Help! What To Do On A Rainy Day?!

[Dlilly]

HELP! It's raining my dog is crazy! What are some games I can do with him? And please don't say 'teach him tricks', I can't do that all day….

I can play fetch with him inside, but after 5 minutes he will lose interest. I MUST keep him entertained, when he gets bored he gets into trouble. And he gets bored easily.

I've been asking other people, and all they say is 'teach him some tricks'.

 

[Mr-Remington]

You can have him "search and rescue" You can hide toys, treats, or even yourself around the house and have him find the object. My puppy loves to play it when we can't go out. I'll see if I can think of anything else.

 

[MissyBC]

Do you have a crate for him?

If you feel like you need a break, put him pleasantly in his crate and go do something for yourself. Come back to your puppy later when you feel like playing with him again. Don't forget to randomly reward him for being quiet in his crate. Teach him that being away from you isn't a bad thing. Do 'Susan Garret's Crate Games' to help teach him impulse control.

I was in the same situation many times when it was raining and Missy was a young pup. When I put her away in the mudroom (her crate), she settled down and went to sleep.

I hope this helps!

 

[648117]

Trick training doesn't really tire Holly out either, I'd have to train her for 2 hours straight or something to make her tired (and I think she could probably concentrate for that long too, she has scarily good concentration when learning things). Holly doesn't really fetch either.

The game that I've found tires Holly out the most (other than playing with the cat) is sniffing games. At obedience class we are starting to teach the scented cloth retrieve. We have started by just putting a treat under a square of material and letting the dog find it and then adding more squares without treats so the dog has to sniff out the one with the treat. Holly loves this game and has gotten way better at using her nose (I think she mostly used her eyes to find things before and couldn't find randomly hidden treats).
It is a calm game and Holly is usually pretty happy afterwards and finds it way easier to relax after this game then after trick training or other more energetic games. She even asks to play this game sometimes.

So you could try doing some scent games and then giving Rory a chew to settle down with.

Being groomed and then getting a chew/kong also relaxes Holly but I guess Rory has a short coat so that might not work so well.

 

[MaryK]

Although Ra Kismet loves rain, sometimes it's just too heavy for walks/play so to prevent him bouncing off the walls and ceilings I first, groom him, even though he's got a medium type coat with mostly guard hairs, I still s-t-r-e-t-c-h out the grooming session. I have a small, tennis size ball, which he is allowed to have inside and we play a 'quiet game' I sit on the sofa and he drops the ball into my lap/hand. Then I very gently throw the ball into his mouth, this will keep him amused for quite a while, or until one of my cat's invites him to play chase. Which is not allowed. I also give him a treat stuffed Kong, again this will keep his quiet for a while. Must say I do like the idea of 'scent' games, will try those next time it's raining too hard to go outside.

 

[Dioritt]

Love the scent game. Alfie always seems to use his eyes rather than his nose when he's finding things so hiding them hasn't worked well for us at all, but I think the pieces of cloth would be a good way to teach him to use his nose instead.

I've taught Alf to differentiate between toys so when he wants to play fetch (which he loves and could play for hours) I tell him to find a particular toy. That can take a while, depending on how many toys are out at the time. We do a few throws with that one then I ask for a different toy. I find this tires him more easily as he has to use mental energy as well as physical energy. I started with just differentiating between two of his favourite toys then gradually worked up from there.

 

[jackienmutts]

We do the sport of K9 Nosework, and so routinely I do lots of hides in the house (and outside - and of course we go to different locations too -- but in bad weather, we just work in the house). Doing searches is a wonderful way to "exercise" a dog mentally. And - it's fun!

Start simply - hide something in a really simple spot and ask Rory to find it. When he does, YEA!! Do it again, make the first few times really simple - so that 1), he 'gets' the game, and 2)he easily finds his reward (and hide something he really loves - or, give him a little treat when he finds whatever you're hiding. Then start hiding 'it' a bit harder and harder, and let him go. As the hides get harder, and he really has to search using only his nose, he will get tired. They go into true 'hunt' mode, it takes them back to basics - and they do get tired. I'll do ~10 searches with each of mine (using essential oils) and they both just come flop for a while when they're finished.

Long before we got into Nosework, I used to play "find it" with my old boy Sherman. He was obsessed with his tennis ball and carried it everywhere with him. He'd bug me around 9pm when I was relaxing, reading or watching tv - so I started playing "find it" with him (cuz I sure wasn't going to go play ball!). I found he LOVED searching for his tennis ball! I'd hide it all over the place, and he'd search and search. We'd play ~10 times, and he'd finally go lay down, pooped! We did it almost every single night for years. Try it - you might like it.

 

[Mutt]

I would teach him to settle, even working breeds/dogs have to settle and should't be active 24/7.
You also have a life besides rory
As for braintraining: I can only agree with the others on the nosework.
But since rory is a kelpie, herding lessons might be an idea? Or treibball? Since these anticipate on him being a herding breed.