I have mentioned this when I reviewed the best dog life jacket that I love taking my pet to the beach. He loves the water and there are some fun things that I can do with him. If your dog loves water but you are not free to take him to the bench, here are some fun water activities that you can employ.
#1: Water tub fun
You can set a shallow water tub, filled it with water and let your dog splash in it. Dogs love to jump in and out of the pool so this will keep it from getting bored. This activity is especially suitable during Summer time where dogs tend to get hot when they run continuously under the sun. Having a water tub around can easily help them to cool it down.
#2: Water hose
Another fun water activity is to use the water hose and have some spraying fun with your dog. Make sure the strength of your water hose is not too strong to hurt the dog. What you need to do is simply to spray the dog and have it chase the water in the direction that you are spraying the water. This is like a laser dot game but played with a water hose. The only shortcoming is that the dog can see where the water is coming from and might attach the water hose instead of the water it sprays. In this case, simply stop the game until the dog stops attacking the hose.
#3: Play fetch in water
If you happen to be near a river or lake, you can play fetch with your dog. Before you do that, here are a few precautions you need to take:
- Get ready a dog life jacket. Make sure it fits the dog well and can keep his head afloat in the even that he fell into the water
- Do not leave the dog out of your sight as anything can happen in the water. Even when playing fetch, throw the object along the water line instead of into the waters
- It is good if you can teach your dog to swim. If you have a Boxer, here is my guide on how to teach a Boxer to swim.
Once you have taken the safety precautions, playing fetch in water will be quite fun. The dog will exercise more and the water can naturally cool the dog down.
#4: Dog diving
A more extreme end of playing fetch in water is dog diving, otherwise commonly known as dock jumping. This involves telling the dog to run and then dive from a dock to retrieve an object in the water. However, this is not something that can be done without prior training. First of all, your dog must be able to swim. The dog must also be taught how to dive and hold its breath. To get the dog to play this water activity, you must use its favorite toy as an incentive.
#5: On the sprinkler
Dogs love to play with the sprinkler when they are turn on. They like to run through the water as well as to drink water from the sprinklers. Playing this during the hot summer days is the best way to cool your pet off while letting it have a bit of fun.
#6: Paddle Board
Paddle board is one of the trendy water sports for the past 2 year. Some paddle board owners have started bringing their dogs for the trip as well. I have written a guide on how to train a dog to paddle board so you need to read that if you want to do this. Like dog diving, you need to properly train your dog to do this if you want them to enjoy it.
Conclusion
Hope you enjoy some of these ideas for water activities for dogs. If you have more, please drop a comment.
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