5 Interactive Games Between Dog And Man
Playing is one of the best ways to bond between dogs and humans. There are many types of interactive dog games, and each one encourages a skill. Memory, smell, agility, speed, confidence… are some of them. We are going to present five fun games that will improve your relationship with your dog!
Interactive games are a very good form of physical and mental stimulation. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on toys as we can make them at home. The important thing is to use them regularly, vary and increase the difficulty of some of the most popular interactive games:
1. Pull and release
It’s very simple. The dog grabs one end of the rope, the person grabs the other end and basically pulls and lets go. The dog will hold the rope firmly in its mouth and pull with its whole body to get hold of it. It sounds trivial, but this way, we get to practice bite control. Thus, we teach the dog to ‘catch’ and ‘let go’.
You can use dog ropes, which come in many different sizes and shapes. Multi-strand strings are also perfect for teeth, as the friction caused by the bite cleans the mouth.
2. Memory game
The memory game works best when our dog is calm and attentive. For this, we must use opaque containers and, under one of them, hide a prize. We move the containers and let the dog try to guess what the prize is. We can increase movement or speed according to the animal’s response.
This type of game helps to stimulate memory and self-control, as it is a visual game and the dog must remain still until we give the order for him to choose.
3. Bring the ball
It’s the classic game of throwing the ball and waiting for the dog to catch it and bring it to us. It is a good method to exercise our dog outside the home. It is recommended to do it with a moderate frequency, especially if the dog in question is obsessed with the ball.
Otherwise, we’ll just get continuous stress. A good idea for these dogs is to hide the ball so the animal can look for it by smell.
4. Hide and seek
Another interactive game for dogs is hide and seek. We can play the same way we would play with a person. And we can also do this at home.
We hide without the dog seeing us and let him search for us by smell or through our call. With hide and seek, we can practice ordering the animal to answer our call.
5. Agility
This game is already for more advanced animals. The agility is to go through an obstacle course with ramps, pipes, zig-zag, stairs, bars … guiding the dog all the time. More than a game, it’s a form of sport. The canicross would be another example.
Both sports are very useful tools for increasing communication and trust between the owner and the pet. In addition, the dog feels security and the ability to deal with any environment.
Don’t forget the smell games
Dogs see the world through their noses. Smell is the keenest sense and, through play, we can develop it. In these games, we don’t necessarily interact with the animal all the time, but the fact of preparing it also involves our presence.
We can use all kinds of objects, from toys to hide food to cardboard, boxes, towels, blankets… Smell games are prepared by hiding food or snacks for the dog around the house, in the park, etc. And as the dog practices, we can increase the difficulty.
Using scent is a good technique to stimulate them mentally and physically. In this case, we can play games of smell daily, as they have a very positive effect on dogs.
These are some of the interactive dog games. You can practice them to improve your relationship with your pet. Whether at home or at the park, your dog will love it!
