Puppy Play That's Constructive

FOR puppies and owners, play can be a multifaceted experience. It is one of the most compelling reasons to add a new pup to your family. The chance to join in on silly, undignified, charming, energetic displays with a lively puppy overshadows thoughts of the chewed slippers and midnight whining. Work pressures and other consuming concerns pale for the moment when, on hands and knees, decorum flung to the winds, you can pounce on your puppy and he can pounce right back on you.

For puppies, play is also important for learning. Playing with his littermates taught him speed, agility, sociability, aggression and self-defence. It taught him how to modify his bite so that it did not hurt his siblings, and how to signal them when their bites hurt him. By playing, he learned some of the serious lessons of being a dog. The more he played, the better he got at it and the more he learned, too.

Playing with you, your puppy will also learn while he is having fun. He will note well your moves and sounds. He will understand your strengths and weaknesses. He will become able to judge your speed and agility - and your lack of such as well. You, too, will be learning. You will get to know your puppy's style and pace. You will see his charm and intelligence, his humour, his limits. You may even, if you think about it, learn a thing or two about yourself. To learn how to play it smart with puppies, herewith are some games to play with your puppy - and some games not to play as well.

ME AND MY SHADOW

Based on the belief that fun can be educational and education should be fun, you can start your brand new puppy on this combination of gamesmanship and learning. After your puppy has relieved himself, encourage him to follow you everywhere, like a shadow. This is a wonderful way to increase bonding and to prepare a very young puppy for subsequent lead training. After your puppy trots along behind you, encouraged by whistles, kisses, etc. Reverse role and follow him. When you are both ready, add to the game a light show-lead or small, soft collar and thin leash. Now get your leashed puppy to follow you. Then let your puppy take the lead, figuratively, and keeping the leash loose, follow him. Move the game out of doors. Viola! One wellbonded, leash-broken puppy.

CATCH ME? CATCH YOU!

When you want to discover new ways to play with your puppy, go back to the breed standard. There you will see his skills and abilities, those talents that were reinforced in his breed generation after generation. If, as is true for most pets, he cannot experience what his genetic programming has suited him for, see if you can translate these skills into game work. By contemplating the work he was bred to do, you will also be able to predict how much he will like a given game and how, exactly, he will play it» For example, did you ever see a herding dog let a sheep outrun him? Get the picture? Of course, you can add more dogs and humans to a racing game and the rules and variations are endless. However (and here's how game playing gets to be truly useful), if the excitement of the game gets your dog to escalate his general vigour and good humour into biting, correct him. Do not give up the game. A firm "No!" will cool most young dogs. If need be, a shake or one slap under the chin will stop the nipping.

SOME BALL GAMES

ALL kinds of retrieving games are fun, educational and wholesome for dogs of all ages. Beginning retrieving by game playing with very young puppies is a way of getting them hooked on fetching, whether for obedience pursuits or for continued frolicking in later years.

Whatever you throw, name the activity (Fetch! Take it! etc.) and be consistent. Also name the object. By doing this, your dog is learning how to learn faster. Also, you can piggyback on this learning by using the "vocabulary" in other games, tricks, commands. When your dog is young and runs after the ball or stick or toy you toss, do not force him to give it back to you each and every time. Encourage him, though, to come to you and give it up (Give! Out!) every few times. Later on, when he's older, he'll get it and return it to you on command, every time. What if you throw a ball or toy and your puppy chews it up? If you run after him shouting "No, No, No," you will spoil the game and he won't want to retrieve anymore. So don't do that. Simply work with something he can chew up, like a stick. Or throw a hard rubber ball, the kind he can't destroy. Don't play uptight. Don't expect him to be perfect now - and don't ever let the fun go out of the game.

THE PROTECTION RACKET

Barking  games have so many benefits. They are absolute favourites with noisy dogs and have the peculiar advantage of giving the owner control over the dog's noise-making. First, an observation: most owners complain that their dogs make too much noise and ask how to quiet them. Few owners stop to think that all creatures get pleasure from uttering sounds.

Your dog has a right to use his voice. However, you may, justifiably, not want him to use it at him. Barking games will give your dog a chance to be noisy when it's okay with you. Find out what makes your -dog bark. Is it a knock at the door, a biscuit held out of reach or the sight of another dog? Be ready to say, "Speak, speak, good dog" when the stimulus is there to trigger the barking. In no time, you will have a dog who barks on command. Reward the dog when he does so.

COMMON SCENTS

Informal tracking and scent games are popular with dogs of all breeds. With the pressure off, dogs can learn to find biscuits, socks, balls, even other family members. The game should proceed slowly so that for at least a week the puppy sees what he is supposed to find. When he finds it, praise him. Once he's hooked, slowly, slowly increase his skill by making him find a little further away, then a little harder to locate. You should build the time he will work and sniff minutes at a time. When he fails to make a find, you have probably rushed ahead much too fast. In that case, since to build his confidence he must always succeed, you will have to help him get to the lost object and then make the game much easier and proceed more slowly.

GAMES NOT TO PLAY

• Do not play any game that allows the puppy to bite you or attack you. Gentle pouncing with no use of teeth is fine. Never wiggle fingers in a teasing way in front of the pup's face nor shove your arm at his face for him to "play attack" it. Never encourage any mode of behaviour which displeases, hurts or frightens you in an adult dog.

• Do not play tug-of-war with puppies. The least harm you might do is make the puppy's teeth crooked. The most harm is to encourage biting, pulling, tugging on your clothes or flesh, destructiveness. Think active rather than rough. When it comes to dogs and people, play's the thing.

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