What is your dog's play style?
Does your dog like to play with toys? Chase games? With other dogs? Or maybe not at all?
For many dogs, play comes naturally. For others, particularly for anxious or easily over-aroused dogs, we can teach them to play.
When we play and when our dogs play, our bodies are practicing how to get out of scary situations without all the cortisol and stress that comes with an actual fight or flight situation.
Here is a video of J playing with a toy. She LOVES LOVES LOVES ripping apart toys to find the squeaker. This is a natural game for many dogs that meets their prey drives without involving the neighbourhood bunnies or squirrels.
Here is another video or Riker playing with me using kibble. He's not much of a toy guy except for certain situations when he feels very safe.
And here's another one of us playing chase games using treats in the field.
Play is a skill we can all learn =)
Whether your dog is too worried, or too excited (do they hump or nip??), all dogs can learn to play and all dogs benefit from play.
Play builds:
- Confidence
- Enthusiasm
- Partnership
- Impulse Control
- Arousal Regulation
If you want to learn more, shoot me a message or check out the on-line Deep Dive =) Play isn't just good for the dogs!