I said I would check in after 33 days or so about the habit-forming blog from January (see blog here). A bit on the late side but I am following up now. In that blog, we asked you to choose one of the habits and see if you could make it stick and told you I would try as well. I chose #3 – taking time to play with your dog.
Did we do it every day? Nope. Honesty sucks sometimes. However, I am playing with both my dogs more. Not in any sort of organized fashion and if you know me this comes as no surprise! Some days it is one dog, some days it is both. Each dog has different needs. My boy requires very little attention from me so in 5 minutes he is satisfied he had my attention and goes off to do his own thing. My female could be a whole blog of her own! More needy and more diverse in those needs so a longer time commitment is necessary with her.
What do our play times look like? Ccould be anything such as working on 
some cooperative care games; personal play; fetching the toy up and down the stairs; practicing rally; running through our tricks repertoire; game of chase in the yard or even using our nail scratch pad. You see a few of these items might better fit under ‘training’. However, I am not ‘training’ in these instances, we are doing known cues and having fun. When we do those things it just lights up their eyes!
Do I think it’s a habit yet? Nope but getting better all the time. Comment below and let us know how you are doing and what is working for you. No one is going to be perfect, but are you trying? That is all our canine friends ask of us.
If learning more is something you want to do with your dog, feel free to check out our schedule for upcoming opportunities.