What is your favorite game to play with your pet(s)? How did you come up with that game? Do you ever make up games to, 'entertain' them? Or was it something they discovered and you made it into a game?
How do you know when your pet(s) want to play? Do they prefer games or toys?
My Katie, Doggy Girl, has tons of toys, stuffed animals. You can't bring a bag in the house without her inspecting it, searching for a new toy. She is toy crazy. On the weekends when I'm trying to sleep-in, she will bring one after the other of her toys until she gets a reaction from me. Then its all about tug of war and throwing and fetching. In other words there is no sleeping in. But I don't mind cause she's the cutest doggy in the world.
Katholmes, what kind of dog do you have? Is it still a puppy? If not, sure has a lot of puppy in him/her! Too funny!!
Janay, have you ever tried tying a feather to the boot lace? I bet that's comical to see! She loves catnip? She doesn't smell it, does she? If you sprinkled a bit of it on her food, would she eat on her own? Just a thought!
I never thought of a feather. That is a great idea. Thanks Jeanne. She can not smell the food, but she does react to capnip. Not all the time, because I put it down about a week ago and she looked at it and then walked away. I am not sure why. She might not have felt good enough to play at that moment.
Janay, when the catnip isn't fresh, some cats wont react to it. Two of mine are that way, but they are crazy about fresh catnip. They roll in it, run through it and make the cutest noises. Janay gave you a great tip with the feather. I have a feather attached to my string, and the cats all love it. Incidentally, if you can get a long feather from a peacock I am certain Shala will go crazy over it. You can purchase those in stores like Hobby-Lobby or Michael's. My dogs like to play fetch with a tennis ball, but only inside the house. When they are outside, they just look at the ball when I throw it. Odd, isn't it? My dogs will go to their toy box and get out whatever it is they want to play with, then they bring it to me. There is absolutely no misunderstanding what they want me to do. Katie, my cat-baby, love to play with a little ball that has some rattles in it. That appears to be especially fun right when we try to go to sleep!
Janay, I just got another peacock feather that is on a flexible, coated stick about 2 wks. ago at Pet Supplies Plus, it was 99 cents! I've seen them in a lot of pet stores, and can't beat the price....plus, since she doesn't smell, her other senses are more than likely heightened and the feather will be a different sensation for her! I know I got more than my money's worth, the first time we used it. They also have something called, "boogie mat", it's a bright print mat, each of the 4 corners are tassled and it unzips and has something inside that reminds me of batting, for those of you who sew, so it's flat, but has some cush to it...anyway, you put catnip in there, zip it up, shake it and lay the mat, which is just cotton fabric, on the floor and it's a hoot......they roll all over it, play with the tassles, and every so often I put new catnip in it.........I never know where I'll find the mat when I wake up in the morning!
Thanks Jeanne. I did order a feather from Petco along with some other toys and goodies. I think you are right about other senses being heightened and I bet she will love it.
Our cat, when she comes in, likes to play Poor Kitty Lost in the Jungle. May have something to do with being the only kitten in a litter that survived nightly predations by coyotes. When she settles down, we can usually find her in an easy chair here in the library. When she plays Poor Kitty, she plays Poor Kitty. When she sleeps, she sleeps. Anyway, having experienced open-air farm life when she was young, she's isn't into games, not that we've ever noticed. Life for her is dark, and until she goes to sleep, she's a wary little beast.
Chaos-dog isn't particularly creative when it comes to games, but he is persistent. He likes playing Tug. Tug has variations on a theme, much like Baroque music.
One Tug variant, played outside, looks a lot like Fetch, except, of course, it winds up being Tug.
Other variants of Tug blend in elements of Growlies, which Chaos and I started playing when he was a pup. I'd be in my recliner, he'd be on my chest waiting for stuff to happen, and we'd play Growlies.
I don't know if playing Squeak the Chickie is as much of a game as it is a tool for achieving another level of awareness. Seems to me, when he squeaks his toy, he zones out in much the same way a yoga practitioner zones out repeating her mantra over and over.
