Quote: Betty Waldron

 Quote: Carol Boche

 Quote: Jennifer Mullen

i have to admit, i'm jealous of your school, winter or not!!!

Nah...just come play....that is what it is for

We are going to turn a couple of the classrooms into bunk areas and a couple private rooms. Everything is functional and it has locker rooms with showers.

We are thinking about renting it out to the combiners and the hunters that are here seasonally and then the rest of the time I can use it for dog training workshops and seminars.

That is just one of the neatest things I've heard in a long time Carol.

That does sound like a great idea Carol!

I am looking forward to some deep snow, I am hoping that will make it easier to tire Dutch out.

I work at an airport, so I have my choice of 5 airplane hangars to run the dogs around in. We just have to be careful because the floors are pretty slippery. There is also all kinds of crazy stuff laying around for them to climb on (example).

When I am at home, I just pull the cars out of the garage and train in there. I have also been known to play fetch up the stairs to tire out a dog that's been cooped up for too long.

I just ordered new warm winter boots, a coat for active outdoor stuff in the cold and some new better gloves for me.
We dont have horrible winters here but I get cold easily and I'm not going to have a choice but to be out walking in it everyday no matter the weather.

For Yote I ordered a backpack that I can add weight too since he is a year old and should be old enough to start carrying a bit. and that way he will tire out more quickly!

For Loki the houndog I ordered a coat and some booties, because he has no undercoat and gets cold really fast.

We do have a treadmill for the really nasty days. That and hide and go seek in the house is one of MY favorite games!!!!! Sometimes, when I'm really trying to be quiet and hide, I get to laughing and I get found even quicker. It's neat to see him air scenting for me!

Once I ran up a ladder that was in a room of our house, and was perfectly still. Cerbie ran around on the floor, and kept returning to the foot of the ladder, but never looked up. It took him quite awhile to find me! Now of course, if the ladder is up, that's one of the first places he'll look.

Blow bubbles in the livingroom.

Move your lamps.

We play hide the toy with Max. He loves it, his leg starts shaking with the effort of staying while we hide his toy. Then he races off sniffing out the way we went to hide it.

He comes over with his ball now and kind of throws it at us to entice a game.

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

Blow bubbles in the livingroom.

Move your lamps.

Hey, that sounds familiar....ask Heather (my daughter) about that when we go for Thai food...

(she thought Rock would leave the balloons alone)

I will.

I'm almost missing the summer flies and mosquitos. They were the cause celebre around here with Danke for awhile.

Usually I bite the bullet and brave the elements but for those times when I've had enough bitter cold; we take the fun and games inside.

Disclaimer: Do not try this at home if you have anything of value, have people living below you, aren't already half crazy or are working on teaching your dog to be calm in the house.

Furniture tag: Kids run to a coach, chair, bed etc dog follows leaping onto said piece of furniture and continues at this game until either someone gets hurt or I lose my patience and start yelling.

Off the wall: A tennis ball is bounced caught by Thor who then swings his head, releases the ball so it bounces off the wall and he goes biserk chasing after it this game is instigated again by kids and often ends the same way as Furniture tag.

Floor Hockey: Chair cushions act as a net, the dog is the goalie and a pair of socks the puck of choice. Yes this game too is brought to a quick end with the added pleasure of a death shake to the puck which often ends with a punctured pair of socks.

In comparison to this; frost bite is welcomed.

The link below offers wiser choices for inside fun and also gets your dog thinking.

http://canineuniversity.com/articles/training/train_08.html

I like the canine university article, but there's one exercise that I have to disagree with, lol. That whole cookie under the couch thing...

Jake's ball rolled under the aquarium stand one time and he was trying his hardest to get it out: paws (scratching the hardwood), head (pushing on the base of the stand)... I bet he was problem solving but I don't think he got far enough along to realize 20 gallons of water & fish on top of his head would totally ruin the ball game, lol. I arrived just in time to see the stand wobbling and the fish looking scared, ! That was a close call (dont' worry, the fish are safe ). After that I put "bumpers" under all 'delicate' furniture and especially the aquarium stand to keep toys and dogs out of harms way...

Great thread! Thanks for all the tips

I dont recommend hiding things under furniture either....

A few weeks ago Yote's ball rolled under our bed and he couldn't get it out.

So he proceeded to attempt to dig down to it instead.
Our mattress now has a patch of duck tape underneath the mattress pad and sheets.

He did this in about 30 seconds start to finish while I was in the other room switching the laundry.