Toys & Play
A good play session has some effort in the middle and a calm finish. For dogs, start with indoor games for dogs for cold, dark or rainy days, and toys for dogs who destroy toys to match toys to how your dog chews.
For cats, how long to play with a cat sets out short daily sessions that end with a catch and a snack. No toy is indestructible, so supervise play and retire a toy once it splits or loses pieces. The toys mentioned are in dog and cat toys.
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How-to
How to Use a Dog Enrichment Tube: Tug, Treats and Snuffling in One
Multi-mode enrichment toys get abandoned because the first attempt is too hard. This walks through the first session, how to load one so a dog succeeds, how to raise the difficulty over weeks, and what to do with a dog who gives up quickly.
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How-to
How to Teach a Dog to Catch: From Treat Tosses to a Soft Toy
Does your dog let the treat bounce off their nose? Start with slow tosses from about two feet, pick up every miss so catching is the only way to win, and keep sessions short. Then move up to a soft toy, with fixes for dogs who flinch, jump or grab and the safety rules for low tosses.
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How-to
How to Teach a Dog to Fetch, Even One Who Won’t Bring It Back
Teach fetch from zero: choose a toy your dog can carry, start with short hallway throws, make the return the best part of the game and teach a drop without a tug-of-war. Then move outside on a long line, with breaks and water on hot days.
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How-to
How to Teach Your Dog the Names of Toys, One Toy at a Time
A step-by-step naming game: one favorite toy and one name, then household distractions, a second toy and a real choice between two. See what to realistically expect, how to tell whether your dog knows the word or is reading you, and how to fix guessing and favorite-grabbing.
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How-to
How to Keep a Dog Busy While Working From Home: A Workday Plan
A workday plan for dogs whose people work from home: exercise before the first call, a bed beside the desk, a settle cue, quiet lick-mat jobs for meetings, short breaks, a calm fix for demand barking and practice at time apart.
