For many dogs, the back-to-school season brings the months when they’ll start spending more time home alone, but that doesn’t have to be the case. It can also mean helping your dog adjust to a new routine during the school months. So how can you ease the transition and help your day stay involved with back-to-school?
With a little creativity and planning, you can involve your dog in many of your back-to-school activities. Including our dogs in various parts of our changing routines can improve your dog’s quality of life, and decrease stress and anxiety.
Why Do Dogs Need More Enrichment This Time of Year?
During the back-to-school season we want to provide our dogs with more exercise and enrichment opportunities. As schedules change and families head back to school, chances are their dogs are spending more time on their own. When dogs are alone they’re more likely to become bored, which frequently translates into stress-based or destructive behaviors.
It’s important to make sure you make the most of the quality time you have with your dogs during this transitional period. When our dogs get more physical and mental enrichment, they feel happier and more confident. This can decrease the likelihood of destructive behaviors, like chewing and digging, and barking. Making sure your dog is getting enough exercise can also help your dog be less stressed and anxious. Here are some fun ways to involve your dog in the back-to-school season:
Getting the Kids Involved
A great way to make back-to-school season fun for your dog is to involve them in homework time. Instead of “my dog ate my homework,” kids can use the skills they’re learning at school to help you train the family dog.
Ask younger children to count the number of treats you’re preparing for a training session. You can also have them count the number of repetitions you do of a specific cue. Your kids can practice their math skills and your dog will get training time.
For older kids, get them a dog training book with step-by-step instructions for teaching new skills like tricks. Ask your child to read each direction aloud to you as you teach the new skill to your dog. If your kids are interested in training, let them try to teach your family dog the skills themself, with your supervision and support. Your kids can even earn Trick Dog titles together or create DIY enrichment activities for your dogs. For kids who enjoy training, they might want to consider getting started in dog sports or getting involved in Junior Showmanship.
Bus Stop Walks
Do you walk your kids to school or to the bus stop? Consider leashing your dog, and bringing them along! Physical exercise is important for dogs, regardless of breed and age. Walks can help dogs to build and maintain muscle tone which can improve your dog’s overall physical health. Walks also provide dogs with mental stimulation and enrichment to decrease boredom during this busy time of year. One of the benefits of walking is that it’s a low-impact form of exercise that most dogs can do comfortably. When walking to the bus stop, consider using a 6-foot training leash, which will help you keep your dog close to you while walking. Make sure to bring poop bags, and plenty of treats cut into small pieces.
To encourage your dog to focus on you while walking, say “yes” as a verbal marker and give your dog a treat every time they look in your direction. This will help build value for your dog in paying attention to you and ignoring distractions. Once your dog understands this skill, you can start to practice the “watch me” cue. This will help your dog be able to ignore distractions like other families walking to the bus.
Walking to the bus stop is also a great opportunity for dogs to learn not to pull and practice loose leash walking. Try to give yourself a little extra time when walking to the bus, so you can stop and wait for your dog to reorient to you if they’re still learning walk manners. Don’t forget to praise and reward your dog for loose leash walking. Adding these bus walks that you’re already doing into your dog’s morning and afternoon routines is an easy way to help get your dog active and prevent boredom. The AKC FIT DOG program allows your dog to earn titles by increasing your dog’s fitness and walking while earning those titles.
Reading Practice
Studies have shown that the act of reading to a dog can help improve the confidence and literacy levels of young readers. If you have a child who’s in the process of learning to read or is a reluctant reader, consider getting your family dog involved. Having a dog as a non-judgement listener can be a great way to help improve your child’s confidence in their reading skills.
Dogs can also benefit from being involved in homework time. While your children are reading to your dog, you can work with your dog on impulse control skills where they seek reinforcement from you. As part of homework time, you and your dog can practice their “go to their place” and “stay” behaviors.
Multi-Tasking at Sports Practice
With fall sports starting, many families are spending more time at practices and games. Since many sports take place at dog-friendly parks and sports fields, consider bringing your dog along to games and practices. Not only is this a great time to work with your dog on behaviors like “watch me,” it’s also the perfect place to help your dog get used to doing basic obedience cues around distractions. You can also encourage other parents to bring their dogs to train and create informal obedience practice sessions while the kids play.
When bringing your dog to practice be sure to have a 6-foot leash, so you can keep your dog close to you and not in the way of any activities. You’ll also want to bring lots of small training treats. Use treats not only to reward your dog for performing cues, but also for being calm and focusing on you during the practice. Be sure to only bring your dog along when you’ll have the patience and time to focus on training. If you know your child has an important game that you’ll want to pay attention to, consider leaving your dog home that day.
Consider a Training Reset
Since back to school is often a time that families do a lot of resetting, consider using this time to recommit training with your dog. This might look like signing up for a class with your dog or exploring a new “extracurricular” sport together like Agility, AKC Rally, or Scent Work. You could also set the goal of your dog earning their Canine Good Citizen (CGC), or even just commit to practicing some basic obedience skills regularly.
When you’re already in the midst of a schedule reset, it can be a great time to start building new habits like making time each day for training your dog. One fun way to do this is to practice rewarding your dog for going to their “place” while your kids are doing homework, so nobody gets distracted. You can also use snuffle mats or other indoor sniff games to help keep your dog entertained during homework time. Snuffle mats are an effective enrichment activity for dogs because they allow dogs to utilize their natural instincts of sniffing and foraging to find the hidden treats or food. This simple activity can help occupy dogs while kids are working on homework and provide mental stimulation to dogs at the same time. Using their nose and brain by playing with a snuffle mat can help reduce your dog’s level of stress, and prevent boredom. This simple stimulating behavior provides mental enrichment, and can improve a dog’s overall behavior.
The Benefits of Bonding
Spending quality time with your dog during the back-to-school season is key to making sure that your dog understands they’re an important part of your family. Routines changing during the back-to-school season can be challenging for our dogs, but by being intentional, we can support our dogs through changing schedules. While dogs thrive on routine, they’re also adaptable, as long as their physical and emotional needs are being met. By finding ways to include your dog in the back-to-school season you can set a good example for your children and have fun with your dog at the same time.