Creative ideas to keep shelter dogs busy

2757 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Purple-Hops, Mar 25, 2011

Kendalle

Discussion Starter · Mar 18, 2011

I work at a shelter, and they want every department to be responsible for keeping the dogs busy one month of the year. And i need ideas.

Next month the vet techs are going to freeze peanut butter in kongs for them so no kong ideas.

Also i don't like the idea of hiding treats in newspaper or boxes as i don't want dogs returned for destroying papers and boxes in their new home.

My ideas so far are asking local grocery stores for raw bones from their butchers so each dog could have a knuckle bone or ham bone to keep busy chewing all day. and possibly having them frozen since my month is may or june. so it will be warm.

I was also thinking of maybe having something tied on a rope over their kennel that they will have to get down like some sort of doggy pinata but i don't know if that is really practical

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DOGtor X

· #2 · Mar 18, 2011

If it will be warm out, what about an inflatable pool so they can go swimming? Or teach them different tricks?

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Sasami

· #3 · Mar 18, 2011

There are other puzzle toys out there but I'm not sure what you have available. Balls that dispense treats are usually inexpensive and keep dogs busy. It's also an easy puzzle to figure out. For more "advanced" dogs, the tug-a-jug and bob-a-lot are good toys. Those keep my dog busy for hours sometimes

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Raw frozen bones sound like a good idea, though

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Zylca

· #4 · Mar 18, 2011

hrm... how about freezing kibble in some water and serving that up for dinner. They will have to find out how many licks it takes to get to the center. It won't cost anything other than the additional prep time.

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Kendalle

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 18, 2011

DOGtor X said:
If it will be warm out, what about an inflatable pool so they can go swimming? Or teach them different tricks?

i am talking about in their kennels, we have baby pools for in the summer, no inflatable ones though they would kill those in under a min.

Sasami said:
There are other puzzle toys out there but I'm not sure what you have available. Balls that dispense treats are usually inexpensive and keep dogs busy. It's also an easy puzzle to figure out. For more "advanced" dogs, the tug-a-jug and bob-a-lot are good toys. Those keep my dog busy for hours sometimes .

Raw frozen bones sound like a good idea, though .

I was hoping for something really cheap hehe, we are asking for puzzle toys though too.

Zylca said:
hrm... how about freezing kibble in some water and serving that up for dinner. They will have to find out how many licks it takes to get to the center. It won't cost anything other than the additional prep time.

I was thinking about that, getting ice cream containers and freezing food in them, i'm not sure if we have enough freezer space though.

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Mastie

· #6 · Mar 25, 2011

I got this idea from another website. You can hide treats/ toys in a sandbox and get them to dig it out. I do it with the snow since there is so much of it. I only started yesterday but he seemed to enjoy looking for them. And I did a bunch of them in different places so it keeps him guessing. You can also try toys/ treats that they haven't had or seen before so they don't lose interest.

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Purple-Hops

· #7 · Mar 25, 2011

If there is not enough freezer space at the shelter, maybe the volunteers can use their freezers from home?

Anyway, my idea would be a cardboard box or blanket fort. Maybe that's impractical and especially for limited kennel space. Frozen bones are a good idea, I don't know about volunteers' time commitment or anything but just exercise and socialise in a field until they are physically tired might help. It will activate their cortex and make them more manageable. Then take them back and kennel them with a frozen water bottle and/or knuckle bone. ^^

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