Play - Good for your dog, good for you!

Remember how much you loved to play with your mom, dad, or older sibling when you were a kid? Remember how important and loved it made you feel? Playing with your dog gives her that same feeling. And, I’ll let you in on a little secret, you’ll benefit from a little playtime with your dog, too!

Good for Your Dog

It’s important for puppies to begin learning to play with humans at a very young age, preferably by no more than six weeks of age. Playing with her two-legged family teaches your puppy appropriate social behavior and helps her to become comfortable with people. Play will also help her develop coordination and strong muscles. In addition, she’ll start to become aware of how rough is too rough for her people playmates.

Give your young dog toys to play with. Rubber or cloth dog toys are best. Your puppy’s sharp teeth make hard plastic toys a choking hazard since she may be able to break off small pieces and swallow them. Look for dog toys that are not too large for your puppy to carry and that don’t have small pieces she could easily tear off and ingest. Never allow your puppy to treat you like a chew toy. Discourage “teeth play” from an early age to avoid aggressive behavior as your dog gets older.

A good old tennis ball and an energetic game of fetch is still one of the best forms of play you can engage in with your dog. Teaching your dog to run after and retrieve a ball (or other favorite toy — I know a dog who will only play fetch with his stuffed purple dinosaur!) is a great form of exercise and a fun way to enforce some simple commands like sit, stay, come, and drop it (a crucial command if your dog has a bit of trouble distinguishing your socks from her toys!).

Play not only provides physical exercise for your dog, it also gives her a chance to exercise her mind. Sit, stay, and other basic commands may seem pretty easy to you, but they don’t come naturally to your dog. You can also play “thinking games” with your dog. Hide her favorite dog toy in a relatively easy place to find and ask her to find it (the command “where’s Dini?” works for the aforementioned dinosaur-lover). You can also be the missing toy. Instruct your dog to sit and stay, then go hide somewhere with a dog treat in your pocket. Call your dog and give her the treat when she finds you.

Encouraging your dog to play throughout her entire life will keep her healthy and young at heart longer than if she leads a sedentary life. Here are some of the benefits your dog will gain:

· A healthy heart. · · Healthy joints. · · Good balance and coordination. · · A strong mind and body. ·

Good for You

Your dog isn’t the only one who reaps the benefits of some good energetic play—you do, too! Playing tag with your dog is an excellent form of aerobic exercise. Throwing a ball is great arm exercise. Squatting down to get the ball back from your dog is good for your legs. And, playing with your dog can certainly be a more exciting workout than an hour of jogging on the treadmill in a gym—it’s cheaper, too!

Exercise benefits aside, playing with your dog is also a great stress reliever. Just try not to laugh when your puppy is tripping over her own feet and tumbling through the grass or when your older dog returns a ball with is tail wagging and that proud look in his eye as though he just climbed Mount Everest. It’s a proven fact that spending time with your pet can lower your blood pressure.

Oh, and one more thing, having a dog who loves toys and loves to play makes buying her birthday and other holiday gifts much easier. Your dog only needs one food dish, one water dish, and one leash, but toys are always welcome and wonderful dog gifts! Try if possible to get appropriate dog breed gifts to suit your dog’s temperament.

Play is good for the soul — both human and canine. Engage in regular play together and you’ll both be happier, healthier, and will develop a stronger, more loving relationship.

Now get out there and play!