Boredom Blues

The past year and a half, between work and school, I've been away from my home most days for at least twelve hours (if I'm lucky). No one has suffered more than my pups and boy have they let me know! The past week or so (probably going on 2 weeks now) I have come home to my pups having torn up something new. Mostly it's been trash (like my nice new box of Kleenex that I forgot to put up) or bags of treats that weren't hidden very well from my dogs' super sniffers, but sometimes they find things like my favorite lip gloss that fell out of my purse one morning. Now I know I can't blame them for this type of behavior. Blame lies solely on me for not exercising them properly. I failed my pups by not walking them like I should and by not doing training sessions like I should. I keep promising myself and them that they will get me back soon and that we can go walking, hiking, swimming and training. I keep thinking that on my only day off that we will go out and go hiking along my favorite trail, but it seems mother nature has a different plan because it is always raining on those days I plan to go.

This leads me into what seems like the number one reason people seek my help. And that is destructive behavior (chewing, digging, destroying, etc). I can't keep track of the number of times I've heard "fluffy keeps chewing my (insert random item)" or "Fido won't stop shredding the (rug, towels, paper, etc)" or even "Rover keeps digging out (or jumping over) my fence." Usually that is why people seek me out when they come into my store. They don't know why their dog is destroying everything or won't stay in their yard no matter what they try. The answer to this is very simple: They are bored and need to exert some energy.

Most people come to me and want the fix all cure for this type of behavior. And the best part of this behavior is that there is a (mostly) fix all cure! Walk your dog more! The first question I always ask in these situation is "how often do you walk your dog?" The answers vary from never to once a week, or not enough. Most of the time if you can walk your dog for about 15 min at the minimum you will start to kick boredom in the butt.

However, it seems that I am always met with resistance on this answer. I get excuse after excuse. Because of where I live the most common excuse I hear is "We live on (5,10,40,80,etc) acres and the dog has access to all of the land." People just don't get why their dog is so destructive even though they have all this land to run on. I heard the most beautiful explanation/comparison from a fellow trainer:  "Imagine you live in this big, beautiful glass mansion. You have all the room you want inside the house and can go anywhere you want in it. The only stipulation is you cannot step a foot outside. So you can see what's out there, but you cannot go outside for any reason. Eventually you will get cabin fever won't you? (insert yes answer here) This is exactly what your dog is facing. He may have all that land to run on, but he's seen it all and he's done it all and he's bored with it just like you would be in the house." Walks are extremely important, not only because they give the dogs (and us) physical exercise needed, but also because they give the dogs the mental stimulation they desperately need. Walks can also help bond dogs who are just meeting each other or even don't like each other. Walking is an important aspect of being a pet parent.

Now if your dogs are like mine a simple walk will help but not completely stop the problem. When I first adopted my newest dog, Sadie, we walked at least 6 miles a day for the first 3 months. This was because she had so much pent up energy from being in a kennel that she needed to get out. We cut it down to 2 miles every other day, but the past year and a half that seems like an impossible task. You see I live in a different city than I worked at and went to school at so I had been commuting between 2 and 3 hours a day, so right now we are lucky if we get in a half mile walk a week. That means I have to find other ways to relieve their boredom while I'm away. A great tool for this has been puzzle toys.

I bought my first puzzle toy a few years ago, before they became so popular. I found a great deal on a Nina Ottosson toy on the internet and bought it for my littlest dog. I was in love after that point and when I could find a new or different one at a great deal I would snatch it up to check it out. Now we have a collection of kongs, puzzle feeders, treat balls, and anything similar to all of these.

When I was working and taking Sadie with me most days, I would feed Pyrate by giving him his kibble in a puzzle toy that day. It kept his mind working and he was a whole lot less destructive. Puzzle Toys provide mental stimulation for dogs and provide an outlet for destructive behavior. Kongs can be stuffed with whatever you want and you can put it in the freezer for teething puppies. You can find all kind of recipes for kongs here. I usually put some kibble and mix it with pumpkin or yogurt and then seal it with peanut butter and freeze it. My pups go crazy for theirs!

These always provide hours of fun for my dogs and they help keep them distracted when I need to study or work without the pups' help. I have even discovered a toy for Pyrate's horrible separation anxiety! We found a treat ball that I could record my voice on so every time he would roll it he would get a food reward and could hear me talking to him. He would roll it just to hear my voice!  There are different types and different difficulty levels, so there is usually one for every dog out there.