Your dog isn’t naughty… but it might be bored.

Name: Hands Free Dog Leash for One Small to Medium Dog (Short Version)
Brand: Pet Dreamland
SKU: PD-HFOPHS001-BCK
Price: 25.99 USD
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Image by Radovan Zierik from Pixabay

How to prevent dog boredom and possibly destructive behavior

Like humans, dogs can get bored, and just like humans, it can lead to harmful habits, anxiety, and depression. Humans might reach for too many glasses of red wine or get stuck in a rut by watching Netflix every night, but people have far more fantastic options allowing them to relive their boredom.

A bored dog will likely have far fewer options to relieve their boredom, and the choices they do have will probably be based in their home. So, if you always go to the cupboard for a biscuit when bored. A dog might still try to chew a table leg or try to destroy a rug. Then the times they spend outside might lead to overstimulation or get too excited, resulting in other lousy behavior when outdoors on walks.

Puppies are even more prone to bad behavior when bored, and they do require more mental and physical stimulation, just like a human child does.

Below are some examples of what you can do to prevent dog boredom, but even if you do not think your doggie is bored, these are still great ways you can enrich your furry best friends’ life:

Brother or Sister

Dogs left alone for long periods like when the family must go to work or school, are much more likely to get bored or lonely and are therefore more likely to misbehavior or get stressed.

Perhaps the best way to resolve this is to have a multiple-dog household. Dogs that have a furry friend with them in the house are much less likely to be bored. Even if they spend all day asleep in different rooms, the dogs will know that another dog is in the house and hasn’t been left alone.

A great way to achieve this is to rescue two dogs at the same time. When you rescue dogs, sometimes you can only rescue dogs as a pair, or you could recuse two dogs that have been housed in a shelter together, and the shelter workers know they get. If you are buying puppies from a breeder, then buy two from the same litter.

Socializing

Suppose you cannot afford or do not have space for more than one dog. Then make sure you regularly socialize it with other dogs if your family or friends have dogs as well. Then meet up for regular dog walks or go round their homes for garden playtime.

Sports

Another good way to prevent boredom is to get involved in organized sport. This results in much time spent training and competing, so your dog is less time to get bored—for example, Agility, Flyball, and Treibball.

Dog walking

All dogs need walking, and you shouldn’t get a dog if you are not prepared to give it the required walks it needs.

You need to walk dogs for the obvious reasons, mainly for wees and poops, but there is more to walking than that. They need exercise just like humans do, to stay fit and healthy. However, it is also a time for them to socialize and sniff. Therefore, you shouldn’t just do the same walk at the same pace over and over again.

Dogs need a variety of walks, not just the number per day. You can give them long slow walks, short, fast walks, walks in cities, walks in woods, and walks at the beach. If you want to tire them out, then take them on a SNIFF walk. This is where you will go to a park or somewhere that you know loads of other dogs and wildlife has been, then let them dictate where you go and at what pace. It might take you two hours to do a mile, and you might get bored, but you will be shocked at how tired the dog is. Sometimes mental stimulation is much more tiring than clipping on a hand-free leash and running a 10k run with them.

Training

Dog training can be very mentally tiring for a dog, so you must leave a dog for long periods. Then a great option is to give them a bit of training before you go. Then they are much more likely to rest in the time you are out.

Puppies need much initial training, like housetraining them, so they know that they need to go to the toilet outside, walk on and off a lead, and know the standard dog training. Some rescue dogs will need this type of exercise too. However, even when you have trained your dog in all the usual stuff, it doesn’t have you stop there. You can continue to train your dog throughout its whole life to help prevent boredom. For instance, learning to roll over isn’t going to provide the dog with life skills, but a couple of weeks of training the dog to do it might tire the dog out mentally, so it is less likely to misbehave in that period.

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Playtime

On top of their walks, you can have fun playtime with your doggo or doggos. This will help tire them out physically and mentally and strengthen the bond between you and your fur baby. This is primarily a good thing to incorporate if you have adopted a rescue dog.

Playtime could be as simple as playing fetch with a tennis ball in the garden or a stick you find in the park. A flirt pole is also an excellent way to tire out a high-energy pooch finally. It is easy to think flirt poles are more suited to cats, but many dogs love them. Although one of my rescues is terrified of them and stays well away, the other return loves playing with them.

Puzzles

Go into any decent pet shop, and you will find many puzzle toys of varying difficulties. This is an excellent way to occupy a dog if they are left alone. If you get a toy you can hide treats in, then the dog will while away hours trying to get at the treat and might not even know you are gone ha-ha.

Be careful not to get a puzzle that is too easy as it will get all the treats in seconds which will mean they will have much spare time to get bored. However, do not get one that is too hard because they might get frustrated and take their frustration out on your new pair of trainers.

Conclusion

If you get a puppy or a rescue, you have taken on the responsibility to look after them and give them the best lives possible.

If you allow your dog to become bored, then that is on you, and you can not blame the dog for any bad behavior.

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