I'm hoping you guys can help...

[Laurelin]

I'm here again, needing some advice. I posted on an all breed forum but seem short on ideas. Since you guys have some active/smart dogs maybe you can help?

 

So here's the dilemma. Summer is pretty high energy like all my papillons are. She's also very smart, but unlike the others she doesn't seem to enjoy toys at all. The other day I had a breakthrough. She brought me a bully stick, wagging her tail, and I threw it for her. She ran and got it and brought it back to me (good!). She seemed rather pleased with herself, then dropped it when I asked for it (good again) so I threw it again. My others love to play fetch. Well, when I did, she stopped wagging her tail. She looked at it, then looked over to me. I've never seen an expression quite like it, lol! It seemed like 'You moron! Why'd you do that, I just brought it to you!' Anyways, so she left and wouldn't go get it again.

 

Well, she loves to go places and needs exercise to settle down or she's all over the place. So we've been walking a few miles a day. However, a year ago I twisted my ankle badly then the other day it gave way again and I fell on it. I kept walking her, though. But yesterday I was walking and out of nowhere it gave again so I'm trying to stay off of it.

 

The problem? I can't walk her for a few days and she's already going crazy wanting out. I tried the dog park out of desperation but she didn't like the other dogs (loved the people). She ignored the playing dogs but went to sit in everyone's laps, lol. She wouldn't leave her heel position at my side so in order to get her to run/walk I'd still have to run.

 

So... she's bored and I need some ideas. She doesn't want to play with toys or with other dogs. My other four are good at entertaining themselves if need be.... or you can at least throw the tennis ball around for them. She's not interested one bit. Any ideas on what to do with her while I'm trying to get my ankle to heal?

[Fly2Dreamer]

I'm here again, needing some advice. I posted on an all breed forum but seem short on ideas. Since you guys have some active/smart dogs maybe you can help?

 

So here's the dilemma. Summer is pretty high energy like all my papillons are. She's also very smart, but unlike the others she doesn't seem to enjoy toys at all. The other day I had a breakthrough. She brought me a bully stick, wagging her tail, and I threw it for her. She ran and got it and brought it back to me (good!). She seemed rather pleased with herself, then dropped it when I asked for it (good again) so I threw it again. My others love to play fetch. Well, when I did, she stopped wagging her tail. She looked at it, then looked over to me. I've never seen an expression quite like it, lol! It seemed like 'You moron! Why'd you do that, I just brought it to you!' Anyways, so she left and wouldn't go get it again.

 

Well, she loves to go places and needs exercise to settle down or she's all over the place. So we've been walking a few miles a day. However, a year ago I twisted my ankle badly then the other day it gave way again and I fell on it. I kept walking her, though. But yesterday I was walking and out of nowhere it gave again so I'm trying to stay off of it.

 

The problem? I can't walk her for a few days and she's already going crazy wanting out. I tried the dog park out of desperation but she didn't like the other dogs (loved the people). She ignored the playing dogs but went to sit in everyone's laps, lol. She wouldn't leave her heel position at my side so in order to get her to run/walk I'd still have to run.

 

So... she's bored and I need some ideas. She doesn't want to play with toys or with other dogs. My other four are good at entertaining themselves if need be.... or you can at least throw the tennis ball around for them. She's not interested one bit. Any ideas on what to do with her while I'm trying to get my ankle to heal?

 

 

She sounds just like MY little dog

I'm not sure what the general opinions on using a treadmill are, but it might be worth a shot. I've considered it more than once.

Have you done any clicker training? Maybe some shaping games would be fun (think 101 Things To Do With A Box). Or maybe you could shape her to retrieve the bullystick

[ness_bc]

Sounds like mine - I did my ankle yesterday (badly sprained) as you know from my other thread. So far today I have to tolerate countless BC whinges as I have also been working from home to keep it up and rested. We did a session of article holding as I really need to work on some utility obedience with her. Not enough for her and she is just constant. She will get out to club on Wednesday evening as one of my friends is going to try handling her in preparation for the weekend.

[ness_bc]

Sounds like mine - I did my ankle yesterday (badly sprained) as you know from my other thread. So far today I have to tolerate countless BC whinges as I have also been working from home to keep it up and rested. We did a session of article holding as I really need to work on some utility obedience with her. Not enough for her and she is just constant. She will get out to club on Wednesday evening as one of my friends is going to try handling her in preparation for the weekend.

[juliepoudrier]

Laurelin,

Not about dog exercise per se, but I believe the current thinking is to be up and using a sprained ankle as soon as possible, so no real rest for you! Can you take her for walks somewhere with a flat surface (on sidewalks, etc.) where you are less likely to turn your ankle again? You could strap on a brace and try that.

 

Also, even though Summer doesn't like fetch, what about other types of training? If you can teach her a bunch of new tricks, it will wear her out mentally, and that should help too.

 

J.

[Laurelin]

Laurelin,

Not about dog exercise per se, but I believe the current thinking is to be up and using a sprained ankle as soon as possible, so no real rest for you! Can you take her for walks somewhere with a flat surface (on sidewalks, etc.) where you are less likely to turn your ankle again? You could strap on a brace and try that.

 

Also, even though Summer doesn't like fetch, what about other types of training? If you can teach her a bunch of new tricks, it will wear her out mentally, and that should help too.

 

J.

 

Yeah, I have an ankle brace I've been wearing. We still walk some but about a fourth the distance we usually do. The last time we were walking was a flat area on the sidewalk but I just so happened to hit an area where it was slightly uneven and that's what happened. We were about 3 miles in and not very far from the car, too! Yesterday we still went but I don't even think I made it a mile. I had to sit down halfway through as well.

 

We clicker train in short bouts throughout the day as well. I've only had her a few weeks so we're still getting used to each other. So far she can sit, stay, down, up, heel, all the basics. We've recently learned to spin, walk on her back legs, give a high five, and hit marks I've set on the ground. Someone gave me a link to a bunch of freestyle type tricks so we're going to try that now, I think. She's very new to clicker training but I think it's working well so far. I just need to be more creative to come up with things she can learn, lol!

[urge to herd]

For the doggie - a flirt pole ( stick with string tied to it and an enticing kind of toy, you move the stick around and make the toy jump, easy to rig up at home and might make a toy more interesting to her.)

- seated trick training. You're in a chair, doggie is on a leash, and you work on all the basics with her, then add cute tricks. It will wear her out mentally.

- if she has favorite human friends, invite them over for tea and sympathy.

 

For you, coming from the Queen of Foot Injuries. If you have any kind of health insurance, get yourself to a podiatrist. There may be something more going on than a simple sprain, and it's incredibly easy to re-injure. Keep your poor foot elevated when you're sitting, ice at least 3 times a day, and take whatever anti inflammatory works for you. I'd stay off it until I got a dr's opinion - if you're still twisting it while wearing the brace, the brace is not adequate.

 

I tried to 'work through' what turned out to be a permanent injury, I will have to wear a brace for the rest of my life. If I'd gotten myself treatment when I first injured myself, I'd have spared myself a lot of pain.

 

Good luck! Let us know how you get on.

 

Ruth n the BC3

[BustopherJones]

Annie also needs a great deal of exercise, and whereas I work during the day, the task of keeping Annie busy during the day falls to DW. Unfortunately, DW has mobility problems. We will not throw a tennis ball, so a Chuck-It is out. What DW uses is a lacrosse stick with a soft squeaky rubber ball. DW sits on the back porch and launches the ball quite a distance, varying the direction so that the ball sometimes goes directly to Annie, and sometimes lands at a point some distance from her. (Even with a tennis ball, the lacrosse stick gets mo9re distance than a Chuck-It.) DW does this 2 to 3 times a day (sometimes more), and keeps up each session until Annie tires and is ready to quit. This way, Annie gets lots of exercise, and DW does not have to endure the pain that would come with extensive walking.

[Samson]

Hello! just posted this message to someone who was looking for ways to get their BC to fetch. What I did to remedy the situation was I made a slit into a tennis ball so that you coul squeeze the ball to get a treat into it, but then when you released the pressure of the ball the hole closed and the treat would stay in the ball and when you threw it.

 

Put one of her favorite treats in the ball and close it up - make sure she smells the treat in the ball and get her excited about it before you throw it. When you do throw it, she'll be more inclined to pick it up since there's goodies in there and then praise her to come back to you. Do this a couple of times and even reward her with a treat the 1st couple of times she brings it back to you. After she gets the hang of it you won't have to use treats and you'll have a fun and simple way to tire your BC out.

 

I was very suprised how short of a time it took Samson to fetch and return the ball to me. It took him about an hour to learn fetch wtih this technique. Good luck and get better!

Brian

[Laurelin]

yeah, my ankle's still not doing much better. I hurt it on Saturday and it's now weds.... I guess I should buckle down and go in to the doctor. I really don't want to. I'm pretty bad about that.

 

Summer is doing well. We've ben clicker training more lately. I talked a friend into walking her every other day so she's not too cooped up. (the poor thing)

 

Thanks so much though! I got so many more ideas here than anywhere else. You guys are very helpful.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

For you, I second (uh, third?) the doctor idea. Way Not Cool that you are still rolling it while it's braced. Just remind yourself that while the doctor is not so fun, surgery is even less so (I have screws in one of my ankles - six week recovery and it's still, years later, unstable).

 

Hee! We Border Collie people, like our dogs, are bossy folks, aren't we?

 

This is a good opportunity to shape a retrieve. There's lots of good articles out there on the web - and some videos, too! One approach that I've found very useful to get some of the more, let's say, clever dogs, to retrieve (sometimes too smart for their own good - don't see the point, as you say, of bringing something back you just threw!): try handing an item to your dog, then reinforcing the "give". Rinse, repeat, and put a name to the behavior. Then move to setting it on the ground. From there, there are many ways to shape a retrieve with M/R (mark, reward) type approaches, or luring, or many other methods.

 

Here's some samples - google clicker training retrieve for more:

 

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/LA/bregman1.htm

Shirley Chong's web site breaks it down very precisely, but it is focused on preparation for competitive obedience. However, it's all positive and it's cool to have a more mechanical retrieve available for later tricks (like "Achoo!" - dog fetches a Kleenex - or carrying a basket, very cute for a tiny dog!).

Here's some videos of the Shirley Chong method, as applied by a (casual?) Schutzhund trainer. I haven't looked at these videos so I don't know how good they are!

 

If she is sound and mature enough to handle jumping, set up a jump or series of jumps in doorways or down a hallway. I do broomsticks/mophandles threaded through chairs or propped on boxes and with towels draped over them - but they do have inexpensive jump sets now (Oriental Trading Company has one). You can also get those cheap tunnels they have at toy stores, and now some pet stores stock these as well.

 

Good luck!

[Laurelin]

For you, I second (uh, third?) the doctor idea. Way Not Cool that you are still rolling it while it's braced. Just remind yourself that while the doctor is not so fun, surgery is even less so (I have screws in one of my ankles - six week recovery and it's still, years later, unstable).

 

Hee! We Border Collie people, like our dogs, are bossy folks, aren't we?

 

This is a good opportunity to shape a retrieve. There's lots of good articles out there on the web - and some videos, too! One approach that I've found very useful to get some of the more, let's say, clever dogs, to retrieve (sometimes too smart for their own good - don't see the point, as you say, of bringing something back you just threw!): try handing an item to your dog, then reinforcing the "give". Rinse, repeat, and put a name to the behavior. Then move to setting it on the ground. From there, there are many ways to shape a retrieve with M/R (mark, reward) type approaches, or luring, or many other methods.

 

Here's some samples - google clicker training retrieve for more:

 

http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/LA/bregman1.htm

Shirley Chong's web site breaks it down very precisely, but it is focused on preparation for competitive obedience. However, it's all positive and it's cool to have a more mechanical retrieve available for later tricks (like "Achoo!" - dog fetches a Kleenex - or carrying a basket, very cute for a tiny dog!).

Here's some videos of the Shirley Chong method, as applied by a (casual?) Schutzhund trainer. I haven't looked at these videos so I don't know how good they are!

 

If she is sound and mature enough to handle jumping, set up a jump or series of jumps in doorways or down a hallway. I do broomsticks/mophandles threaded through chairs or propped on boxes and with towels draped over them - but they do have inexpensive jump sets now (Oriental Trading Company has one). You can also get those cheap tunnels they have at toy stores, and now some pet stores stock these as well.

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks! We've been jumping a bit- she looooves it. I'm *supposed* to be starting agility in a two weeks with her, but I may be benched, lol. She loves it. She's much more interested in that than fetch. I can get her to go touch the ball but still haven't gotten her to pick it up. Any tips?

 

I'll look more at that site to try to shape a good retrieve. If we're going to get very far with obedience, we'll need it! I've just never had a dog so uninterested in toys or anything before.....

 

It said to look at her mouth- she does need a dental- which she's scheduled to get in May. Little dogs tend to get nasty tartar buildup.