‘I’m bored!’ – sound familiar?
School holidays can be an intense, busy time for families as the weekly routine goes out the window, and kids spend much more time at home than usual. They can be a never-ending, reaction-based (rather than proactive) process of ‘curing’ boredom. But they can also be an opportunity to be present and connected with your kids when participating in games, outdoor activities or family time. Most likely, they’ll be a mixture of both – semi-organised chaos and fun, with some awesome opportunities for creating lasting family memories and snapping embarrassing pics in preparation for their 21st.
School holidays can also be a difficult time for our dogs. People are home more often, and for longer, so they spend much more of their day awake, hyper-aware of an ever-changing environment and busy navigating interactions and finding down-time. Dogs are often taken on outings as an extra thought, rather than outings that are specific to them. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and of course it wouldn’t happen every day. But spending an hour on lead near a playground surrounded by running and screaming children might not be high on your dog’s list of priorities. And while ‘go play with the dog’ might be a common tool to help keep kids busy during the day (and give dogs the attention and exercise they deserve), interactions between kids and dogs aren’t always relaxed or positive in nature.
In fact, we don’t recommend you leave kids and dogs unsupervised in any situation. When left to their own devices, neither kids or dogs tend to make good choices. 😊
If you have kids and dogs interacting these school holidays, here’s some activities that everyone might appreciate and benefit from.
Activities kids and dogs can enjoy together
Exploring on sniffari
Dogs love to sniff and kids love to explore! Wander the neighbourhood (with your dog on lead*) and see if your child can help your dog find new things to sniff! Does your dog like to sniff man-made or natural objects more? Grass or trees? Fences or shrubs? Do they follow smells in the air, or on the ground? The best thing about sniffing is that it can be very tiring for dogs and so squeezing in a short sniffari walk can be more beneficial than a longer walk without sniffs.
Go for walks that involve exploring new spaces (on sniffari for your dog), and a short stop for a play in a playground for your child.
Creating enrichment toys
Pass the parcel – hiding part of your dog’s breakfast or dinner in a box (inside a box, inside a box, inside a box) can be great for your dog and fun for your child to do and watch. You can still recycle the cardboard at the end of the day, you just need to pick it up. (Note – this isn’t a good game to play for dogs that eat cardboard. Most dogs will rip it off and spit it out – watch yours closely!).
Treasure hunt – hiding part of your dog’s breakfast or dinner (or an after-dinner treat or new toy) in a room or the backyard. Let your dog into the room (or backyard) and give them the cue – ‘find it’. Initially make the game very easy (hide it in plain sight) so the dog is successful immediately. Each time you can make it slightly harder by hiding the toy partially covered, or slightly higher and in different locations.
Make a snuffle mat – these are rubber door mats with felt or cloth tied through the holes. Food can be hidden amongst the cloth for dogs (or cats) to forage for. Snuffle mats are very affordable but time consuming to make.
Activities the family can all enjoy and learn from
Training easy behaviours
‘Go find’, sit, come when called, on the mat or simple tricks can be wonderful ways for kids to learn how to communicate safely with dogs. Lots of these behaviours are taught in training classes, but can also be found online in training blogs. Be sure you are using best practice, positive reinforcement methods when working with your dog. You can find a list of qualified trainers that use positive reinforcement in South Australia here.
Play with multiple toys (for dogs that are happy sharing)
Dogs love chasing toys that have been thrown, and being chased when they have toys. Kids can throw toys around the backyard, play tug or find it. This is especially safe if there are multiple toys. If your dog’s favourite is a tennis ball, have 5 tennis balls available – that way, your child can throw the first one, and then once your dog has caught it, they can throw the second one. This means your child doesn’t have to take the ball off the dog and involves much less risk of confrontation.
Read together
Dogs find audio books and classical music calming, just like us. Children can practice reading, without pressure, by reading to their dogs during the holidays. This will be best achieved (from the dog’s perspective) after an outing, when they are more likely to want to rest and relax. Kids can share their favourite stories, and dogs can have that companionship that is so important to a social species.
Watch a movie together
Dogs naturally sleep for 16hours a day, and so movie time is a great opportunity for kids and dogs to share that companionship safely, while dogs are able to relax enough to sleep during quiet time.
Create a makeshift agility course
There's lots of information out there on DIY agility equipment - be sure whatever you make is safe enough and appropriate for your dog. Puppies and adolescent large breeds shouldn't be jumping much higher than their knees. A DIY tunnel can be created by hollowing out a large box or a blanket over some chairs (or an affordable children's tunnel works too!), a broomstick over some bricks or pool noodles for jumps, some poles in the lawn for weaves, and creating a ramp with a plank of wood and a brick works well. Children can encourage dogs in, around and over these mini-obstacles with a treat after each one (or a few treats through the tunnel) to start. Off-lead in the backyard is best so the dog can approach everything at a pace they're comfortable with.
Grooming
Some dogs hate being groomed, in which case this isn't the activity for them. But, if your dog loves it, this can be a great way to spend time together. Kids can reinforce dogs for sitting still while being brushed (very carefully and under supervision). Reinforcing one treat every brushstroke (at least the first few sessions) is an excellent way to help dogs learn to love it even more. The aim isn't to actually 'brush' the dog initially, but let them know this is a fun experience to enjoy with their best friend. We want to avoid any interactions where the dog might associate pain with being brushed or with kids. It's also best to start on the shoulders or side (avoid the head and tail initially). If your dog desperately needs a brush and has fur that is very knotted, best to do that yourself (or get a good fear-free groomer to tackle it for you), before handing a brush over to your child.
Paddle in a wading pool
A fun activity as the weather warms up! Kids should encourage dogs in with treats and toys (and dogs should be able to get in and out themselves if they want). Dogs that refuse to get in, or choose to get out, are communicating they’d prefer to avoid the water right now – best to leave them be and try again another time. Dogs can go bobbing for treats or toys in water without getting their feet wet if they want!
Digging in a sandpit or playing in a ball pit
These are great enrichment activities for dogs and kids alike! You can encourage your dog to dig in appropriate places (like a man-made sandpit) by hiding big treats and toys in there. Kids can make a treasure hunt game out of it too! You might need to encourage the dog to dig initially by moving the sand around and helping them find an easy treat or two. But it won't take most dogs long to figure it out! Some dogs prefer not to get dirty, and that’s okay.
Taste testing
Do you know your dog's favourite food? Are you sure?! 😉 Let’s test it! You might need to start with your dog being held on lead for this one (or waiting on their mat, or in another room). Prepare two small bowls with a few bits of food in each. Put the food bowls down about a metre apart. When you release your dog, ensure they are in the middle of the food bowls a few metres away (so they definitely have to make a choice about which one they go to, rather than just eating the first bowl they come across). Some foods to test could be:
- BBQ chicken vs. left over steak or roast lamb
- Liver treats vs. jerky
- A few pieces of breakfast/dinner vs. liver treats
- Carrot vs. banana
- Fritz or ham vs. cheese
You could start with (what we would assume are) obvious pairings first (e.g. carrot vs. chicken). Ensure there is only a few small bits of each food in the bowls so your dog doesn't over eat, and remove a portion of their breakfast and dinner to compensate as well! Keep a record of which food your dog liked and be sure to run through a few repetitions with the same pairings of food on different sides - how do you know if your dog actually prefers chicken or if they just prefer moving to the right? Place your bets!