“The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you
may make a fool of yourself with him, and not only will he not scold you, but
he will make a fool of himself, too.”
― Samuel Butler
With affection
comes play. We can’t resist it when it comes to our beloved pits. According to
the book by Pat Miller titled Play with
Your Dog, when we play with them, we are doing right by our dogs in more
ways than one. The benefits include exercise, training and modification of
unwanted behaviors. As many of you know, a tired pit bull is a well-behaved pit
bull.
My partner
and I, devoted parents that we are, make time every day to play with Dasher. He
is just so much happier and relaxed when we do! I highly recommend setting
aside 15 minutes every day with your pit. I know this doesn’t sound like much,
but it is a great start and you will see benefits immediately. The trick is
finding what motivates your dog and using that.
Dash loves his ball. Loves it!
We play fetch with him every night when we get home. The great thing about this
game is that it can be played inside. Through this form of play, we have
reinforced his ability to sit, stay and come. Because he does so well with
games that involve his precious ball, we have also taken to hiding it and
making him find it. Hide and Seek is another great game for two reasons: He
gets to use his mind and he gets some exercise. Try showing your dog an object
he is particularly attached to. Then, wrap it in a blanket and watch him try to
dig it out. Pit bulls are terriers, so this satisfies their natural desire to
seek out and recover prey.
Another form
of play that is perfectly acceptable is tug-of-war. You may have heard, as I
have, that you should never play this game with a “bully” breed. That is a
misconception. As long as you set guidelines for this game, you can add this to
your list. According to Miller, guidelines include:
- You start and end the game
- You win most of the time
- Only tug side-to-side
- Feel free to give time outs when your dog gets
too rough or excited
I
look forward to hearing how these methods work for you. Until then … Play
Ball!!
