when the weather outside is frightful.

Claire is clearly a very active girl, which is great because she keeps me active too. We're often found going for long walks, hanging out with friends at the dog park, and swimming down at the river - just to name a few. But every so often we get stuck inside; it can't be sunny and warm all the time, unfortunately. Though I would be very content to curl up with a book and take naps, Claire isn't always on the same page. And if she isn't ready to rest, then I don't get much rest. That being said, we do have quite a few games (some of which are the disguise for training) that we play inside to keep her mind working. You know, other than Indoor Fetch, which gets boring pretty fast.

Guessing Game

I can't take credit for teaching Claire this one, because this is one that she actually taught me. Claire and I sit facing each other and I put my hands behind my back. When I hold them in front a me, a treat is hidden in one of my hands. When I tell her to "guess", she taps on one of my hands with her paw. If she guesses the hand with the treat on the first try, she wins the treat. If she guesses the wrong hand, then she has to tap the other hand with her paw to get it. She is not allowed to sniff my hands before guessing which one the treat is in - that defeats the purpose! She's surprisingly good at this game and usually guesses correctly on the first try.

Hide and Seek

Pretty self-explanatory. I hide. She seeks. But first I put her in a sit-stay or down-stay. When I tell her to "release" from her stay, she has to come and find me. There aren't too many places to hide in The Dollhouse, but I manage to trick her once in awhile!

Find It

While Claire is in a down-stay, I hide treats all over the house. When I tell Claire to "find it" she runs around searching under pillows, on tables, and in corners for her treats. Charlee Bear Treats (Claire likes the turkey liver and cranberry ones the best) are perfect for this game because they are low in calories, so I can hide a lot of them in different places. Claire has to use her nose for this one in order to figure out where they are - it's an amateur version of scent work!

Now if a good hour of those games don't get out some energy on a rainy day, I don't know what will! But I do always keep a smoked bone around. You know... just in case!