4 ideas for Easter fun with your dog

Linn Cecilia Svensson

Linn Radsted

4 ideas for Easter fun with your dog

We've collected 4 easy and fun ideas for fun Easter activities with your best friend.

1. Egg Hunt

Our dogs love challenges, and they love to use their nose! So why not combine this into a fun activity?

An easy way to stimulate your dog during the Easter holidays, can be by going on an Egg Hunt.

The game is quite simple, and all you need is a single or several Easter eggs (of cardboard or plastic – of of course without chocolate or something else inside of the egg) and some delicious dog treats.

  • First, you hide the dog treats inside the Easter eggs.
  • Present the egg with the treats inside, and let your dog sniff it.
  • Next, you either go outdoors or into another room and hide the egg in a suitable place.
  • Then ask your dog to look for his egg.
  • Of course, once the egg is found, you let the dog get the reward inside.

 

2. Go on an adventure

A small Easter holiday might mean, you have more time to spoil your furfriend with extra long walks. 

Why not explore new areas? This can stimulate your dog in other ways than it'is used to. In addition to this, it's good for you and your four legged friend to spend time together and good exercise for both of you. Remember that a well-stimulated dog is a happy dog.

For your dog, the walk's not only an opportunity to go to pee, but an opportunity to "read the newspaper" and experience its surroundings, with all its smells and sounds.

A nice tip when walking your dog, is to keep it on a leash if required, and if you don't have it under full control.

 

3. Teach your dog a new trick

Your dog loves to learn new tricks! Learning tricks will strengthen your relationship with your dog and stimulate the dog. The new trend withing dog training is to participate in the "Do More With Your Dog" tricks challenges. Here you can achieve titles for your dog, and eventually end up getting a dog that is a Trick Champion!

Among other things, you can teach your dog to give you a kiss!

There are several ways to do this, but below, we'll describe one of the ways to do it.

  • Find a sticky note and use it as a target.
  • First, teach your dog to touch the sticky note in your hand with his nose. If the dog shows any interest in the note, you need to mark and reward. All interest is fine to begin with, whether the dog sniffs or looks at the note
  • When this has been repeated a few times, you can raise the criteria for the dog to touch the note with his nose
  • Remember to reward a lot for any wanted behavior
  • When everything goes well, and you are ready to move on, you can put the sticky note on you cheek instead. 
  • As soon as the dog touches your cheek with his nose, you celebrate with a jackpot reward!
  • Once you've put a command on the exercise and repeated it a few times, you can remove the note from the cheek, and see if you can get the dog to touch your cheegk with his nose without the target
  • If this doesn't happen, step back into training and reward the dog several times for betting on the post-it note on the cheek

 

4. Have a doggy welness day

Nice weather and more sun is for most of us followed by our dogs shedding a lot. Therefore, we've collected a few tips on how to help your dog get rid of their winter coat with a small wellness day.

Start with a good brushing of the dog out in the sunny weather. Take your time and have fun - of course this activity should include delicious treats along the way.

You might also need to check the dog's nails, and possibly file or cut them, as well as trimming the hair between the paw pads etc. Perhaps teeth should also be checked and brushed.

If you have plenty of time, a bath can be included in the wellness day. Remember to use a shampoo, that is especially intended for dogs. Be thorough to rinse the fur through, as soap residues can cause itching and irritation.

Carefully rub the dog with a towel and, if necessary, put on a drying coat. End the day by giving a chewy snack, which can be eaten out in the sun while the dog dries.

 

We wish you a happy Easter and some wonderful days with your beautiful furfriends.