Let’s Play! Even More Fun

As your puppy is growing up, it’s time to explore new ways to have even more fun! This page covers two activities (Adventure Walks and Free Play) that are excellent in helping puppies release excess energy, alleviate boredom, and enrich overall wellbeing. Whether you have regular access to an enclosed outdoor space or not, there are many ways that puppies can engage in natural behaviors.

Why It’s Important
Adventure walks and free play provide both mental and physical stimulation for a puppy and give them the opportunity to practice natural behaviors and follow their instincts!

Safety Tips!

• A few chomps of grass or other non-toxic plants is ok, but puppies should not be gobbling up or unrooting plants.
• Puppies should only be allowed off leash in enclosed spaces. If you don’t have a yard or appropriate space to play with the pup, you can use a longline in an open, grassy area to give the puppy room to play.
• Be sure to give the pup plenty of water breaks!

Adventure walks are an opportunity for puppies to leisurely stroll and relax outside of structured socialization outings and training. These walks are for pups to practice natural behaviors like sniffing and investigating the world around them and are both physically and mentally stimulating. Picture your pup's tail wagging, with their nose to the ground, as they lead the way and uncover interesting scents and investigate their environment. Adventure walks are just as fun for people as they are for puppies!

Typically, adventure walks take place in outdoor areas like nature preserves, hiking trails, and parks where puppies can explore their surroundings. Pups should have more freedom to satisfy their curiosity and engage their senses.

What You’ll Need

• Long leash (6-10’ long)
• Flat collar
• Kibble
• Headcollar (optional)
• Outdoor area

Getting Started
Before embarking on your adventure, be sure to offer the puppy an opportunity to relieve. It’s not the end of the world if the puppy relieves on the adventure walk as they aren’t in jacket, but it’s best to give them the chance just in case they need to go.

Find an outdoor area and give them plenty of leash to walk and explore their environment. These walks usually happen at a slower pace to allow the pup to pause and investigate different objects or plants along the way. The focus is on providing the puppy with an enjoyable and enriching experience rather than the structure of an outing or training games.

What if…

• The puppy is stopping to smell the roses for a really long time? Since the objective of these walks is for puppies to practice natural behaviors, allow the puppy to set the pace as much as possible – even if it feels like an eternity to you!
• The puppy investigates something unsafe (garbage, poisonous plants, etc.)? Encourage the pup to move along to sniff in a safer area using a happy voice or a food lure.
• The puppy picks up sticks to carry? Grabbing sticks is a natural behavior and lots of puppies love to parade items that they find. If they feel like carrying a stick along for the adventure walk, feel free to let them! If the puppy is gobbling up things like leaves, sticks, or other potentially dangerous items, trade with them using kibble or high value.
• The puppy is pulling me all over the place? Although we want puppies to have freedom on adventure walks, you need to be safe too! Use a headcollar if you have a puppy that is pulling excessively.
• The puppy is marking on every tree and bush? Marking is often associated with hormonal behavior, primarily with intact male dogs, but can also occur with female or altered dogs. Reduce the likelihood of pups marking vertical surfaces by gently encouraging them with a happy voice and/or a food lure past popular pee-mail spots (lampposts, bushes, etc.) If you notice the puppy is developing a habit of marking on adventure walks, be sure to give them plenty of time to relieve prior to embarking on your next walk. If that isn’t resolving the issue, reach out for support.

Free play is a time when a puppy is given freedom to engage in spontaneous, unstructured play. In free play, pups should be given access to a safe space where they can choose to freely interact with toys, objects (e.g. sticks, non-toxic plants, yard ornaments, etc.), and their environment without getting into trouble. Depending on the space that you have available at home, this play can take place indoors and/or outdoors. 

What You’ll Need

• Variety of toys
• Safe enclosed space

Getting Started
To begin free play, make sure the puppy is in a safe and secure area. Although free play allows the puppy to choose how they want to engage with their environment, GDB puppies should still be supervised to ensure they don’t get into any mischief that warrants intervention. To encourage free play, provide toys like balls, interactive toys, and chew toys. Sometimes, rotating the toys that the puppy has available to them makes even old toys seem new and fun!

Free Play Ideas

• Dump their toy basket so they can find all the treasures that were at the bottom
• Kiddie pool so they can bob for toys or splash around
• Romping, jumping, running, and exploring in the yard
• Hide toys for the pups to discover
• Food containing toys or puzzles

Here's a tip!
Do you have a pup who loves to dig? Do they find it very tempting to dig in your garden? Save your garden by offering them an appropriate place to dig instead! It doesn't need to be anything fancy - a kiddie pool with some play sand makes a great digging pit, especially with some fun toys partly buried to encourage digging in the sand!