The mistake people often make is thinking that their dog just needs exercise. I’ll let you in on something: if you spend even half the time you have available to you training your dog instead of just exercising them, you’ll have a happier, less anxious, more satiated, thriving dog – no doubt about it. Often, the block to having your pet dog live a varied, fulfilled life is your lack of ability to conjure up any substantial variety of exercises to do with them and sometimes, knowing how to do it. Let’s face it, most dogs are up for anything and doing something a little bit different will often make their day! Not all dogs are able to have daily (or any) social interaction with dog friends, and chasing a ball up and down every day is not much of an enriched life, whatever anyone tells themselves. Even if your dog is completely retrieving obsessed (one of mine is) you can (and should) provide them with range of exercises to do within that area (as well as encourage them in others). The practical exercises deck provides you with the what and the how of oodles of specific exercises and activities to do with your dog in an easy to use, portable format. 

From simple games to important canine life skills this deck will teach you and your dog moves that both help you navigate stressful and potentially tricky situations as well as tire your dog out mentally with a wide range of enjoyable challenges.  It incorporates exercises from a range of disciplines and includes some that you can do with multiple dogs, play ideas, fun tricks, basic games, whistle exercises, obedience exercises, simple and more complex behaviour chains, retrieve tasks, challenges around patience, manners and impulse control, exercises to help build both resilience and frustration tolerance as well as some to practise engagement (with the human) and disengagement activities (from the environment or trigger). 

I want everyone’s dog to become a great friend that they have the best fun with and for every dog to be mentally and physically sated at the end of each day, even if their human doesn’t have much time at their disposal. The Practical Exercises Deck collated by Nomad Thief Dog Trainer will help achieve that. It’s suitable for all dogs – from your ‘basic’ (uneducated, untrained) dog whose only repertoire so far is ‘sit’ and ‘paw’ through to working breed or high drive, motivated dogs living in pet homes who may already be doing plenty of stuff, but are eager for more.