What do you guys do with an older arthritic but high drive dog to keep them busy?

I have a 11.5 yr old Dutch Shepherd...still crazy and still a shit! He is very high drive but has severe arthritis due to hip displacia. Despite that pain, he is very active and always wants something to do. We still do some obedience but he can't sit anymore, its too painful for him. I've had to change the rules to stand instead of sit during heeling and put him in a down-stay instead of sit-stay.

We haven't done nose-work in a very long time because I've always had him sit to alert but I'm thinking about teaching him to just freeze/point instead. He also loves to swim but has a hard time seeing the bumpers sometimes because of cataracts...I've lost 4 in the past year. Maybe I need to do some field/retriever type training with him and teach him to follow direction to find them.

Keeping him entertained has been the ongoing challenge since I first rescued him 10 yrs ago. Poor guy, he used to love to jump over and climb on just about anything and run beside my bike. I feel bad he can't do that anymore. But on the bright side he does tire out faster now LOL.

Tresa,

You can do some trick training with him - just choose those that are easier for him to do that aren't too physical.

You can also do scent discrimination games and have him bring back an item that you touched - kind of like the little woods in Mondio. I do this with Toni where I will take something out to the horse pasture and toss it, and have her find it. You don't have to do that kind of distance if it hurts him, but a lot of times if you do the mental stimulation with them it tires them out just as much as physical.

Swimming is excellent exercise for him - the hex bumpers that we have are supposed to be designed to be seen easier - I don't know if that's the case or not, but it might be something you can look into... http://leerburg.com/hexabumper.htm

With Bailey hitting 9 years old in just a few months, we definitely see her slowing down also. We found her arthritic back knees and hips flare up whenever we do any serious agility work or hard running so we've taken to doing more nosework, obedience and swimming/dock diving. The swimming seems to have given her a new lease on life. Not sure if it's a coincidence or not but her joints haven't given her any problem since we began swimming and dock diving. We still do the long hikes, though, because she simply loves to get out into the woods. Sure is tough watching them grow older but I like that she has matured and isn't nearly as reactive as she used to be. Hopefully, your boy has plenty of goods years still left in him.

I do like the idea of nose work with a stand.

Hard to beat any sort of swimming games.

Trooper turned 10 this May and still bat$#!+ crazy so a few shorter retrieves a day and walks in the neighborhood in the cooler part of the day keep him happy.

Kelly, I didn't even know they had bumpers. I think the larger diameter would be perfect, thanks! Maybe we won't loose so many this summer. He'll obsess for hours water retrieving just about anything *as long as he can see it* whether it floats or sinks doesn't matter.

Greg, this butthead is very healthy aside from the joint issues, I just have to keep him active and happy. I've always wanted to do dock diving with him, but he won't jump into water...not sure how to teach him to do that. I was able to get him over his fear of swimming but even now he enters the water carefully.

Bob, well I guess if I can teach a former water hater to love water retrieving I guess I can make him a pointer too.

Thunder was a natural retriever and a natural swimmer.

Retrieving from the land was never an issue from the time he was 12-13 wk old but that foot high leap off the dock was never something he liked.

This was a dog that had loaded into a running helicopter, boats, rapelled, you name it but that ft high dock just wasn't his cup of tea.

Go figure!

Bob you could fire a canon next to Logan and he wouldn't flinch, but God forbid there's a deadly foghorn or evil train out to get him!