# Mental stimulation games



## Krautdog (Sep 21, 2013)

Can I get some ideas for mental stimulation games to have Alcide (4.5 months now) work on? The normal fetch, tug, and playing with our 7 month old husky/greyhoud mix are great and he loves them but I need to challenge him mentally also more so that the so called "find a treat toys" do.


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## Mesonoxian (Apr 5, 2012)

Doggie puzzle games are fun (it sounds like you have some of these?), and not all of them are outrageously priced. Do you play any other scent games? (i.e. hiding his food, the 'marble under a cup' game, for-fun nosework, etc.) Those have done wonders for my Keeshond, and my sister does a lot of scent games with her Sibe (who needs a lot of mental stimulation).

I also make use of kongs, and difficulty can be raised by freezing the contents before giving it to your dog. (frozen kongs can also be great for teething pups). I never make mealtime easy; partly due to my dog inhaling her food in 5 seconds, but also because that's 'free' mental stimulation time for me. If her food isn't hidden all over the room, it's in a difficult 'treat ball,' or in a puzzle toy and kong. 

Trick training is another thing to help challenge you dog mentally, learning new things with you is not only fun for your dog, but should be fun for you too!


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## Krautdog (Sep 21, 2013)

Awesome thanks Meso. I do try ad give some scent training buy throwing a small handful of the puppy bone treats in a wide birth al over the grass and or carpet if were inside. I havet tried hiding stuff in the yard tho. How do you get them interested in finding what you've hidden? He does know the "find Maxwell" command, my 2 year old son which is awesome when my son pulls the disapearing act!!!! I also freeze the marrow bones I give to him for our midnight sessions when I get home from work LOL


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## Mesonoxian (Apr 5, 2012)

Krautdog said:


> He does know the "find Maxwell" command, my 2 year old son which is awesome when my son pulls the disapearing act!!!!


Haha, that's a fun game! All the dogs I know love it, especially when they're searching for 'their' people. 



Krautdog said:


> How do you get them interested in finding what you've hidden?


When I first started hiding Lena's food all over the room, I made it really obvious. Just lying out on the floor in relatively large piles. As she became more and more proficient, I made the piles smaller, and the hiding spots more difficult. There were times where she seemed to regress a little, and I just pointed her in the right direction. She's now at the point where she'll avidly search out piles of only 2-5 pieces of food - this makes the game last waaay longer. I've also conditioned her to sit and make eye contact (indicator) when she's found food that she can't get to (hidden in a drawer, enclosed in a small box, etc.) 

I also chose to teach a cue for when Lena should be using her nose. Sniffing out her food is "find it!" When we play the marble-under-a-cup game, "which hand?", or other discriminatory games, her command is "such" (sook). You can use whatever you want! Again, when I was first teaching the command, I made the correct choice really obvious - set your dog up for success!


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## Jaythethird (Jul 1, 2013)

Mesonoxian said:


> Haha, that's a fun game! All the dogs I know love it, especially when they're searching for 'their' people.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow, that is cool. How old is she? All these games sound really fun. Thanks to both of you for getting the conversation started  



Sent from my N860


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## KelsCooke (Sep 13, 2013)

Just check out Silvia Trkman's videos to get some ideas. She also has a few DVDs (for a better bond, for better thinking, and for balance).


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## Mesonoxian (Apr 5, 2012)

Jaythethird said:


> Wow, that is cool. How old is she? All these games sound really fun. Thanks to both of you for getting the conversation started


All the games are definitely fun! "Which hand?" is probably my favorite interactive scent game, and Lena loves her food searches. Treat balls are the most convenient on my end, and can take quite a while depending on their individual difficulty. 

Lena turned 7 this past summer, and we've been doing scent games for less than a year. (Old dogs _can_ learn new tricks!  )

I hope there are more people who post with ideas, I'm always ready to try something new!


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## Jaythethird (Jul 1, 2013)

One that I have thought of is placing small boxes around the house and letting them stay there during everyday living, then randomly place a toy in a box and have him search for it.. I Donno, hard to describe I guess lol

Sent from my N860


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I have used a Tug-A-Jug to feed meals out of, the Everlasting Treatball, Kongs with treats in them and the Everlasting Fun Ball.

Dog puzzles, I have 2 different ones.

Put a treat under a cup and move it around with other cups and see if he can find the cup with the treat.

I play 4 different "find it" games. 
1) I send my dog to another room while I create a scent trail with a soft, smelly treat (Wellness Wellbites) and then I have my dog come out and guide him through the scent trail. 
2) I put several shoes scattered in the living room and I put a treat in one of the shoes and then I have him sniff each shoe until he finds the treat and then he sits and I give him the treat (you can also use shoe boxes.)
3) I throw several treats in the yard and have him sniff them out.
4) I send him to another room and I hide and have him sniff me out.


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## Krautdog (Sep 21, 2013)

Keep them coming guys n gals! Awesome reads! Kudos to you all. Went and bought a fetch stick today (the one you put a tennis ball on the end to throw the ball farther" Was awesome watching him sprint after the ball for 100 yards except the 2-3 times he ran to the ball and then gave me his "defiant" look "YOU COME GET IT THIS TIME!!!"


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## Eiros (Jun 30, 2011)

Love these ideas! Bought the everlasting treat ball today and also started playing "which hand?". Fun fun!!!


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## Krautdog (Sep 21, 2013)

Ok so I bought a Kong Star for him to forage his food out of and he was not interested in the slightest. Fastest return to Petsmart I have ever done LOL. I tried everything to perk his interest!


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## Jaythethird (Jul 1, 2013)

One that I have been recently doing with Oliver is another variation of leave it. I will spread a group of 5 - 6 kibbles widely on the floor. Then I will randomly tell him with ones are OK to eat. I stated out small but this past week we have gotten able to just point in the vicinity of which one is ok and he gets it. It's pretty fun for both of us as I can tell he is trying to guess which one I am going to let him have. I vary length of time overall and in between individual kibbles, randomly place them. The funnest one for me (when my little devil is on my shoulder) is when he has to step over one or two pieces to et the one he can have. I can see it in his eyes saying.. 'you son of a' .... Lol

Sent from my N860


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## Krautdog (Sep 21, 2013)

LOL Jay. I have to start hiding the kibbles in our living room before I let Alcide in due to him eating the little piles faster than I can hide them! He's geting the find it game and it's fun when he thinks hes found everything then I point to a kibble and **** ignore it acting like im just seeing things.
Think im gonna go home and work o his "Threat" comand (speak LOL) the wife outta love this at midnight.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Love what KelsCook posted and I'd add --> http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...191183-top-training-expectations-puppies.html

There's more then enough there to keep you busy and your pup happy!


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## Mesonoxian (Apr 5, 2012)

KelsCooke said:


> Just check out Silvia Trkman's videos to get some ideas. She also has a few DVDs (for a better bond, for better thinking, and for balance).


This is a great video, and Silvia Trkman does have good stuff. Thank you for the link, I don't know how I missed it before!



Jaythethird said:


> One that I have thought of is placing small boxes around the house and letting them stay there during everyday living, then randomly place a toy in a box and have him search for it.. I Donno, hard to describe I guess lol
> 
> Sent from my N860


This sounds a lot like what I try to do when I hide Lena's food around the room - using things that are already there everyday. I wish she would do it for a toy! (She's not really toy motivated at all, we're trying to work on building engagement and including some toys, but it hasn't really stuck yet.) Her food drive, however is through the roof! She'll give 110% to get a tidbit of anything.



LaRen616 said:


> I have used a Tug-A-Jug to feed meals out of, the Everlasting Treatball, Kongs with treats in them and the Everlasting Fun Ball.
> 
> Put a treat under a cup and move it around with other cups and see if he can find the cup with the treat.
> 
> I play 4 different "find it" games.


My sister uses a Tug-A-Jug for feeding her Sibe, and it works really well! Lena would probably do okay with it, but she hasn't shown any interest in it as of yet, so I haven't invested in one personally.

The first 'find it' game you listed is one I haven't done yet, I'll have to give it a try!




Krautdog said:


> Ok so I bought a Kong Star for him to forage his food out of and he was not interested in the slightest. Fastest return to Petsmart I have ever done LOL. I tried everything to perk his interest!


I have heard of a lot of people who like this a lot, but it looks too easy by default for my purposes - Lena would love the easy access to treats, though. 

A traditional kong is easy to make easy, and easy to make hard. Start it really easy, almost so that the treats/kibble just fall out without much effort - this should get your pup interested. And as he realizes that kong = super-awesome-tasty-things, start to make it harder to access them. (finding a treat they really love can also help to pique their interest in the beginning)



Jaythethird said:


> One that I have been recently doing with Oliver is another variation of leave it. I will spread a group of 5 - 6 kibbles widely on the floor. Then I will randomly tell him with ones are OK to eat. I stated out small but this past week we have gotten able to just point in the vicinity of which one is ok and he gets it. It's pretty fun for both of us as I can tell he is trying to guess which one I am going to let him have. I vary length of time overall and in between individual kibbles, randomly place them. The funnest one for me (when my little devil is on my shoulder) is when he has to step over one or two pieces to et the one he can have. I can see it in his eyes saying.. 'you son of a' .... Lol


Oooh, another good one that we haven't done. This is a good exercise to practice control, something Lena and I can always work on more!



Krautdog said:


> LOL Jay. I have to start hiding the kibbles in our living room before I let Alcide in due to him eating the little piles faster than I can hide them! He's geting the find it game and it's fun when he thinks hes found everything then I point to a kibble and **** ignore it acting like im just seeing things.


I always put Lena in another room while I hide her food, then I let the wild thing loose! (But we work on her sit-stay in the doorway, first.) 



MaggieRoseLee said:


> Love what KelsCook posted and I'd add --> http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...191183-top-training-expectations-puppies.html
> 
> There's more then enough there to keep you busy and your pup happy!


I've read through these more than once, and I always seem to get a little something new out of it. (Definitely a good resource to check out!)


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## Mesonoxian (Apr 5, 2012)

Listed below are some of the commercially available products I have used and had varying levels of success with. Please share any of your favorites, or anything that totally bombed.

Shopping online can be great $-wise, but if you have TJ Maxx or similar stores in your area, I suggest checking their pet area semi-regularly. We often find really good quality things for a great price. (See what you find!)







This is one of our two favorite treat balls, The bobble-action is fun, and having the adjustable opening is nice. I like that I can increase the difficulty by adjusting the opening. I actually give it to Lena with the door completely shut pretty often, she has no problem opening it on her own. 

Spent $4.00 (Wal Mart)
It has a capacity of over 2 Cups. (one-size-fits-all)


Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball

This is our other favorite - the one we use most often, actually. It took Lena a little longer to figure this one out completely, but now she'll roll it around until there is not one piece of kibble left. (And it's _very_ hard once there are less than 8-10 bits left.) 

Spent $6.00 (TJ Maxx)
Affectionately dubbed the 'moon,' this treat ball can easily hold more than 1 cup of kibble. (Large size)


Atomic Treat Ball

This is a medium-low level difficulty treat ball. Lena has no issue cleaning it out in around 1 minute. Her buddy Tevyeh (Shih Tzu) likes it better than her, and has a little harder time with it because he's smaller. (It also goes better on carpet than slippery floors) 

Spent $5.50 (TJ Maxx)
Capacity of over 1.5 cups. (Large size)


Kyjen Dog Puzzle - Kibble Drop

This is a pretty simple dog puzzle - not a bad choice for beginners. I think this is actually the first "real" dog puzzle I ever gave Lena. She thinks it's great!

Spent less than $3.00 (Second-hand)







This one doesn't hold very much at once, so it's great for treats, but not so awesome for meals. The screw-like attaching piece in the middle can also get clogged with treat dust and dog slime, which can make it a lot easier to open - so semi-regular cleaning is a good idea. Lena has/had moderate interest in this one, but her buddy Tevyeh gets much more use out of it. (and goes nuts for it)

Spent ~$10.00 (Local Pet Supply Store)


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## Krautdog (Sep 21, 2013)

So I bought Alcide a bowel called "the Drop" It was only 14$ at Pet Smart. It has a buch of grooves and lips in it that are supposed to make him forage. This little Chit head will only lick the top most kibble and then leave what takes work to eat LOL. I saw this green thing that looks like grass but its made out of hard plastic also has anyone tried this as a food bowl. They're both supposed to make them forage and slow down their eating.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

We play ball in the house when the weather is bad, I know it's a no no but Draco loves his ball!

We work on basic obedience, either they play tug-o-war together or I play with them, we've been doing dog puzzles, we use the Tug-A-Jug, chewing bones, we go to my mom's salon to socialize and we use the Everlasting Treatball, Kongs with treats in them and the Everlasting Fun Ball. I put a treat under a cup and move it around with other cups and see if he can find the cup with the treat.


I play 4 different "find it" games. 
1) I send my dog to another room while I create a scent trail with a soft, smelly treat (Wellness Wellbites) and then I have my dog come out and guide him through the scent trail. 
2) I put several shoes scattered in the living room and I put a treat in one of the shoes and then I have him sniff each shoe until he finds the treat and then he sits and I give him the treat (you can also use shoe boxes.)
3) I throw several treats in the yard and have him sniff them out.
4) I send him to another room and I hide and have him sniff me out.


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