Games to teach a dog

Lately, we’ve been playing a lot of peek-a-boo with the dog. He loves when we pop up from behind something, and goes a little crazy, which is helpful because it’s been pouring rain non-stop and his walks are a little short. So, to fight the cabin fever, we’re keeping ourselves amused by teasing the dog. 😉

When did we become *that* couple?! (The one who, for entertainment, tortures the dog with games of peek-a-boo, I mean.)

Anyway, this got me thinking about games to teach a dog and I wanted to share one that Vance adores. We take an empty egg carton and put a treat in one of the egg spots. Then, we fill all the egg spots with old plastic Easter Eggs and let him try to find the treat. To train the game, we let him see where we put the treat, but now we hide it so that he has to take out as many plastic eggs as possible.

It’s really funny watching him try to get the slippery (especially after he’s drooled on them!) eggs out of the container, and he really enjoys that he finds yummy treats inside. Of course, this is a game that requires *careful* supervision–you don’t want your dog to crush the plastic egg and injure itself, so only play this game with dogs that are gentle and under careful watch.

What games have you taught your dog? I’d love some new ones to play with Vance to keep him busy during this *very* long winter.