How do you play with your dogs?

[Beth]

I'm curious as to how everyone else spends time playing with their doxies, and I may be looking for some new ideas to play with Chilie.  Her favorite game has always been "get the moving hand under the covers".  We play tug together with her rope bone, and occasionally she will want to fetch a ball.  She also likes to chase me and be chased, so we run around the house.

How do you play with your doxies?  For those of you with more than one doxie, is it easier because they can play with each other?

[Barb]

We do the hand under the covers too.  Also the monster hands and then chase around the house.  Rudy LOVES chasing a toy - so I throw a toy down the hall MANY times during the day.  If we are in the living room watching tv - I throw his toy up high in the air and he tries to catch it.  When we are outside, Rudy will bring a toy and drop it into the swimming pool - then I will throw a sopping wet toy into the yard....he will do this until I finally make him STOP !!!   

I love Jenny's idea of hiding easter eggs with treats in them - I don't think this should be reserved for Easter time - what a fun way to do something different for the kids !!!  I am going to try this week end and see if they hunt the eggs down !!

Brandy would much rather watch from a pillow and blankie !!!

[Jenny G]

Berman LOVES fetch!  He has a "baby of the week" that's his favorite toy - sleeps with it, takes it out side when he goes potty, etc.  He's very demanding with this playing though and it can get annoying when momma wants to rest!  Basically he brings the toy to me, squeaks it a couple of times, then sits and waits for me to pick it up. If I don't pick it up quick enough, he'll bark at me. FUN!  So I throw the toy, he runs and gets it, squeaks it a couple of times then brings it back to me. Your basic fetch - but much more demanding! He plays this with just about anyone and everyone who comes to my house. He's ready to play fetch from the second he wakes up till we go to bed.  Sometimes I just sit in the floor for hours throwing his latest baby down the hall then in the bedroom, down the hall then in the bedroom, down the hall...

Lucy is more of a loner. She plays with me by jumping on my lap and kissing all over my face.  Sometimes she wants me to throw a toy, but she never brings it back to me. She just lays down somewhere with it and tries to destuff whatever is left. 

Lucy likes to play with Berman, but Berman only likes to play with me or other humans.  Of course, Lucy's idea of playing with Berman is biting his neck, ears, tail, bottom or just about anything else.  I can understand where he doesn't like playing with his little sister!

[papbouv]

Patches will run though her tricks circle,roll over,shake hands,dead dog, she will race after a toy sometimes will bring it back sometimes not.Loves to play with her big brother Buddy ( Doberman) she goes under the couch growls & barks at him he sticks his head under the couch has his butt up in the air.Then he goes on the other side of the coffee table Patches runs out,Buddy goes after her she dives under the couch some times she makes it sometimes not Dobes are very fast.Then sometimes in the back yard I throw the ball for Buddy he does fetch Patches goes behind him racing after him when he goes to get the ball.She has to be careful because he is so focused on the ball he will run over her.I'm the referee try to make sure Buddy is not too rough with Patches Buddy has so much energy wish I could bottle it & sell it.
Then I have a Medical Scooter I walk Buddy with and Patches rides on the scooter sometimes she walks beside it if we are in a safe area so can have Buddy on the left and Patches on the right. That makes us pretty wide so have to be careful where I do it plus we go slower due to Patches short legs.
Announcement: Patches is now 12# one more pound to go then I think her head will look better on her body of course she thinks she is starving.
Papbouv

[TerriL]

My four do love to play with each other but they each have things that they LOVE to do with us.  Buelah loves to play fetch.  LOVES IT.  That girl could fetch forever I think.  Toby likes to play tug with his tug toys.  Beatrice really loves to play the "dancing blanket" game.  I throw a small blanket up in the air like a parachute and it lands on her.  She jumps all over in the dancing blanket.  As soon as she comes out she pulls the blanket back to me to do over again. Oscy likes to play "where is the chair with my daddy in it".  That would be where one waits approx. one second until dad is in the chair and then up the ramp and into his arms he goes.  Belly rubs, of course, are mandatory with this game. 
We spend at least a half hour with each dog alone in the evening so they can have their special time with us.  Then the four of them do whatever it is that they are not supposed to do for the rest of the evening. 

[Doxherding Karen]

"Play?  Play?  Is that something that would interfere with my nap?" :thinik:

"Which nap would that be, Beau?  The morning sleep-in, frst nap, seond nap, pre-lunch rest time, post-lunch snooze, third nap, afternoon siesta, tea-time slumber, fourth nap, post-dinner quiet time, pre-bedtime rest or night slumber?"

"Whatever floats your boat, Roscoe!"

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

I am such a freak about back problems that poor Hallie doesn't get to play the way she'd like so we improvise. I don't allow tugging of any kind, hard on the neck, and I don't like any twisting when fetching a ball or toy. So we play gentle tug with a bungie toy that stretches (aunt Patty sent me one before I got Hallie, a long stretch doxie toy and we use that). I do throw her toys for her but I throw them so they land next to a wall of fence so she has to slow down to pick them up, and doesn't over shoot them and twist around to get them. She does have a "runny attack" at times which freaks me out so I just calmly wait for her to pass by me then I say "Treat!" and hold my hand out which usually gets her to stop and I scoop her up and smother her in kisses to distract her LOL. She also will go into a digging fit in soft dirt or sand which is hilarious to watch but again after her bout with her back last summer, I gently try and stop it with distractions.

While I"m working on the computer, she will often go out and get one of her 109 squeeky toys and stand there squeeking and squeeking it, with one eye on me, and I'll always go out and play with her. I call it the "Mommy Doorbell." More often than not as soon as I get out there, she stops playing and rolls over for a belly rub. 

She would love to play with other dogs but I'm a stick in the mud there too, it breaks my heart to not let her but my last doxie girl, Jessie, threw her back out twice by playing with another dog and needed surgery so it's not worth the risk. Hallie is around other dogs a lot so gets to socialize I just don't let her go wild with them.

Our newest game is race for the kibble. Whenever I toss her a kibble, she will turn her nose up and trot away from it. So now I will throw it then crawl over to it fast and pretend I'm eating it. Hallie will sit about 3" from my face staring at me. Now she's learned it's a game so she races me and when she gets it (and of course she always does one way or another) she will crunch it down fast and I'll praise her the whole time. We also play hide and seek, if she goes outside, I'll hide somewhere and when she comes in she knows the game is afoot when she doesn't see me. So I'll hear her race to one hiding spot and freeze, then she races to another until she finds me. Then we do the happy dance.

I love the Easter egg idea too! We do have a game where I have Hallie sit under the table in the kitchen, then I go toss a treat somewhere in the living room, then I say "Find It!" and she'll go search every corner until she does. The Easter egg idea is even better that would be fun to do outside in the yard.

Then the four of them do whatever it is that they are not supposed to do for the rest of the evening. 

LOL!! 

[Roberta]

Oliver has  few one it is chase, we chase him around the garden, another is throwing his squeak ball, plus they both do the dachie dash at full speed around the house. Amy loves her gas filled balloons, and she Kills someof her toys, plus the dachie dash, she is the quieter of all we've had.
Something we have played with all ours is hide and seek, we shut them in the back toilet and the other hides then let them out. Angel Angus was the best followed by AMy who slowly sniffs you out Oliver just runs around like an idiot.
Some one said once that tugging as well as not good on the back was inforcing aggressive behaviour!
Roberta

[Sandishooligans]

Maddie's right up there with Roscoe.  Oh, how she loves those naptimes. 

She has never been a pupper to play.....so I'm a little jealous of all your playful pups  .  I guess her favorite game is how many squeaks does it take to get the mommy and papa to do her bidding.   Also she is fond of the Situation Game.  That is when she is holding down either a mommy or papa's lap and then the "victim" can play the Situation card by making the "free" person do their bidding.  Miss Madderoo delights in that game....as does the "victim".

[MindyKay]

Ozzy loves tug of war, I just hold the rope toy, and let him do the work.  I will also stop him and tell him "that's enough."  When he hears those words, he lies down and rolls over on his back - tug of war game is over at that point.

Fetch????  Ozzy will "fetch" a toy once, but when I throw it again, he looks at me like, "What!?  I brought you the toy, why did you throw it away again?"

We also play keep-away, where I "try" to keep a toy from him.  He is fast, however, and this game never lasts very long before he has "captured" the toy from me.

[DP]

I thought that with two they would play with each other and I would not have such a Velcro dog, ....... WRONG!!!!  Champ (the big dog) was 3+ when we got Smokey.  Champ spent the first three weeks on the couch growling and baring his teeth at Smokey.  Smokey on the otherhand thought that the growling was a fun game and he would jump up and nip at Champs tail.  Champ still tolerates Smokey and tries not to have too much fun when he plays with him.  Smokey on the other hand wants to play allllllllll of the time with anything or anyone.  He taunts Champ and pulls on his ears and then his tail and Champ tries to ignore him.  When we get on the floor to play with the dogs Champ stays irritated because Smokey cant stand the thought of not being involved in EVERYTHING!!  Champ is a type B personality and Smokey is a type A.  Having the two dogs means that we have to play a lot more and we have to have more than one person on the floor.  (A lot of work for a woman my age, getting off the floor is not as easy as it used to be so I make the kids get on the floor)  The dogs love it when we try to grab their feet and they try  to not get grabbed.  The stay far enough away that we have to reach but close enough so that we can reach them.  Smokey bounces and Champ tries to intercept with his mouth.  We have to play with both dogs but Champ will not share his human playtoys with Smokey.  I thought two would be easier but it just multiplies the attention needed by a factor of 4.  Doxies can be so jealous!!

[Deb G.]

Greetings, all!
When we first got Stormy about 8 years ago, he did not know how to play at all.  We tried to entice him with various toys to no avail.  But then, we brought home a mint-green stuffed squeaker duck from a "Free" box at a garage sale.  He claimed the duck immediately, and it is still his favorite toy.  You can't always tell that it's green, or that it's a duck, but...? This toy is best described by his name, "Cap'n Crudduck".   Late in the evening, Stormy likes to play "Duck Chase".  He will race around with the duck, periodically dropping it near a human (usually Rich) who then tosses the duck, and the romp is on.  When you bark out "Duck Chase!" all eyes are on the participants as they race about.  We have a long hallway with an "S" curve in it, and this provides much excitement.  When he tires of this, he will just lie down by Rich and squeak the duck for a while.  Stormy is 14, and doesn't play as much as he used to, but still plays, and seems quite vigorous in spite of his bout with cancer, for which he takes medication.  Stormy personally feels that his favorite recreation is eating, though. 

Sophie is younger, and wants to play more.  She greets us as we come home with a little rejoicing dance that involves her favorite toy "Reincarnating Hippo".   Reincarnating Hippo is about half Sophie's size, so she looks ridiculous prancing around with it, but prance she does.  Sophie has taken the eyes off this toy, and Cap'n Crudduck.  We often play a Hippo toss game similar to "Duck Chase".  Sophie also does some agility.  We built her little tiny hurdles and weave poles from small diameter PVC, and she has a old wooden cola box that is used as a "sit platform", about 3" high.   The agility is for fun only--she wanted something to "do" out in the yard.  It was obvious to us that she needed a channel for some of this energy, as she is constantly going, and has mountain goat tendencies.  On her most recent visit to the vet (August 17) the vet stated that Sophie had "impressive back and hindquarter musculature", and that she was a "very solid little dog".  Often, in the yard, she just runs full out...she's such a rocket! 

With both of our dogs, we have alot of "soft play" too...rubs, humans on the floor time & etc.  I do what we call "Dachshund Therapy Massage" which is a gentle massage up and down the spine on both sides, with attention to those important areas--about 3-5 minutes long.  Both love it.  Sophie sits on my lap and positions herself for it, and then gives me the look...it's not only "soft play" but a ritual as well.

Deb G.
Dachsie Mom of Stormy & Sophie

[Deb G.]

Ooops!  Forgot to explain "Reincarnating Hippo"...Sophie battles the Hippo to the death--a person is the impetuous behind the Hippo's actions, and she finally "kills" it.  Hippo lies there still and "killed".  Then, when she least expects it (maybe about 7-10 seconds later or so) the Hippo magically reincarnates and the game is on again!
Deb G.
Dachsie Mom of Stormy & Sophie