Rainy day dogs

Is he a rainy day dog? Well if that means he is like rainy day people, he is.

You know Gordon Lightfoot and rainy day people. Or you are not as old as me, OK. Well. As per his song-

“Rainy day people always seem to know when you’re feeling blue”

My dog does that for sure.

He reads my moods. Blue, black, purple, green, yellow, orange all colours.

For that he is a rainy day dog.

 

Yet, on a day like it is today here, pouring rain and gloomy October day, he is not.

No, he is not a rainy day dog.

He has to be dragged out in the rain. I put a coat on him, but he still wants to turn around and go home. I don’t blame him, but he has to have a walk.

He is an active dog that usually gets 2 to 3 hours exercise in walking and or playing a day.

And if he does not get it, he makes me pay.

 

I guess it is my fault it is raining.

He has a big stuffed bunny he tosses around on days like this.

There it goes now. This does amuse him.

 

I wish there was an indoor playground for dogs.

 

Well, in Toronto

There is at Doggie Central. You can bring your dog and play in their indoor play area.

http://doggiecentral.ca/

http://doggiecentral.ca/services/play-sessions/about-play-sessions

 

 

and Zoom Room is in several locations.  This is a dog training facility where you can take your dog for various training and agility

http://www.zoomroomonline.com/locations.html

 

 

and Fido’s Indoor dog park is in Portland. Portland is a very dog friendly city.

http://www.fidosindoordogpark.com/

This is an indoor community park and pool for dogs and their owners.

This looks like great fun.

Then there is K9 Kingdom, in Chicago

http://www.myk9kingdom.com/indoor-dog-park.php

 

 

There are tons of indoor playgrounds. Ok, lots of them are training facilities but some, just playgrounds. Who knew? Well not me, until now.

 

Yet, here where I live I don’t know of any indoor playground I can go to. My 1200 square foot house full of furniture (and his toys) does not give him much play room. He has given up at the moment and is hanging out on his couch (one of 2 that he shares with me) waiting for me to come and watch some TV.

 

To entertain him, and me, we sometimes play hide and seek. I get one of his stuffed toys, show it to him, and I run down the hall and hide it in another room. It takes a bit of encouragement sometimes yet he usually catches on and finds it.

I have a ramp at my back door. Ok, that is outside, but mostly it is covered from the rain. Sometimes I can get him to fetch a ball I throw down the ramp. He brings it in and takes it to his couch. And over and over it goes.

If I am doing my laundry; a good thing to do on a rainy day anyway, he likes to help. I toss all the clothes on the bed before I take them to the washer. He does what dogs do, and rubs on them and twists in them and makes a clothes ball. Not for your fine delicate washables.

Speaking of those, he sometime takes them out of the laundry basket. It is embarrassing to come home from being out, dog left alone, and I find he has taken out some unmentionables and stuffed them in the couch pillows. So far I am the only one to discover it. I do hope he never does it when I have company.

We play other games too. It is a game to him to follow me. If I show him I have something, and I run out of the room, he will follow me.

 

Sometimes I get down on the floor and get into the play position like a dog, and he does the same. I walk with my hands on the floor toward him, and he turns upside down and I give him a good rub.

 

He has a huge toy basket and sometimes for fun, I will dump it out on the living room floor. Then one after one, I toss the toys, and he chases each one. Soon they are all over the floor. Then I start to pick them up one by one and toss them in the basket. Sometimes he helps me toss them in but mostly he just keeps tossing them around until he get bored with it.

 

Rainy days are good days to do any sort of dog training. These have a bit of training to them, and can be turned into training if done right, using rewards and encouragement and consistency.

 

I want to teach my dog to lie down and hide under a chair. So this is the game we are going to play now. This will make him better equipped for riding a bus with me when hopefully it gets approved in the city where I live. On October 31 I will be presenting to the board of the transportation company in that city.

 

Ok, admit it, you play such silly games too. A dog gets bored on a rainy day. And people to.

Do you have any interactive dog toys? There are some great ones by Nina Ottoson. Check her site at

http://www.nina-ottosson.com/index.php

 

http://www.shop.nina-ottosson.com/all-products/dogtornado-wood-level-2.html

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