Summertime Fun for Kids and Dogs

During the summer months, when school’s out and and the kids can sleep in, both your children and your pets can become bored during the hot days of summer. Luckily, there are countless fun summer activities that your kids can surely enjoy with your pooches, giving room not just for bonding and amusement, but for keeping fit and inner health as well.

Exciting Summertime Playoffs

 1. Frisbees. Many dogs enjoy playing Frisbee; allowing more physical stimulation than a common ball game. Your children can benefit from this thrilling activity as they get exercise by throwing and retrieving lost Frisbee discs. Your pooches, on the other hand, will surely love to jump again and again, run everywhere, catch the disc, and retrieve it.

2. Dog bowling. Set the game up by arranging a triangle with a handful of 2-L soda bottles on your patio or lawn. Allow your children to take turns in calling Fido over with the lure of a tasty treat. Let them stand behind the soda bottles which serve as the bowling pins. The kid who gets the pooch topple the most pins on the way to his treat shall win the round.

3. Doggie-treat hunting. Another simple game is “find the treat”. It only involves the children hiding dog treats all throughout the house. Your pooch should stay till all of the treats are out of sight. On your kid’s command, let your four-legged friend run through your quarters collecting every foodstuff he finds.

4. Agility competitions. Aside from these fun games, agility competitions can also be enjoyable and rewarding. Just put up a simple obstacle course in your backyard by placing a couple of broomsticks on the ground, hanging Hula hoops from a tree, or leaving several tires to leap over. Adding an improvised “balance beam” made of concrete blocks and wood (just make it safe and sturdy!) will make it even more exhilarating. With this, your kids can then spend their afternoons outside teaching your dog agility by running through this basic obstacle course: jumping over the broomsticks, hurdling through the Hula hoops, vaulting over the tires, or walking across the balance beam.

Keeping the Game Cool and Safe

You want your children and your pets to bond well and have fun this summer. To make this season perfect for your entire family, including your furry dog friends, make sure that you are able to prepare both your kids and your pets for the interaction.

 

·         Practice handling exercises with your pooch on a regular basis.

·         Teach your kids how to play games with your dogs.

·         Train and socialize your dogs.

·         Start obedience training.

·         Implement house rules.

·         Ensure that the breed you chose fits your unique lifestyle.

·         Do not leave your children and pets unsupervised.