Christmas Fun & Games
Its fun to play and activate your dog in doors as well – here are 10 great games that you can play with your dog!
- Box ‘O Weaves
Set up four sets of 12 weave poles in the shape of a square and watch the fun. The winner is the dog who can do the box fastest. - Wufts
Wufts is the fun and educational board game for all dog lovers. You will love playing it with family and friends at home, club or at shows. It consists of two parts, a small obedience section at the beginning and the second part is a dog agility section where the race starts in earnest. Wufts contains 300 questions/answers and can be played by two or more handlers or teams of any ability.
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Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
At our club last year, we did rocking around the Christmas tree. We had a ‘tree’ in the middle of the room, then four sets of three jumps at each point of the compass. We had to go around each bit, passing the tree each time. If we got anything wrong, we had to call the dog back to the tree and go round twice before trying again. Fastest time won.
- Agility Send Away
To make this an agility game, have the handler stand in a small box in the middle of agility equipment. Without leaving the box, the handler has to send the dog out to different pieces of equipment. Each piece of equipment has a point value. Pieces close to the handler have lower point value while those further away have higher point value. The handler has o certain amount of time to acquire as many points as possible with the dog getting points for one piece of equipment only once. This is a good distance training game.
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Woof Relay
Each team is made up of the same number of dogs and handlers. Each pair competes one at a time against the clock. Each dog has to bark three times and then shush. The team with the shortest total time for 15 woofs wins. Probably most difficult game for Flyball dogs. The keeping quiet, that is!
- Snoopy Says
Handlers form a circle with their dogs while someone gives the Snoopy commands such as ‘Snoopy says… sit, Snoopy says down etc. The last team to do the trick, is out! The last pair standing wins!
- Tunnel Terrors
Make up a course consisting solely of tunnels and jumps. Kennel Club rules apply. Each handler and dog must run against the clock – fastest wins. A fun game to play and lots of fun for the spectators to watch as well as the handlers go round and round.
- Sausage Weave Game
Wallingford DTC has played this game for a couple of years now, and is very popular – except with those whose dogs can’t resist food. You need a table, and about 6 feet away, some weaves (at least 6 – I think we usually have 8). And a supply of small sausages. Handlers put their dogs in a down on the table, facing the weaves, and the scorer puts a piece of sausage on the table in front of the dog. The handler has to tell the dog to leave the sausage, and when told, do the weaves up and back. Handlers can continue to give commands to their dog as they weave. Scorer times the handler through the weaves – stopped either when the dog eats the sausage, or when the handler returns. If the handler returns to the table before the dog eats the sausage, it’s allowed to eat the sausage. Scorer also gives marks for handler’s ‘style’ through the weaves. We sorted on times (fastest completed course, then longest before the dog to eat the sausage) taking into account style marks.
- The Water Game
A tray with some paper cups filled with water is carried around a simple course, at the end of the course, any water left is tipped into a bucket or large jug, winning team is the one who has the most water. Suggested by Jackie Kenny
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Relay Races
Divide your handlers into equal-sized teams. Be sure to pick your teams carefully to include Beginners. You can have more than one lane going at the same time. The team with the best time overall is the winner. Undue hauling or force leads to disqualification.
Source: AgilityNet
