Playing! Nobody stays indifferent - neither former or plasticizing sportsmen, nor fans, card, roulette or billiards players, let alone our dogs. The significance of game is so large in a beast's life that zoopsychologists even have singled out a special "necessity to play". Left unsatisfied, just as the necessity for food, for instance, it leads to sad results. So, when you get a dog, you get a responsibility both to feed it and to play with it.
Somewhere else we talked about the biological significance of game. Now we'll discuss some other of its functions that are as well important for the owner. First, a game is one of the main methods to make friendly and kind relationship with the dog, but it is also a perfect way of training, especially with puppies and juvenile dogs.
If you don't want your dog to walk on its own, preferring other dogs' company to yours, if you don't want to chase him for hours after you unleashed it, or if you wish the dog to devour you with his eyes, to be yours in all senses, if you want to be his number one on the street, the most interesting creature and the best - play with him.
Play with the puppy, don't let him look for amusements on his own. Leave him alone only when he is going to do his business - thus you will raise a faithful dog and prevent shaping of ill behavior. The dog simply will not have an opportunity to seek for garbage or the like stuffs, chase cats, stick to strangers and alien dogs. Just will not have time for this and later on he won't want this. And this is the point! Moreover, when he gets used to watching you waiting for something exciting, he will later easily and quickly come to help you in a conflict situation.
Puppies and juvenile dogs prefer mobile games, like "Chase Me". A simple running together may also bring lots of fun. When it turns into hurdling in the cross-country it is even more interesting.
All dogs like "Go Get the Thing" running. You don't have to throw the object. Just run off the puppy. When the puppy gets to you, raise the thing up and make the pup jump to get it. Gaming things should be always the same. It is better to keep off casual objects you find on the street. Permanent gaming things are of special interest and meaning for a dog. Using such toy you may offer another very exciting play - "Where Is the Lost Thing"
For dogs that are to become guards "Tug the Rope" (or a durable toy) will be of much use. A rope may be made of old pants. Manipulating with a toy you induce the puppy to grab it, so then you only have to struggle for the "property". This playing fight is assigned to teach the dog to have a wish and to know how to struggle and snap. But! Don't use for this purpose a sleeve of your own jacket.
What can be more joyous than coming through various leaps on a playground? May be "Hide and Seek"? By the way, this game makes your dog all the time watch your actions to prevent you "being lost". Some dogs, especially large-sized ones, very much like "Push Each Other". When you push the puppy from side to side with the open hands it goes quite funny.
All this can be used during educational training. For example, playing "Try to Catch Me" and "Hide and Seek" is the best way to teach the dog retrieving - just run from the puppy, not after him. Seeking for a lost toy may teach your dog tracking. During the playing fight, come into his rear and teach the puppy to hold the rope snapping along its length and other smart tricks. The earlier you familiarize the puppy with the sportive apparatus, the stronger will he be and the easier it will be to train him clear real leaps. Don't overwork the pup, though to play means play till tiredness.
by Vladimir Gritsenko, Translated by Tatiana Karpova (Moscow)
(MSU, Biology faculture, Dep. zoology and ecology).