Entertaining A Puppy

Ok. This may seem simple, but it can get hard to entertain a very hyperactive puppy. There are a number of techniques that I will cover in this instructable, including:
The Laser-Pointer Game
Going For A Walk
Fetch (kinda common sense)
The Paw Game



Thats my big bro with our puppy, but shes like wayy bigger now.

Step 1 The Laser Pointer Game

The laser pointer game is a simple and fun game to play with your puppy.
What you need:
1. A laser pointer
2. A hyperactive/playful puppy

To play the game, shine the laser on the ground in front of your puppy, and wait until she sees it. Her immediate reaction should be to chase it, and eat it, like she would a bug.
::WARNING:: Do not shine laser in your puppy's eyes. Lasers hurt humans eyes, and dog's eyes are much more sensitive than ours, so therefore, the laser would hurt their eyes more if shined directly in.

Also, when your puppy puts her paw on the light, turn it off, and watch her try to find it. Don't do this for too long, or it will be really sad to see your ppupy try and find it.

Comments

[jeffreyf]

Awww. Puppy!

This reminds me of one of my favorite patents ever. Method of exercising a cat.

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT5443036&id=OfwkAAAAEBAJ

[hjjusa]

A little story about my dog and cats, One day as a puppy she was playing with a cat. there was a thunderstorm off in the distance, the dog cornered the cat, the cat arched it;s back and opened it''s mouth to hiss, at that verymoment there was a huge clap of thunder. My dog is still afraid of cats. LoL

[XD hey!]

im dog sitting for my neighbors puppy in a few weeks and i have NO IDEA what to do with it! someone give me some suggestions please!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx

[thekeltycat]

Rather than entertain your dog, it's better to find games to stimulate its brain, like using its natural hunting instinct and problem solving abilities to find treats. Puppies who do not get enough mental stimulation (or brain work) are the ones who usually end up too hyperactive. One idea is to hide treats inside a box, then another box and so on (no staples or tape) and watch it work out how to get to the treat. And kong balls are the worlds best are helping them work out problems and there is a great site on food recipes to put inside the kong.

[Brother_D]

my dog must have had a lot of mental stimulation as a puppy.

[Allonsy]

i agree with the first comment on the dog. SHE'S SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!

[emericanskater]

i always play the pawgame with my lab its so fun he watsches so intensly

[nomeL]

hmm, i have two that i do with my puppy. Slapfight: you and your puppy bat at each others hands/paws. Catch: train your puppy to grab something mid-air, we did this at first by me encouraging him to "take" a treat and then graduating to soft toys, finally a dog frisbee, and starting by dropping the toy and then throwing it longer & longer distances. For some reason my dog loves fetch but had no desire to catch something midair. Dance: with a treat, encourage your pet to dance by holding it up in front of his nose. Add music. My dog is a clown and now sometimes when there is music on he will dance even without me encouraging him to. Hide and seek treat: make sure your dog sees you get out a treat. Distract him momentarily while you hide it (e.g. by throwing a squeaky toy near him.) A second or two later when he comes to look for the treat, hold out your hand (so he sees the treat isn't there, and can smell what it was) and say, "Where is it? Find it!" and pretend to search for the treat. My dog is, er, not really a tracker, and if yours is the same he might need some help "finding" the treat the first few times before he gets the game and will start hunting around. Hide and seek me: Go "hide" somewhere in your place and call for your dog. He will come and find you because he'll be curious about where your voice is coming from. This is good early recall training, too. Sit/stay: Puppies like obedience training, so it's good to work these into most of your activities. Jump up, down: work on your puppy's natural drive to hop around on things by having him jump up onto things and off of them. Start with a couch cushion, graduate to the whole couch. You can get the puppy to go up by offering a treat on the cushion. It's easy to get a puppy to go "down" on a cushion as well by placing a treat near his feet. And then finally, "off" - offer a treat off the cushion. This one is useful because from an early age, my puppy thought he owned the couch, and now as soon as I say "off" he'll jump right off and go to his bed instead. other things that will entertain a puppy: chewable squeaky toys (my dog especially loves the yellow hedgehogs), kongs with kibble in them.

[theadamlevy]

you should make an instructable about this its better than what this guy made all of the stuff he suggests is dumb and could hurt your dog laser pointer can cause serious psychological problems in a dog and can result in them chronically being afraid of their shadow im not an expert on the subject but ive seen a few dogs like this it sucks hard to fix go for a walk? who wouldnt there is no one that couldn't have thought of that themselves fetch well ok that s a good idea but he doesnt say anything about how to teach your dog to fetch or how to teach your dog to always come to you just says call him and try to teach him to always come to you as if your dog understand english the paw game thats just teaching your dog not to want to have their nails clipped which should be done regularly to ensure a healthy dog instead you should teach your dog to not pull away

[master makedo]

i played the laser game with my pup and now he chases his own shadows and it didnt even shine in his eyes could anyone tell me how to make him stop chasing his shadows

[thekeltycat]

Couldn't agree more with the problems caused by using a laser. Shadow chasing is a serious problem for a dog and affects them psychologically. So I definitely would not encourage dogs to chase lights. There are loads of people on dog sites asking for help with shadow chasing dogs. So sorry. I disagree seriously with you laser game.

[InstructorGadget]

Really cute dog, you should send pics into DailyPuppy.com he'd win and get featured for sure. Even if he is way bigger now.

[Shark500]

i thought i invented the paw game : ( ; )

[Metal4God]

i thought i did?

[BorisTheSpider]

No way someone else invented it. It was all me....at least I thought.

[Metal4God]

i think EVERY one thinks that!

[jenevershed]

oh yeah, don't play the paw game with dogs that are missing any legs...that's just mean.

[jenevershed]

I already do all this stuff too but it's good for people who've never been around dogs much. I just think it's really cute. I love the paw game!

[Whaleman]

Cool, too bad most of it doesn't work on blind, and deaf dogs, like mine. All I can do is take her on a walk

[Metal4God]

i do all this stuff anyways with my dog. and whayt to use better then a laze pointer the lazer on a nerf nightfinder

[BluryBlue]

I do this stuff all the time with my Dog. She's way too easy to manipulate.

[CameronSS]

Yay! Puppy!

[Clarity]

Does your puppy sit and stay? Play hide and seek. Have Puppy sit and stay, grab a treat and hide in another room. Yell a release command or "come" and giggle while the puppy searches for you. My dog gets really excited when she finds me. I can't decide whether it's me or the treat that shes excited about...

[0.775volts]

You can also train them to do any number of things as well, for medium to large dogs, it's great to teach them to chase you, then you can have a game of tag and actually reverse it (in this situation staircases are the great equalizer)

[Weissensteinburg]

One point-its best to have them chase you, not the other way around, for they take it as a sign of dominance on their part.

[0.775volts]

I never thought about it like that, but I also never had problems, but I make dominance a pretty plain thing with puppies. I could see how that might be an issue with some stronger-willed dogs like chows or shepards. and I'd never do it with a corgi.

[Calltaker]

Nice instructable. My only comment is about the paw game. A better point to make with it is to get your puppy used to having their paws handled without pulling away. This makes it a lot easier to take care of cutting their nails when they need to be trimmed. Makes it a lot easier on your groomer, or if you do it yourself. ~C

[tofood]

she knows when we're not playing around and has to be serious, but i guess some dogs aren't like that.

[dogsrcool2me]

Dogs eyes are not as sensitive as humans.