Teaching your dog new skills for growth should be a major priority for any dog owner.
As your dog grows from being a puppy into his formative years as an adult dog, he will come to adapt to the world around him by learning these new skills. As a dog owner, it is up to you to help with his skill training and mental growth. There are many fun brain games on the market to help with his learning of new skills. Read on in this article to discover these fun brain games for dogs that will encourage and elevate your dog’s learning ability and mental capacity in a fun, gentle manner.
Use Food Dispensing Toys
What a great way to teach your dog a fun brain game by teaching him how to identify food dispensing toys. Teach your dog about each one of these items and have him pick out the item as it comes out of the food dispenser. This teaches your dog recognition and keeps him alert should a guest or intruder come into your home. You may want to purchase different colors for the toys so that he learns to identify by object and by color.
Hide and Seek
Bring back an old game that you played as a child and taught to your children. Playing Hide and Seek teaches your dog to use his intuition for locating things. He will have to use his keen sniffing abilities and his brain to find you. Let him sniff a piece of your clothing to get your scent and then hide somewhere around the house, either outside or inside for him to discover where you are. He will develop sharp skills that he can use in other areas. Your dog will continue to work on finding you at every turn.
Play With a Tennis Ball
Use a tennis ball to teach your dog how to step and fetch the ball. Ensure that you are in a closed area, so that the ball does not go too far. Throw your tennis ball a little ways into the grass and watch your dog go after it. Just like magic, he will bring the tennis ball back to you. Watch your dog’s face glow with pride as he learns to fetch the tennis ball and bring it back to you.
Find a Treasure
This fun brain game requires a more advanced skill level of learning for your dog. Show your dog about 5 items as a hidden treasure. Walk with him around the back yard to show him where you have hidden the treasure items. Now sit back and watch him find each item. Your dog is learning a new skill and he is improving his attention level along with how to locate items around the house.
Dog Puzzles
Dog puzzles are one of the best ways to stimulate your dog’s brain. There are many interactive dog puzzles on the market that will teach your dog new skills that he can apply to everyday life. Technology has advanced so much that these interactive dog puzzles will even intrigue you as his owner.
A New Trick
Teach your dog a new trick to help with stimulating his brain. Fido can learn how to roll over, bring a newspaper, find the remote or your slippers, pick up a towel off the floor or a myriad of other things. Learning a new skill will give your dog more confidence, and a confident dog will do anything for his owner.
Toy Name Game
Play the toy name game with your best friend. He will learn new words to recognize and identify with an object. Choose items that are very different like a newspaper, slipper, children, bowl, food, etc. He will learn how to identify each object by the way it looks. A dog must be taught about the people and things that are around him on a daily basis. This allows him to be more comfortable in your home and feel like a part of the family.
How to Return Toys
When it seems like your dog’s toys are all over the house, teach him how to return all of his toys to a specified box in an area in your home. Show your dog how all of the toys are placed into the box. Then scatter his toys all over your home. Try to keep everything in one room so that your dog will not have too far to go to pick up his toys. Show him one by one how to bring the toys and place them into his box. He will quickly learn how to clean up his play area while leaving you with a cleaner home.
These are just a few great tips on how to increase your dog’s mental capacity through fun brain games. While some of these games like Hide and Seek are more traditional games that you played as a child, all of these fun brain games work to increase new skill level training with your furry best friend.
You may want to try each game to see which one your dog adapts to better. Either way, your dog will begin to learn new skills that will help to increase his mental capacity, while making him more confident and comfortable in your home.