Brain Games for Puppies

Brain Games for Puppies

Praise for Brain Games for Dogs , by the same author: "Ideal for the growing number of dog owners who know that mental activity is as important as exercise when it comes to their dog's health and happiness." -- Pet Business Magazine Brain Games for Puppies is about more than just fun ways to play with a puppy. Animal behaviorist Claire Arrowsmith explains how mental challenges help to build a strong bond between a dog and its owner and prevent future behavioral problems. Playing games that use reward-based teaching methods provides motivation and establishes trust. The book opens with a review of equipment and the essential obedience commands -- Puppy Sit, Puppy Down and Puppy Come -- as well as information on dog senses, using treats, addressing problems and responding to mistakes, safety, and much more. It covers equipment and using a clicker and addresses such issues as When Can A Puppy Begin To Play?, How To Encourage Play Behavior, Problems During Brain Games, and Play No-No's! While some games provide more exercise than others, all of the games are brain games in that they challenge the puppy's ability to anticipate, solve problems and learn that by obeying commands it can continue to interact, play and have fun. The brain games are organized by location and type: Home Games include Puppy Sensory Play and Fun in the Play Pen - Active Games include Spin Spin and Buried Treasure - Search Games include Find It and Where's Your Leash? - Party Games include Take a Bow and Can I See Your Belly? - Outdoor Games include In and Out and Round About and Football Fanatic. The games come with step-by-step instructions, difficulty ratings and notes on props or toys. Straightforward text and full-color photographs make Brain Games for Puppies a valuable guide to raising a happy, healthy and obedient dog. Along with a leash, food, bowls and a bed, it should be the first purchase a new dog owner makes. Due to my inclination of favoring animal training that supports cognitive development, I was excited to learn from this book. . . Each behavior that is explained in the book has a diagram that shows the location of where you should train, the level of difficulty and the props needed. Behaviors are also categorized by the level of interaction, such as solo games with some supervision, games with supervision recommended and puppy-and-owner games. The layout allows readers to easily reference a new behavior once the previous behavior is trained. The book is a win-win due to promoting least intrusive training techniques such as positive reinforcement. -- Kenny Coogan ― Tonawanda News Published On: 2014-11-30 Claire Arrowsmith is a zoologist and applied animal behaviorist. She has conducted research in dog aggression, animal rescue, behavioral consultations and the training of hearing dogs for the deaf. She is the principal practitioner for the Pet Behavior Centre. Her books include Brain Games for Dogs . Introduction: Three Cheers for Puppies! Dogs are very popular household companions -- it is estimated that over half of all households in the U.S. own dogs. This accounts for more than 90 million dogs in these parts of the world alone. Although all these puppies sprang from different backgrounds and many have different roles to play, I am sure that most owners hope that the puppies that we bring into our lives will remain our lifelong companions. Often they become as attached to us as human family members. PARTNERSHIP Dogs have not become this involved in our lives by accident. Historically there were significant advantages in living and working together for mutual benefit. Over thousands of years dogs have evolved to become superbly suited to our many different lifestyles and it would be hard to visualize a world without them. Aside from the working aspect of dogs, we must also recognize that living with a dog brings emotional and physical benefits to humans too. Dog ownership encourages adults and children to be more active, and it has been linked with lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels. Dog ownership can reduce the severity of anxiety disorders and has been shown to increase positive social contact for humans with various forms of physical or sensory impairment. Over recent years, exciting research has shown that dogs can detect by smell and alert us to very early signs of cancer and other conditions including diabetes and seizures. Dogs too have benefited from increasingly improved health care and diet, and owners will go to incredible lengths to ensure their pet has the best of everything with a dizzying array of products available for all income levels. MUTUAL BENEFITS It pays to maximize your relationship with your puppy in order to improve its health, reduce training and socialization issues and to keep the puppy as happy and stimulated as possible. By doing this, behavioral problems should be reduced and, if they do crop up, the puppy/owner bond should be strong enough to re