Does your puppy seem to have endless energy? Maybe you have a Belgian Malinois or Border Collie puppy who wants to play all day long. Enrichment activities can keep your puppy mentally and ph ysically stimulated, which will prevent them from getting too bored or restless while also giving them some exercise. This can be hard to do in Sarasota during the summer months when it is hot and humid. In this blog, we will discuss a list of physical activities on how to tire out your high energy puppy. But first, let’s discuss why enrichment is important.
Enrichment helps stave off boredom
Enrichment is the act of enhancing or improving the value or quality of something. It’s important to keep your puppy stimulated through physical enrichment activities so they stay engaged and entertained throughout the day. Without enough mental and physical stimulation, a puppy may get bored and look for ways to burn off energy in destructive ways. This could include your puppy chewing up your socks, ripping up your carpet, or pulling out your pillow stuffing all over your bed.
Physical enrichment
Playful and socially stimulating environments can be great ways to exercise and tire out your puppy. Let’s discuss some fun ways to tire out your high energy puppy through physical enrichment.
Dog Parks
You’ve probably noticed that your puppy is exhausted after making some new friends and running around at a dog park. There are plenty of dog parks in Sarasota County for you to take your fully vaccinated puppy out to. These include:
Fetch is a fun way to burn off some energy
If your puppy doesn’t know how to play fetch, or you would like to learn how to teach your puppy fetch, you can check out our detailed blog on “Teaching Your Puppy to Fetch Using Positive Reinforcement“.
Hide and Seek can keep your puppy engaged
Many puppies love to play hide and seek, which encourages them to stay in your line of sight. To help teach your puppy to play hide and seek, you can:
- Practice calling their name while you are visible in another room. When your puppy comes over to you, act very excited and reward them through praise and a treat.
- After you have done this a few times, start hiding in easy to find places, such as in the corner of the room.
- You should wait until your puppy becomes distracted, then start the game over. This helps encourage your puppy to come to you, even with distractions around.
You should bring along some of your puppy’s favorite treats as a reward. To further encourage them to try to find you.
Taking your puppy out for a hike
Hikes are a great way to spend quality time with your puppy, get some exercise, and practice obedience training, such as leash walking and socialization skills. Sarasota has some great hiking trails, including Red Bug Slough Preserve in South Sarasota, Celery Fields in East Sarasota, Bayfront Park in Central Sarasota, and the Legacy Trail that connects Sarasota to Venice along an old railway track.
Digging through a sandbox
Does your puppy like to dig? A sandbox is great for puppies to make a mess and burn off some energy. You can bury some of your dog’s favorite toys in the sandbox to encourage them to play.
Fill up a plastic kiddie pool
You can fill up a cheap plastic kiddie pool with water and let your dog splash around. This is perfect for those hot and humid Sarasota summers.
Playing with a flirt pole
A flirt pole is a long pole with a toy lure attached at the end. You can play with your dog by moving it around and having them chase and grab it.
Training is a great way to burn off some energy
Another great way to burn off some energy is through training. You can teach almost any obedience command in your home, including stay, place, wait, come, sit, down, and leave it.
You can also use behavior modification, such as:
- Addressing your puppy jumping on others by teaching an autosit
- Introducing your puppy to appropriate toys to address play biting and chewing.
Do you have any dog training questions or concerns about your dog’s behavior? Beyond the Dog Sarasota offers personalized obedience and behavior modification training for your unique needs. You can contact our Pet Behavior Team for a free consultation and receive a personalized recommendation.
All of our training programs are taught through private sessions through in-home training, a board and train program or through a virtual training program. Each training plan developed by our co-founder and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Dr. Kristyn Echterling-Savage.
