Just wondering what sort of stuff you guys cover in an at-home training session?

I've got a 2yr old (today!) fawn dobe male Remy, well behaved, very mellow dog.  But, he gets bored in a snap!

He gets about 2 hrs walk a day, almost all off lead; if I have work during the day (i'm a groomer, just started so customers are kind of random at the mo) he gets a frozen kong stuffed with peanut butter and treats.  If I'm not, I just walk him sooner, and sometimes take him for a third walk instead of just two.  He also has a friend, a 21 month rottweiler X gsd bitch, Opi, who also gets bored easily - she has the same walks and treats.

I'm looking at treat balls when I can afford them, and him and Opi will both be going into training classes this summer - Remy for his silver CGC, Opi for her Bronze, both for agility and maybe Opi for flyball.

But in the meantime, I keep thinking about training sessions each evening, 1-on-1 - but when I do them they are very quick cos I am not very imaginative!!  A typical session would be a few minutes long, with sit, down, stay, stand as the basics; "spin" and "take a bow" for Remy, and "Beg" (up on hidn legs) for Opi.  I don't have the room for bigger stuff like heelwork, but what else could I do?  Anyone got any neat tricks I could teach?  Roll over is not on the cards I don't think, as we have laminate floors - Remy won't even try, and Opi stops halfway over.  Of course, it does mean I can teach her "play dead" on command soon ;)

So, any ideas?  Thoughts on beating the boredom generally?  Oh, and does anyone know any real good tough toys?  Unfortunately Remy is a fairly typical dobe, he destroyes everything that isn't solid rubber within about half an hour.  He had a squirrel-tail-ball thing for his birthday today, and it was gone 40 minutes later - he even presented me with the soggy tail when I was trying to enjoy a snack!

I taught my dog & my friends 2 dobies to shut doors!

With the door allmost shut I put a treat in my hand & hold it just above there height against the door - as the dog jumps for the treat they knock the door shut.(Say door at the same time)

Progress with the door wider open each time untill they have to shut it when it is wide open.

When they are doing this well move further away from the door each time untill they will shut the door for you when you are sitting on the other side of the room.

Try it with different doors in the house as well.

All I have to do now is shout door & point to the door & she runs & shuts it - impresses the visiters!

I also taught her to bring the phone when it rung by getting my partner to ring home on the mobile & then giving the dog a treat!
She soon learnt when the phone rang to rush up to it, then if I ignored her she picked it up, so she got a treat for that.
Then I only gave her a treat when she bought it to me!

The trouble is that as she is a staffie she broke the phones - lol- which I think dobes would also do!

HTH

Jo
xxx

Hi,  my friends dobe used to do a high five with her paws - right then left. If you havent a lot of room, you could teach him to do a present by sitting him in a corner then hold a treat in both hands at belly button height, back up a pace and say come. When he reaches you raise the hands so he looks up and hell sit in front of you. Although I dont do obedience, I teach my dogs to Finish and sit on my left, and theres also going under your legs. Trust me you can do this in a small kitchen or garden !

For toys I have bought giant tennis balls which my Dobe cross can pick up in his cavernous mouth but cant destroy ( or maybe hes not trying!) the black Kong, the Air Kong which flies so far its terrific, and a massive ball on a rope - hard to describe but its bigger and harder than the usual rubber ones. There is a range called Tough Toys with a web site. I also bought squeaky toys out of charity shops rather than dog toys which are dearer, although I am very keen on rubber squeaky chickens and would replace these often. We play non toy games on walks like Find the Scattered Treats, Pull the Pig ear off the tree, and Hide n Seek. Oh I also bought a Dog Frisbee which stood up to mouthing and shaking and tugging, and it has a little horn on the underside to help the dog pick it up. That should tire them out - and you! :)

Search is a good excercise for them, We have a boxer ball for Abby you put the food into in and then hang it up they then have to box the ball to get food out of it , she has a ball that she has to push around to get food out of it( have you guessed yet she is very food motivated).
Mary

Gabi likes hide the toy. If its a nice day, I will put her in a sit/stay out in the yard (if not good weather in the kitchen) and then hide her toy somewhere in the house. I return to her with good /stay and treat and then say find your toy. When she finds it she returns to me very exiited for me to do it again. Sometimes it takes her ages to find it but she so enjoys using her brain. You have to start off with it very easy.