Thor is a family dog and suddenly the family is me. My youngest went off to college two weeks ago, the oldest graduated and took a job in DC where she attended college and the middle returned for his junior year last week. The husband is in Chicago for 6 to 8 months.

As much as I thought perhaps they were slackers when I needed help...they were obviously entertaining Thor; since we have been on our own the 5 hours of exercise, training, playing and errand running is NOT enough. He is always on! Though on second thought errand running has decreased but still he's almost 12 shouldn't he be sleeping?

Anyway I don't have much more time to dedicate to him so I have come up with a 5 minute game that seems to take the edge off but I wonder if it is mean.....kind of insulting his intelligence?

I have a sunken living room (two stairs to the den) his crate is in the living room. I tell him to go to his crate then start dropping tiny treats in the den (he can see them) and tell him to find then back to his crate and down then drop another etc. After about 5 minutes he has been up and down a couple dozen times and takes a snooze. He is not sore; up and down the 2 stairs does not seem to bother him. Just think it is a rather pathetic find game but he seems to need the aerobics.

Any other quick add on activity ideas I can do while I work would be appreciated. I am happy he is so engaged but for the first time since he was 8 weeks old; I'm not sure I'm meeting his needs......

Treadmills work wonders :-)

Start slowley & build up some time & speed. I will only trot briskly. I don't run them on it. I also stand or sit right by the treadmill. I don't tie them or walk away. I read my kindle or turn the tv so that I can see it, while they get a nice bit of a workout.

Thanks Anne, Spoiled rotten! Lays down unless someone is holding his tug in front of him or running beside him....I'm a good leader. :wink:

Though, your post got me thinking; maybe he doesn't need more exercise but instead is suffering from "empty nest syndrome". Is there such a thing for dogs? He does have a unique relationship with everyone in the family.

I'm don't know about empty nest s. but i'm sure he misses them. we have a Maltese. he is around me as much or more than my wife when she is at work he lays around on the bed. don't eat even if offered a snack. as soon as she arrives home he is jumping around eating his food and if i'm eating he begging. my wife doesn't believe it.

I don’t know about dogs and the empty nest thing but I do believe they pick up on what we may be feeling.

And I love your game Sheila, I don’t think its mean or demeaning in any way. If he’s engaged and enjoys it, it sounds like great fun. I’ll admit, when one of my boys is itching for a bit more exercise, I’ve been known to throw food around the house too.

I really do like their treat dispensing toys though. Just have to fill it once – well three times, one for each, and keeps them entertained for a good hour. I’ve been known to give it a few bouncy tosses too. Kinda fun to watch the food fly and does the scattering for me.

I do this for Tanka and I think he loves it. I hide lots of things around the house for him to find. And every now and then I scatter his lunch around the house too.

Well all of you are right. The evening that I posted this; Thor started whining after I had just let him out and gone to bed. I got up to let him go out again, just in case, but found him standing at my youngest's daughter bed with his chin on her pillow, crying. Heartbreaking!

Thor is a wonderful family dog and goes with the flow but when things are unsettled he does lose confidence so I have put him on a very structured routine and have even instituted designated crate time (other than when I have company, he has been free to go in and out of his crate since he was three. (over eight years).

He is doing much better and is thriving on the structure. So if he opts to earn back his freedoms I'll be happy to work with him but I think he seems to prefer the militant life style more right now. Has anyone with an older dog found this to be the case? Less freedom equals happier dog?

it's like if you were at the beach all day then at 5pm, you had to go to work you would hate it. but if you inside no tv or internet you would be happy to get out and go to work,imo dogs are the same.even crated for 2 hrs he will be a different dog good luck

Well, if it's mean, then I guess I'm mean to :-) I play these types of games with my dogs all the time, inside and outside. It starts at around 5 weeks old, and we continue doing it most of their lives. And really, whats not to love about it, they get to do some searching and they get a treat as their reward, that's not mean, that's mental stimulation.

Teach him to play fetch. You can do that while sitting in a chair and the dog gets a great workout.