Activities for children and dogs to do together

              credit to photographer 

This blog is written to help you parents of both children and dogs these are some activities that are based for your children and your family dog to do together – please read on to find activities for children and dogs to do together.

You have been so busy you haven’t even had time to have a wee in the last 4 hours, it is a Saturday and you still have the whole house to clean which looks like a tornado has whipped through it and then you hear those dreaded words from your children … “I’m Bored”. You say something like why don’t you all play out in the garden – but you know deep down that this is not going to wash as an idea, that they can sense that you have just relied on the old go play out in the garden line that you always fall back on . That there is no way they are going to say ”what a wonderful idea Mum, you are so amazing” whilst running out in to the garden  singing your praises , leaving  you to clean the house

 

They are looking for more from you and before you have even pressed the on button on the Hoover the little angels start the bored routine – jumping on the sofa, fighting with each other until one ends up crying and running around the house hitting each other with anything to hand – empty toilet rolls, socks and towels were always a favourite in our house.

Then you see your dog lying in its bed waiting for something exciting to happen like the appearance of the lead or food bowl…now you feel guilty that you haven’t walked the dog yet or spent much time with her. So two lots of guilt, bored children and bored dog – it is time to come up with a plan. Games for both children and dogs to do together.

Encouraging and building a trusting, respectful and bonding relationship between your children and your family dog is vital for your dogs well-being and health, it also teaches your children so many life skills. It is important that your children know how to treat their dog with respect and care and that they have the tools  to give their dog direction and commands that your dog follows.

One way to do this is to use fun activities that both your children and dog can to do together.

Hopefully this list of activities will help

1. Treasure hunt

This needs a bit of fore thought, but worth the bit of effort– go and hide little treats for your children ( in little Tupperware boxes , so your dog doesn’t eat them by accident), Easter is coming  up why not do it with little Easter eggs and a treat for your dog around the garden – write clues indicating where the treats are on pieces of paper  folded in half and put in a jar.

One child reads the clue and calls the dog to her/his side – gives the command to sit and  gives her a small treat to get her interested in the game.

The children will take it in turns to go outside to find the treat following the directions on the clue – the child that reads the clue is the one who is in charge of the dog and calls the dog to looks for the treat, do this by pointing under things for your dog to look, voice tone (e.g excited tone when asking the dog to sniff in a certain places, a normal tone if telling the dog that the treat is not there). The rest of the group sits down and supports the child looking for the treat by giving ideas where the treat might be.

Once the treat have been found they can start again – another child can choose the clue from the jar – now it is the turn of that child to be charge of the dog – starting the process with giving the dog a small treat again.

This could be done on the time trial basis – see which child can do a clue the fastest, the children who are not looking for the clue can not help but instead time each other.

 

2.  Join the Junior Kennel Club

This is a club based with the Kennel Club and has amazing things for your child to do with their dog – If I was a child I would have loved to have been part of this club. It is only fifteen pounds for the year, and for that you gets loads.

Read their Blurb from the Kennel Club Website

“Members receive FREE tickets for Crufts and Eukanuba Discover Dogs, access to our dog training days, entry to our great competitions and events, so there are always opportunities to make new friends – furry or not!

Click here to visit The Junior Kennel Club

 

So back to some more activities for children and dogs

So if it is raining outside and your children need to do a quieter activity why not get them writing, how about a blog…stay with me on this,

3. As a librarian and avid writer I would like invite your children to send a blog post to be added on Yoga Dogs.

I love to have dog stories on my blog page so…

Why not get your children to write a blog post and tell them that it will be put on the internet for others to read.

They can write about anything dog related – it needs to be one piece of A4 or shorter in length – include a photo or photos (  no photos of the child writing needs to be sent, as I know a lot of parents do not want photos of their children on the internet) so think dog photos, action shots, holiday snaps – get the idea.

This piece needs to be written on a Word Doc so I can transfer it to my site – with a bit about the Author, how old and about their dog and a contact email so I can let you know when the post is added.

Ideas for blog posts;

• A holiday they have been on and what they did with their dog, was the holiday destination a good choice for their dog, what places were good with dogs and what were not dog friendly, good walks they could share with others.
• A dog training blog – how they have trained their dog to do something including instructions so others can try
• A recipe for dog healthy treats
• A fiction story where the main character is a dog

Send their finished blog post to me [email protected] and leave a comment under this post to let me know that you have submitted a post.

 

4. Hide and Seek

In this game one of your children is in charge and tells your dog to ’stay’. Either that child or one of the others goes and hides with a dog treat in their hand – tell them not to hide in a really hard place the first few times so your dog can learn what she needs to do in the game. Give the dog the command ‘find’ and send them off to look.

When they have hidden they call the dog’s name about three times and they then do not say anything to give the dog time to work out where to find them. Each time they play this game they need to hide in harder and harder places to really challenge the dog.

This is great training for your dog and soon you will be able to hide the dog treat without someone holding it – you can then move on to hiding a toy by showing your dog a toy and then without the dog seeing hide the toy and give the dog a command like ‘find’ to start the game

5. Write a book

You will need some paper, folded in the middle to make a blank book, pens and a camera / phone camera and colouring pens – put supplies on a table with chairs around.

Ask the children to write a story called ‘My adventures with(Your dog’s name). Tell them they need to come up with a make-believe adventure that they have been on with their dog.

How about;

Me and my dog went into space

Me and my dog had to find who stole the towns gold

Me and my dog stepped into another world

Me and my dog got into our time machine that we had hidden in our bedroom and ended up in the year…..

Once your children have an idea it is time to make the book cover,  give them some books to look at so they get an idea what needs to be on the cover – such as a catchy title, authors name and picture of the story – make it special for them to write their story -writing to me is everything and maybe this could be the start of your child’s writing journey – Often the relationship between your dog and child is very strong – often they have grown up together so for your child to write a story their dog will be a great start to a journal that can develop as they get older and add to it – I love the look of the Diary of an Awesome kid as a keepsake type of journal. 

Now it is time to leave them to write their story – they need to write on one side of the folded paper and the other side is to put a picture on or a pencil note of the sort of photo they would like.

When they have written the story it is time to make the pictures they want to put in – they can do this by photographing the dog. I would suggest watching the dog carefully as he or she goes about their daily business as opportunities for snaps will present themselves – or if the dog is in the mood they can try and set up scenes, remember to make these photo shoots fun and rewarding for the dog.  ( It is important to explain to your children that your dog is not a professional model and so may not pose in the way they want and to never to force your dog to do anything they are not happy doing ) tell them they could have a page for outtakes !

You will now have to upload the photos onto the computer and get them printed – either with the use of your own printer or you can always find great deals online to get them sent to you printed ( it is kind of fun to get you photos through the post ) – Try Super Snaps, get your photos printed and to help with the cost I am offering you 10% off when you click the link below ! 

10% OFF Super Snaps – Promo Code SUPER10

Once you have the photos get them to stick them into their books – time to read their finished product.

Hope you enjoyed the above activities, please feel free to add your activities in the comments – we can all do with ideas sometimes to help our day go that little more smoothly and it is amazing to see your children and dogs play side by side.