Winter blues

Remember during the winter your dog still needs some stimulation to keep from getting on your nerves. These should be both exercise and mental actives to do with your dog during the cold season. If you still walk your dog outside, make sure to rinse their feet off when you come home, between the pads can collect ice or chemical salt and the pads can become dry too. If it’s cold for you it might be too cold to them, watch for winter warnings before long periods outside.

Mekos loves to shove his whole head in the snow to sniff.

If you don’t like walking outside and your dog likes fetch try playing up and down stairs in your home, this way the dog has to work harder to get that ball or toy and back to you. My dogs will also do tricks or obedience between each throw, so making your dog do something to get what they want is never a bad idea. Although they might be a little excited at first you can get them to think while they are excited that’s even better.

Play hide and seek with your dog by putting them on a stay and calling them once you’ve hidden in a different room, or if you have many people tell them to ‘find mommy’ or ‘find daddy’ and see if they can make it to the correct people. Remember to play or treat them once they found you so that they will be reinforced for the behavior.

Mekos's first winter, he loved to find anything buried in the snow.

I also like to train a hard trick that can be done inside. This can be something useful as ‘Put away your toys’ or as cute as ‘break dance’. Find a trick online and think of a way to break it down and make many simple steps that you can work on bit by bit before adding them all together. Remember though only try tricks that your dog is capable of doing; you can’t teach a cow to climb a tree nor can you expect your dog to open or pick up something they can’t lift.