How do you keep your dog busy...
- Thread starter Richie12345
- Start date
I agree with DanL. My dog is finally old enough he can have the run of the house when I am gone. All indications are that he just goes to his bed and lies down for most of the day. That's why getting him excercise when I am home is so key. I think it would be tough to keep a dog busy all day with pre-planned activities. If your dog needs to be kept busy, I would be afraid that since the effort to keep the dog busy will likely fail, the dog may be in a position to find trouble, possibly even hurting itself. (i.e. chewing on power cords, eating fun chemicals from under the sink, eating that tube of baby ointment off of the bathroom counter, etc.)
There are hard rubber toys that have holes in them so you can poke treats inside and, theoretically, the dog plays with them in hopes of getting the treats back out again. Personally, I think it's a little frustrating to the dog. In my experience, dogs just sleep if their owner isn't home, even if other people are around. My dog has company during much of the day, but except for when people come in, go out or eat (or the mailman comes), she mostly just curls up and sleeps till I come home. If there's no one home to monitor and your dog's being destructive, crating probably is the best solution, at least while he's still young enough to be full of it.
Keep lots of toys and chew type bones. Also make sure that you exercise your dog, especially the Vizslas. They need alot or else they can be bad. The saying at our house is " A good Vizsla is a TIRED Vizsla"! My Otis looks for things to do that are bad if I don't tire him out. Mostly when I am at work he naps, but then he just turned 1 year old so now he thinks that it is ok to sleep all day and drive me crazy when I get home. Have fun with cooper and all the vizsla antics!!
Richie, I would love to see more pictures of Cooper. When we first got Rocky we kept him crated during the day for about the 1st 6 months. I would go home at lunchtime to let him out. We started leaving him by himself for short periods at a time. (when I would go to grocery store, or we would go out to eat on Friday night) Then I started leaving him out longer. We too leave a radio on and a lot of his toys laying around. We keep him confined to the living room/kitchen by closing the rest of the doors in the house. We used to leave treats, but I stay scared he will choke on them. He is a wonderful dog to leave out. Most people think since he is so big that he tears stuff up and makes a mess, but he doesn't. The only times he has done something like that is if we leave papers, or magazines laying on the table. i try to make sure all of those things are put up before I walk out the door. Good luck.
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I will hopefully be bring my new 10-11 month old Vizsla bitch home soon. I plan to have her crated for sometime when I'm away, but I will also have Kongs, and other chew toys stuffed with goodies to keep her busy. Plus, most dogs sleep alot when you go away anyway. 
As long as your dog is properly excersized, it will cause no harm to leave him in a crate for a certain amount of time with some chew toys stuffed with yummy surprises.
BTW, I never knew there was such a thing as a tired Vizsla! Lol
As long as your dog is properly excersized, it will cause no harm to leave him in a crate for a certain amount of time with some chew toys stuffed with yummy surprises.
BTW, I never knew there was such a thing as a tired Vizsla! Lol
Kongs are nice, but don't last a long time for most dogs. (I have heard of a toy though, that can hold up to 6 stuffed kongs and will dispense one every hour or so - that might be something to look into?) Lots of chew bones. If you can find raw beef knuckle bones, they will probably keep him busy for ages. (Although it depends on the dog. If you have a dog like mine that'll chew it into huge shards and then try to swallow them, don't feed it unattended.)
Mojo is crated when we are out of the house. I have thrown toys in there for him to interact with but generally he noses the toys to one side and just rests all day. He is old enough and trust enough to be left out, of course, but when I have in the past he generally ends up going to sleep on the couch.
I mostly keep him crated for his own safety. Very little can happen to him in his crate, nor can he mess with my boyfriend's hedgehog or get in trouble. Generally all I have to do to get him to go into it is say "Mojo. Crate." And he will run into it and wait for the door to close and be locked.
I mostly keep him crated for his own safety. Very little can happen to him in his crate, nor can he mess with my boyfriend's hedgehog or get in trouble. Generally all I have to do to get him to go into it is say "Mojo. Crate." And he will run into it and wait for the door to close and be locked.
Chip ( and all my Goldens of yore) didn't need " things" while I was gone... I do leave TV on... all were anxious when I left , but when they knew they couldn't go, would sigh and lay down and wait for me. Fun thing... years ago all dogs lay around on the slate floor in our entrance way.... when I came down from the upstairs they'd look at my shoes... heels meant they weren't coming ! Same here with Chip... he seems to know the " dress up " mode...
I use the raw beef soup bones. I can find a package of them at Jewel for like 3 bucks. Although them may get expensive to give him one everyday though. Those usually keep my two busy for an hour or so. I have two dogs so they aren't allowed out while we are gone yet. I am petrified to do it too. Lily has already gotten out of her crate once while we were gone for a few hours and DESTROYED the house. You might try baby gating him off in a puppy safe room until he can be trusted and then slowly give him more and more room. Like start him off in the bathroom (or your room) and then after some time give him a room and the hallway or something. Good luck Richie, he's got mischief in his eyes though .
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