How do I keep my dog who is unable to a lot of activity from being bored?

Question

She is unable to do a lot of activity because of recent knee surgeries.

I currently have another dog, who destroys everything, I am afraid that they will fight over kongs, I guess I can give it a try, SHE HATES water so the hydro therapy pool is a good idea, but I dont think I could get her in there. Where could I find an activity ball ? a local pet store perhaps?

She is also very young just three years, she is a bit overweight, and its not that i dont include her , its the fact that I have to work 8 hours a day, and she has a buddy that keeps her company, but she just cant exercise like he can. She is a very very intellegent dog, she has had a lot of stimulation as a puppy, untill now when i moved out of my parents house.

Answer 1

Here are a few suggetions.

Buy a Kong and fill it with something. I use ground meat but you can use whatever you want. If you feed kibble you can soak it for a few minutes and then put it in the Kong. Freeze it solid. It will take your dog 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on size and jaw strength to get the tasty treat out.

Teach her a counting trick. This takes alot of mental work. Buy something with seperate large numbers or just print some out and laminate them. Make sure it is nothing your dog can choke on, whatever you decide. Put out only the one. Tell her 'one' and have her touch the one. How you get her to is up to you. If she paws at your hand when you put it down, use that. If she will nose a treat, use a treat. Tell her how smart she is for touching the one. Work one number at a time until she can do at least three numbers. Then start putting out two cards with numbers she knows and telling her to touch a certain one. If she touches the right one tell her she's a good dog. If she makes a mistake, calmly say no and repeat the command. Great trick for amusing guests.

Work on some of her obedience commands that are not physically demanding. Instead of eating in her usual way, use her food for this. Everytime she does a command well, give her a bite. Make sure she gets enough to eat. If she isn't doing well on a command, go to one she does do well on and let her get some food.

Take her on a car ride.

Buy a video or download one that has alot of animal noises. Should keep her guessing for a bit.

Remember that she is not getting exercise so she will not need as much food and the treats need to be kept light and healthy. She'll be back on her feet in no time but if she gets fat while recovering her rehabilitation will be harder and the injury will be more likely to reoccur.

*** In regards to your update: Give them both a Kong and don't let your other dog steal it. Put him on a leash if he's determined and keep him next to you. If he tries to go after hers, give a sharp tug on the leash and a firm "NO". Don't hurt him with the tug. Make it just hard enough to get his attention.

While you're not home, it would probably be best if they weren't together while your her injury heals. If they decide to play, that could be very very bad. Her injury could reoccur or your other dog could accidentally hurt her. She may attack him for that even if they get along well. Pain makes dogs cranky, especially when they think a certain person or animal caused it.

You can get the treat balls at a petstore. The problem you may have is that she wants to bounce around on them instead of calmly rolling them. Supervise her with them to make sure she doesn't do that.

Now is a good time to get off some of that weight. Cut her food by 1/2 to 1 cup. Your vet should be able to tell you how much exactly. You'll want to cut it a bit anyway for the lack of exercise while she recovers but for weight loss, your vet will have to tell you. I don't know how overweight she is or if she's an easy keeper or hard keeper (effort to keep weight on). He has access to that information and can help you. ***

Answer 2

There's physical and mental activity.You don't say how old your dog is but if she's unable to walk far then when at home,train/give her things to do.
It may be that she can carry a newspaper from your local shop-fetch your shoes-bring in her bowl at dinner time.In other words try to involve her in daily activities.
It doesn't matter if she doesn't catch on or indeed do the things expected of her.The thing is you have a dialog going with the dog and she's participating in day-to-day-events,-so make her day fun.
It's that or leaving her sprawled on the floor so involve her in whatever you can.
Take her with you in the car-doesn't matter if she stays in whilst you run a few errands.Take her with you when visiting friends.
Exercise isn't the be all and end all but variety is the spice of life-especially for her and her current limitations.Change her environment during the day whenever possible.

Answer 3

There is a toy that you can purchase in most pet stores called Kong. It looks really weird, it is a chunk of rubber in a strange shape but has a hole in the center. That hole is made to be just the size to forcefully jam a kong treat in. The fact that it is a tight fit makes it hard for your dog to get it out and he has to work at it. This toy was designed to keep dogs from getting bored and to help allieviate separation anxiety. They also make a paste that you can squirt in but I found that the dogs can get at it too quick to allieviate boredom that way.

Answer 4

Try a treat activity ball, fill the ball with treats and just let her roll it around and get the treats. Also try a kong. smear some peanut butter on the inside and leave her to try and lick it all off!
When she has recovered from her surgery try to find a hydrotherapy pool so she can exercise without putting pressure on her knees.

Answer 5

Interactive toys:
http://www.boston-terrier-challenge.com/tests/dog-toy-test.html

You'd want things that dispense food and treats, like the Busy Buddy, and the Canine Genius toys.
The Amaze-a-ball is also great:
http://www.cleanrun.com/category.cfm?Category=132
So are the Buster Cubes, on the same page.

Swimming is great exercise, but please, please be careful. It could be too much for a dog that's had surgeries recently.

Answer 6

Get her one of those balls where you hide treats inside. She can nose it around and get the yummy treats out as she needs something to do (I know people who feed their dogs this way. They just put a day's worth of kibble in a couple balls and let the dog go to town)

And of course nothing is better than interaction with her people.

Hope this helps

Answer 7

ah...well if you have a very nice place around your city like a lake or a very nice park take her/him there drive him/her in a car and let the dog just have fun with other dogs sniff and stuff thy love that.