I need some ideas

[Jamila]

I want to play more with my dogs, but I need some suggestions on what games to play with them. Fallon likes to fetch and she will bring toys back but I throw things out about three or four times and shes done. Neither of my others will even go after the toys. I want an activity that will keep them going and interested.

I want to motivate my fur kids to play with me. What games do you play with your dogs?

[Ritz459]

Well, both Blackie and Rose are fuddy duddies when it comes to playing. We play fetch with edible food and that is about it. lol Although even that is a game...I throw a tiny morsel and they have to "find it". Has them use their nose and brain as well. To make it even more challenging I'll have them do an obedience command (sit, down, shake, crawl, whatever) before I throw the treat.
That is really fun to play when you have lots of snow.

Honestly, the most fun I have with them for "play time" is when I'm training them. They dogs have a blast (even Rose, who isn't an obedience motivated dog) and so do I. I'm not talking something they have to understand or get, more like stupid pet tricks.
I also get rough with them and wrestle, so to speak. I'll push them around and give them my version of a "play bow". If they aren't tired they'll do a mock wrestling session with me.

I know there are ways of teaching a dog to build up confidence and gain interest in tugging and fetching, but I've never tried it with Blackie and Rose as it doesn't bug me that they won't play.

[Jamila]

ah hunting for food is right up Talena's alley I will try that with her and the wrestling too. I don't wanna wrestle with Lucky sense he has the back spine and leg. But the food stuff is a good idea to get them running around and active. I just have lazy dogs. I mean they love to go for walks but other than that they just like to lay around.

[Rivsky]

Good to see I'm not the only one who wrestles with my dog RItz!!!

We also play fetch and tug games and if he's really revved up I can tell him "go nuts" and he'll run around the house doing zoomies (great way to self-exercise him!!)

Also we do training (obedience, tricks and agility) with lots of play between and afterwards as he likes to use his brain and is a good way to make him "earn" his dinner. Ive found that when he has to think about things it wears him out a lot quicker than a lot of running would.

[Doglover1988]

I play with my dogs in lots of different ways as they all have very different personalities.
Gracie-She is like your dogs and doesn't play. I will have to try the food hunting games with her. The only exercise she gets is going on walks and playing with Lucy.
Maggie- We play fetch and she also swims. She is a fetchaholic.
Lucy-She plays with dogs, toys, and we wrestle. She loves to wrestle with me and chase me and I chase her too. lol She does play bite sometimes so we have to interupt this for her to calm down. lol
Gabby-She plays with other dogs, her idea of fetch is "i'll go get it but I will run in the opposite direction from you and you can't have it back" She loves to wrestle and we also play fetch. She is a big girl so I sometimes get squished or scratched. lol

[Sweetpea]

Emma loves doing agility. She loves to play with toys in the house but not outside. So I started doing agility with her when she was just over a year. We just do it for fun. You can make our own agility equipment. I started off with 2 hula hoops. Walking then jumping and crawling under the hula hoops. I also picked up some orange cones at the dollar store. To use as weave poles. Emma also loves to chase a laser light and Frisbee.

[Jamila]

hula hoops are on the list these are great ideas Thanks everyone!!!

[Ritz459]

Try experimenting with different types of toys, too. While Rose has too much of a soft mouth to play tug and she has no retrieving drive in her, she loves to chew on toys that are tough but give under her knawing (like a kong or tennis ball), as well as soft toys that squeek. She is more like my ferrets when it comes to toys though. She won't really play with them, but if she really likes them she'll stash them away in her doghouse. LOL

Good to see I'm not the only one who wrestles with my dog RItz!!!

I wrestle with Chloe too, because we are trying to work on her bite inhibition. If she clamps down hard game over. No more fun. The only hard part about that is when my older brother wrestles with her...he finds it funny when she gets very mouthy/bitey and incourages it. Luckly he isn't around a lot (comes home to sleep and that is about it) so he's not a heavy influence on her.

I was working with Chloe last night on some heeling (she's smart, but she also isn't a very obedience oriented dog, sadly) and as part of a reward and as part of the training I just went balistic on her. I pushed her around (part of our roughhouse game) and then took off running doing feints back and forth. She was on leash so she HAD to follow me, but it was just a huge game to her. "Mommy's running around like a loony and I get to CHASE HER! Whoohoo!" Not only did this help tire her out and give her an awesome reward, it also helped teach her to keep a slack leash and to pay attention to me. But shhhhhh, don't tell her she was actually learning something or she won't do it.