How to teach my dog to play?
Haven't posted here in a while. I don't know if anyone else has this problem with their dog/corgi, but mine doesn't seem to like to play. Mickey just turned 2, so it's not like he's old and doesn't want to play. He just doesn't seem to care for it. If I have a day off and I'm at home, he'll just lay around and sleep all day. Or he'll chew on his marrow bones. If he wants attention, he'll come and lay on my feet. He never brings me toys to play with him. He'll run around with other dogs, including the other dogs we have at home, but I would love for him to play with ME.
I've tried all sorts of different toys. Squeaky ones, grunty ones, crinkly ones, all shapes and sizes, and he'll chew on them at first, but after a while he doesn't care about them anymore. We tried fetch, with tennis balls, rubber balls, rope balls, and he did fetch at first, but now he doesn't do it anymore. Once in a while he will fetch, maybe once. After that he'll just run to the ball and then not pick it up, or just stand there with a goofy look on his face like "What're you doing??". I bought him a frisbee but he doesn't seem to care for it. He's kinda scared of it, actually. Same with one of those big playground balls that I got for him, thinking he could herd it around the backyard. Nope. First time I brought it home, he got so scared that he peed as soon as he saw it. Now I don't have it anymore because it got tossed over to the neighbor's yard during a pool party and no one went to get it back. Haha. He seems to have no herding drive at all. He'd rather be chased than chase you. No matter which way you run, if he's running with you, he will always run ahead so that you're chasing him. If you turn around and run the other direction, he'll either overtake you, or just stop running. He's scared of things that are bigger, or can move and make noises. He loves food, so I got him a treat ball, but it's plastic and makes a loud sound rolling around on my tile floor, and it scares him, so no matter what yummy treats I put in there, he'll have nothing to do with it. He'll sometimes tug, but he gives up really fast.
The only toys that he seems to like are ones that he can dig food out of. As long as he can hold them and they don't move around and make noise on their own. And even in that case, I'm sure he only likes them because of the food. If there's no food in there, he won't play with them. And I can't give him treats all the time.
I'm about out of ideas after a year and some with him. Every time I go to the pet store, I keep wanting to buy him more toys, but I can never seem to find a toy that he LOVES, and I hate that I keep wasting money on toys that he'll only play with for a week, if at all. Anyone ever had this problem? Or have any ideas on how I can teach him to play? I'd love to hear your opinion. Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Linda on
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Yup, same boat here. We got Katie at age 4, she is now 9. She has never had any idea of play other then ripping a toy to shreds or helping to herd the cats when Uncle Max does. When we play fetch with Max she will try to get the toy a time or 2 and then just walk away. About the only game she likes is being rolled over on her back and having her tummy rubbed/tickled/scratched. Then she will jump up, do a frap and come back for another tickle. And she usually only does that 2 or 3 times and then goes and lays down.
So we just "play" with her in the way she likes and let her be herself.
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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You can try building toy drive. A lot of agility people do this as a tug is a great easy reward to use out on the course.
This is a good link IMO: http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm
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Permalink Reply by Donald Till on
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My daughter has 2 Corgi's and they play fetch, tetherball and whatever she feels like doing. My 4 Corgi's don't play, in fact they are anti-play. For them it's fun barking and chasing the other dogs trying to play and for the most part just messing up the game for everyone. Talk about killjoys. They are very active, love to walk,play with each other and the other dogs, bark at strange dogs and cats, but put a person into the mix and it just gets all to complicated for my territorial/possession prima donnas.
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on
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I've found, the best time for me to bond with my couch potatoes is during our walk. There's the wonderment of discovery, the adventure of protecting them from the loud machines that spew out grass, and of course all the loving from the neighborhood kids. (Forgive my insomnia brain for sounding uber corny) Walks are our play and bonding time. Neither of my pups give a crap about toys or even playing amongst themselves. It's all about the couch and lovins
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Permalink Reply by Shou on
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I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in this. Haha. Guess I can only wait and hope that my 2nd dog will like to play more.
I'll try that trick you mentioned, Jane. I've kinda done something similar before, where if I want him to be interested in something, I'll try to show him that I'm interested in it, but usually he doesn't seem to care. I guess it can't hurt to try again though.
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