Do you feel like your dogs are bored when your not home or even when you are home? There are several activities that you can make to help keep your dog busy when you are home or not. There are several Do It Yourself activities you can make for your dogs and several more that you can purchase. Below I have attached a few ideas to get you started.
For dogs that spend a lot of time outside during the day especially in the summer months a large chunk of flavored ice with treats or other toys frozen inside is always fun. It will also help keep them cooler and more comfortable.
Busy balls that you can put treats or small kibble pieces are great for a short time but once that kibble runs out they are pretty much done and on to the next thing.
The Apple Kong is great because they can eat the entire thing. As long as you have removed the seeds to the apple there is absolutely nothing that can hurt you dog. Until you look down and now you have peanut butter everywhere on your floors.
The one that I like most for inside is the stuffed Holee. I take strips of fabric and push them in the large holes, then put in a few pieces of their kibble dog food, then some bacon or chicken strip treats and drop it. Normally lasts about an hour for them to pull it all out then it becomes a tug-a-war toy. You can stuff regular kibble in it, or treat pieces, or squeakers, or fruit pieces, or what ever your pup will love.
There are also some large treat balls that are German Shepherd proof. I found this one on amazon.
If your looking for something for today and you don’t want to run out to the store, cut a slice into a tennis ball and load it up with treats. I have no idea how long that would last but I am imagining a while.
For puppies or smaller dogs, you can put treats in muffin tins and put balls on top of the treats. This encourages them to use their nose to find which cup has a treat. You can also add rocks into some spots so they realize that not every cup has a treat. Play with it and help your pup learn to use their nose more. This is actually very close to the methods we use to train dogs for drug and bomb detection so start them using their nose young.
The swinging toy shown below takes some craftsmanship but will keep the pups entertained for a long time. Until they get smart and learn how to hold it upside down so all the treats come out and then they are done. If this happens to you put it in storage for a week to a month then bring it back out.
I will update this post as I find more activities that are GSD proof. So far my dogs love the Ice Chunk with different juices and bacon pieces in the chunk. I have found making it in a cake pan or loaf pan is easiest.
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