Make a dog smarter!

Did you know your dog can learn approximately 100-200 words? That’s the equivalent of the vocabulary of a 2-4 year-old child. Pretty amazing, right?

But, what’s even more amazing is that you can make a dog smarter. Just like you can get smarter by exercising your brain, so can your dog. In a previous post, I talked about fun games to play with a dog and that’s one great way to make a dog smarter–by playing games that keep him engaged and learning.

Another fabulous way to make a dog smarter is to play the “Guess what I want” game. Now, ordinarily, you should be really clear with your dog about what you want him to do and when. (If you want your dog to be sitting quietly instead of jumping on you, tell him to sit.) But, when you play the “Guess what I want” game, the object of the game is for your dog to try and read your mind and guess which of his dog tricks you’d like him to perform.

When I’m playing this game with Vance, I say, “What else you got?” meaning, what other tricks do you know. And he knows that’s his cue to cycle through everything  he can think of until he comes upon the dog trick that I had in mind. Sometimes its uncanny how quickly he guesses each dog trick in a row. Other days, there’s obviously a wire short circuited somewhere between the two of us because it’s the last trick he knows several times in a row.

So, those are my two favorite ways to make a dog smarter–what are yours?

Heartworm treatment for dogs

So, I’m sitting out on my back deck with the laptop (yea! wireless!), and Vance is laying in the grass. Though it’s early in the season yet, we’re in the south, so mosquitoes are already a fact of outdoors life. I’ve killed six already and we’ve only been out here for a half hour or so.

The reason I bring all of this up is that Vance has had a few mosquitoes on him, too, and it reminded me that I wanted to talk about heartworm protection. If your dog isn’t currently on a monthly heartworm prevention pill, he should be–you don’t want to mess with these creepy crawlies.

Vance used to be on a heartworm prevention and also on a flea medicine, but the flea medicine was applied to his skin and caused a really bad allergic reaction. So, he now takes Sentinel instead which is a little more expensive than one or the other (heartworm prevention or flea protection), but less than the two of them together and it does both. I really like only having to give him the one monthly pill, and I love that he no longer gets a serious rash at the base of his tail (I think he likes that, too).

Lest I sound too much like an infomercial for Sentinel, it has one serious drawback–it doesn’t protect against ticks, so I have to perform a weekly check. Since he used to get the occasional tick on the previous stuff (Frontline), and I’m brushing him every few days anyway, this isn’t a serious hardship, it’s just a minor annoyance. And, truthfully, I’m not sure I don’t prefer fewer chemicals coursing through his system anyway.

If the smell of Frontline bothers you, or applying it topically is irritating your dog’s skin, I highly recommend checking with your vet to see if Sentinel might be as good for your dog as it’s been for Vance.

And, this is a really good time to say: It’s the first of the month. Heartworm day. (I’m totally stealing that from the Jet Dry commercials, but around here we do indeed give Vance his heartworm prevention pill on the first of the month, so it’s perfect.

What do you give your dog to protect against heartworm and fleas? I’d love to know what works for you! And, don’t forget you have until the 6th of June to enter for a chance to win an Omega Paws Tricky Treat Ball. With so many ways to rack up points, I hope you’ll enter more than once (remember, your first entry is a comment, then your other entries are to spread the word about the contest via Twitter and your blog, and to subscribe to this blog by RSS or email).

Five Fun Games to Play with Your Dog

A bored dog is a naughty dog, so it’s important to keep your dog entertained and engaged at least some of the time. Fortunately, playing games with your dog is a really fun activity. Here are my five favorite games to play with a dog.

1) Train dog tricks. I love training dog tricks, and because of the treats involved, it’s fun for both of us. Plus, it keeps his brain super active and engaged which has the added benefit of wearing him out a bit ;-). So, a 15 minute trick training session means he’s a lot less likely to get up to mischief when left alone. Some fun dog tricks: spin, roll over, play dead, get the mail, get my slippers, bow, shake, speak, and crawl.

2) Play “What Can You Do with a Box?” In this dog game, you need a box and a bunch of treats. Then, every time your dog comes up with something new to do with the box, you give a treat. It’s fun to see what your dog will come up with as he starts to learn you’re looking for variety. For instance, my dog put his tennis ball in the box, he chewed the box, he carried the box over to his bed, and he put his foot in the box–and each time, he got a treat. The trick to playing this game with a dog is to make sure it’s something new each time–that’s how you encourage your dog to get really creative.

3) Play Frisbee. If you’ve taught your dog to fetch, it’s time to teach him how to play with a Frisbee. Start by just having your dog learn to chase the Frisbee and pick it up–both are trickier than playing fetch with a ball. Then, start positioning your dog to catch the Frisbee.

4) Play “Find the Cookie.” With a collection of treat toys, put a treat in just one of the toys. Then, put all the toys back in the toybox and instruct your dog to “Find the cookie!” This one’s great fun to watch because your dog will be really excited about finding the cookie as quickly as possible. Once your dog has gotten the hang of the game, put all the dog toys in the box on top of the toys with the treat (so, any stuffed animals or other toys, go on the top). Sure, playing this game with a dog is messy, but it’s also really entertaining and you can play it again and again.

5) Play, “Put away your toys.” Once your dog’s made a mess with his toys, teach him to put them all back in the box and pick up after himself. This is a fun game to play with a dog because it means less pick up time for you. You may find your dog (like mine) putting the toys back in the box, taking the cookie, and promptly taking the toy out of the box again, so be patient as you’re playing this game with a dog–it’ll take time before he learns he only gets a cookie for putting the toy *in* the box, not for taking it out again.

What great games do you play with a dog? Of these five, which one are you most looking forward to trying? I’d love to hear from you about the dog games you play!