We get tired of monotonous routine, bet bored for deleted situations, and get depressed due to the problems in the ecosystem and unhealthy lifestyle. Our pets that often have a less colorful social life, easily get bored too. If you work long hours out of home, come back late, and the only signs of your care and attention towards your dog is that you feed him, that’s a problem.
Read More:
- Top 10 Reasons Why Your Dog Is Stressed
- Top Five Ways To Relieve Your Dog’s Boredom
- What to Do if Your Dog Ate Your Homework?
- Why Taking up a Job in Animal Care Might Be the Right Career Move for You
- Teddy Bear Dogs
Dogs are very communicative, like being in the focus of attention, and moreover, they like to care about their human friends and share their emotions with them. Like people, dogs vitally need to be seen, heard, and loved. Many dogs, that get less attention from their keepers that they need, live a shorter life, and tend to get ill due to the emotional state and deep reflection. Depression in dogs is widespread nowadays, as they eat processed food, live in small apartments, and suffer from the lack of attention and admiration.
Depression in dogs starts without visible symptoms, that’s why it is quite hard to notice that something’s wrong at the very beginning and prevent its further development. Starting as an emotional state, depression may result in serious physical health disorders. If you are sure, that your dog is physically healthy, constantly monitor his emotional state, and never let him get bored. To understand the first signs of boredom in your pet, check the behavior of the following types:
- Tapping with the paw on the floor and barking loudly
- Taking and hiding your things
- Jumping and barking at you
- Scratching the floor, doors and furniture
- General loss of interest
- Restlessness (your dog doesn’t quit after quite hard physical exercises)
- Sleep disturbance
- Reasonless licking the hair all the time
- Chewing own nails, paws, tail
- Digging ground
- Trying to escape though you haven’t done anything that might have hurt your dog
To cope with the signs of boredom, the dog keeper must understand that if the dog behaves in this way, he/she wants something from the owner. If it’s not food or another vital thing, then it’s attention.
Don’t Leave Your Dog Alone For A Long Time
If you are always out at work, think about how to compensate the time you don’t see each other and don’t interact with each other. When you’re away, make sure your dog has something or somebody to play with. Dogs love toys. Sometimes they may have one for several years, but other dogs prefer to hop from one toy to another.
There’s no standard how often you must change your dog’s accessories, ask him better. So, check the toys, frequently buy new ones, and don’t stuff your home with those your pet ignores. Except for toys, it’s always a good option to have more than one pet, of the same kind in particular.
Multi-dog households are the places where dogs live longer, feel better, and don’t let each other get annoyed. If your dog temper allows it, and you see that the occurrence of the playmate can make him happy, think to get one more pet. Of course, this piece of advice is relevant for those dog keepers who can assure enough space for both pets. So, your dogs can play together when you are at work you can take them out for a walk using a double dog leash to organize some friendly competition.
Don’t Let Your Dog Stay In For Long
Like humans, dogs need fresh air to get rid of boredom. That’s why if your dog stars scratching the doors, walls, and furniture, he might want to get out for a while. The good idea is to walk your dog out for 45-50 minutes in the morning and in the evening. Morning exercises in the fresh air can make your dog energized. Besides, if the dog is too active, running and speedy games can help to spend the extra energy to keep the balance.
Organize the outdoor activities for your dog in a backyard if you have one. To follow the dog’s desire to dig the ground, provide a purpose for it burying bones and toys. Your dog will enjoy the adventure of seeking for treasures. Jumping and crawling are the activities dogs enjoy.
So, if you are fond of DIY, you can construct an improvised tunnel with the help of cloth and iron spring. There are also ready-made agility tunnels for dogs you can easily purchase in a pet shop. They are easily detached and can be stored in small places.
Find Time for Games
If your dog takes your shoes or other things, he wants to attract your attention. The same is about trying to escape. In this way, your dog shows he’s important to you. In other words, he wants you to know how it will be if he’s not with you anymore. These signs should make you understand that your dog wants to spend more time with his owner.
It might happen that during weekdays you won’t be able to play much together, but you need to plan your weekend in a way to compensate for your absence during the working week. You can hide your dog’s toys, leaving small hints to help him find them. Besides, you can play hide-and-seek together.
Believe that your dog will find the game very entertaining, especially when you show him how to hide. To prevent your pet from escaping, control where exactly he digs the ground, make sure it’s far from the fence. You should also check your fence, and its security to avoid any kind of chance for him to escape.
When your dog plays in the yard, and you can’t be there all the time, don’t leave him without supervision, come to check him from time to time. Don’t only peep out to check whether everything’s fine. Come closer, show your involvement in what he’s doing, take part in a game for a couple of minutes. In other words, there are a lot of tricks to avoid the dog’s boredom, but the most important issue is to care about your pet.
