Daycare Games

[Dogwoodblossom]

I just started a new job at a doggie daycare place and I was hoping to get ideas for games. We split the big dogs and small dogs and have two big pens with rubber floors and filled with random chews, rubber tennis balls, solid rubber balls and kongs. We have a couple jolly balls too but those tend to be either completely boring or way too interesting. The dogs who wrestle with each other seem to pretty much keep themselves entertained and just need supervision to make sure nothing gets out of hand. Then there are the dogs that just watch from the sidelines and they mostly just need to be occasionally shielded from the wrestlers.

The third group of dogs tends to be mostly retrievers and various herding breeds and they need somebody else to give them something to do. I spent all day yesterday just throwing balls and kongs for these guys. Today I 'invented' a game that is pretty popular with the retrievers and with some of the dogs who are interested in chasing but not fetching. I step on the rubber tennis balls (the solid ones are too heavy to work) and make them squeak on the bottom of my shoe a couple times, then I can roll it around, or just take my foot off, make it pop straight up, or kick it. It's not as tedious as playing garden variety fetch for 4 hours and we all get to use our brains a bit more. Plus I don't have to throw as many slobbery balls.... There are a couple dogs who get too worked up by the teasing before I let the ball loose. We have a no barking rule and I had to keep putting one of them in timeout this morning because I was trying to wait until she was quiet to release the ball. That didn't work, so I switched to walking away at the first bark. That works a lot better.

I've never worked with dogs in a big group before. I know there are people here who have. Can anybody suggest some other 'games' that would be entertaining? Anything involving treats is a bad idea because there are some heavily food motivated dogs there who get way too worked up if you so much as reach for your treat bag. Mostly we used them as a distraction, or to get the group to cam down (they all focus on you and sit if you start giving out treats). Game ideas aside, any general group management tips would be appreciated.

[Fundog]

No barking? That's like expecting a five year old not to squeal! Excitement happens.

[Nettle]

Wow, I'm a mean old bat - I won't have children squealing either never too early to learn self-control. Comes from a Very Strict upbringing.

How about some tracking games?

[Dogwoodblossom]

Actually, keeping the noise down hasn't been a problem. If anybody barks excessively they go straight into time out to calm down. As long as you catch them at the right time they get it quickly enough. It's not like we require them to be silent. Play growling and and occasional bark is OK, but it's a huge echo-ey space and we don't want to go deaf.