3 Ways to Keep Your Dog From Getting Bored

A bored dog often results in problematic behaviors. I'm talking about things like barking, destruction, digging, chewing, etc. often happen when our dogs are bored! So, what can we do? Here are 3 ways to keep your dog from getting bored! #1- Exercise in the morning #2- Quick and sporadic play/training sessions #3- Mental exercise and enrichment #1- Excercise in the Morning This one is vital. You can't expect your dog to sit around for the bulk of the day calmly if they haven't had some exercise in the morning. It doesn't have to be anything extremely intense, but at a minimum, your dog needs a walk in the morning. I take my dogs either on a run or to play fetch every single morning and it makes a huge difference in their behavior during the day. #2- Quick and Sporadic Play/Training Sessions Let me preface this by saying that dogs typically thrive under structure and a schedule. But that doesn't mean you can't randomly pull out a toy and play with your pup for 5-10 minutes during the day. Keeping your dog on their toes as to when play/training might occur will help keep them excited throughout the day! Truly, sometimes it is more productive to play for 10 minutes 6 times per day (example only) rather than 60 minutes at once for all their play. And the same goes for training, keep it short and keep it sporadic throughout the day! #3- Mental Exercise and Enrichment Your dog's breed was not bred for thousands (or hundreds) of years to sit on a couch. In most cases, dogs were bred to perform a job or task. Retrievers helped with retrieving fallen animals during hunting, pulling out nets for fishing, etc... they had a job every single day! You don't need your job to have a 9-5, but your dog needs some tasks and "jobs" throughout the day. You can do this with things like mental exercise toys, foraging, structured trick training, simple dog agility, and a whole host of other options! Overall, the biggest key for a happy and not bored dog is to make sure their basic needs are met! Please review and subscribe!! Thanks for listening 🐾 Download the free Pupford app here: https://pfrd.site/yapp-free Subscribe on YouTube here: https://pfrd.site/subscribe-youtube Check out all podcast episodes here: anchor.fm/perfect-pup Intro music cred to Kevin May: https://soundcloud.com/kevin_may