. Here is a video to give you some ideas:

10. Let Your Dog Explore

Finally this has to be the easiest brain game and its simply to let them explore on a walk. We recommend that you do this after a long walk so they have earned it and then once they have got rid of the excess energy t o have a good sniff around and pick up the different scents.

The most important point to remember is excercise with mental stimulation is key....

We hope you enjoyed our top ten brain games for your dog and found them useful. Just like us dogs need physical and mental stimulation so we hope you will put some of these into practice to help your dog live a fulfilled life. If you would you like to take this further and really stimulate your dogs brain then we recommend having a look at the following programme that has been specifically created to train your dogs brain.

The programme was created by Adrienne Farricelli who is a professionally certified CPDT-KA certified dog trainer with over 10 years experience and is aimed at eliminating bad behaviours in dogs and stimulating them mentally and physically.

Here's what the experts had to say:

Dr. Caryl Wolff

“Both the exercises and the games are very practical so dog owners may use them throughout the day to have a well-trained dog.There are training nuggets throughout, both in the step-by-step instructions and the Troubleshooting sections that will help enrich the lives of both dogs and their owners!”

Check out how to really develop your dogs intelligence by clicking here

A Dogs Life

Brain Games For Your Dog