5 Ways to Create Meaningful Play Time with Your Puppy
5 Ways to create meaningful playtime with your puppy and teach them manners at the same time.
What are 5 ways to create meaningful playtime with your puppy? Let’s begin with a brief overview of what meaningful playtime is. Meaningful play time with your puppy is about spending time together but also teaching them quality life lessons. Life lessons are ones that are critical to their safety such as sit, stay, come, and leash training, fetch a ball. It is necessary that these skills be taught by you or by a dog trainer to make your pet pleasant to be around.
Sit
Sit is a command you say to have your dog sit. The sit is useful for meeting new people, nobody wants a dog jumping on them with dirty paws. In order to make this successful I suggest purchasing some treats. A small bit of something is all you need. At Tri State Puppies we prefer to use Paw Tree Treats. Let the puppy sniff the treat and give them a piece of the treat to get them paying attention to you. Once you have eye contact raise the treat over the dog’s head and move it back towards the tail. At the same time use the command sit. The dog will automatically move their body into the sit position as they follow the treat. As soon as the rear hits the ground, give the treat and say, “Good Sit”. Practice these 4 or 5 times then stop. You want the play to be fun and to not let the puppy get bored with it.
Stay
Once you have mastered the sit command you can move on to the stay command. Stay is harder because it requires the dog to be patient. For this I would like to have you in the seated position on the couch or chair, just pick somewhere comfortable. Take a piece of your treat and let the puppy have one to get him or her interested in the training. Show them the next treat but this time I want you to set it on your knee. When the puppy tries to reach for the treat, I want you to give them the correction of “Wait” or “Stay”. Whichever word you decide to use make sure everyone in the house uses the same word. As soon as the puppy waits reward them with the treat and tell them “Good wait or good stay”. Keep practicing and gradually increase the wait time and before you know it you puppy will politely wait for your command.
Come
Come here or recall is a great thing to teach your puppy. Having your dog when they are called can keep them safe when playing off leash. Start by teaching your puppy his name. Every time you say their name and they make eye contact praise them. Practice this exercise by moving farther and farther away from your puppy. Once they establish eye contact pat your leg and say come. Praise, praise, praise them. Have a family member take the puppy into another room and you can call them to come to you.
Leash Training
The easiest way to teach leash training is to just put the leash on them in the house and let them roam around dragging it around. I suggest buying a cheap leash for this. The leash will get chewed and used as a toy but that is ok for this stage. This will get them used to the leash. Start by taking them outside on the leash for short periods. As they get used to the leash you can increase the yard time on the leash. Soon you will be ready for a walk around the block.
Fetch a ball
Teaching fetch a ball is a bit more challenging at times. Start out by just rolling the ball on the floor in front of the puppy. If the puppy wants to run off with it and not bring it back at first that is ok. Remember we are teaching as we play. This can sometimes take months for a dog or puppy to get the concept. If the puppy puts the ball down in a random spot go get it and roll it some more. Gradually increase the length of the roll so the puppy starts to chase the ball. If the puppy lays down and starts to chew the ball it is ok to take it and roll it again. About 5 minutes at a time is plenty of trying. Praise the puppy and try again in a few hours.