Your Tips: How do you keep your dogs mentally stimulated

Thought it would be nice to have a thread on your tips of how do you keep your dogs mentally stimulated

Feel free to add yours!

Here's a few of mine:

Find it!

This is an easy one! Simply make sure your dogs 'room' is clean. Then hide food all around it. Then simply turn off the lights and let your dog sniff out the food!

I know it's not a tough one, but not only does it keep them occupied for a bit it helps train their sense of smell

Bones

You can get bones from pets at home fairly cheap, they usually come roasted and so are generally a 'natural' treat. Rocky loves these and one can keep him occipied all day! Then, when they're finished, you can put things like squashed banana in them and away they go again trying to get it out

Kong

These are also great to fill with foods the dog has to get out. You can even get kong fillers from the shops, although in my experience it doesn't take long for the dog to lick out! I also use peanut butter (but not too much).

Roast beef knuckles

Again these last for a whole day, but unlike the bones, can't be re-used as they are not hollow.

Training

15 minutes of training can quite easily wear your dog out for a bit and get them to settle down. And of course, continued training is good to make sure they don't forget anything!

Treat balls

These are clever little balls which you put treats in, they have small gaps/holes so when you dog rolls the ball around treats fall out! As they stimulate your dogs mentally it helps wear them out/settle them down.

These are all indoor activities - there are lots of outdoor ones too!
Read instructions and use common sense for toys/bones etc, some may need supervision.

Whistle training and hand signals like you would do for a deaf dog is a brill way to keep your hearing dog on their toes

A cardboard box!

Stuff it with treats smaller cardboard boxes a fav toy or ball and those cardboard rolls you get from toilet paper with the ends stuffed with paper, put some thing good in the middle. Ela LOVES this as she gets to destory something and the treats/ball keeps the interested.

Not good if your dog will eat the cardboard though!

Roast beef knuckles, take it by the name they are cooked, I personally wouldn't give them...
I use the planet dog balls now, they are hollow, I put cold meat in them and because it sticks to the sides takes them ages to get it out lol

Different walks.

Even if you only have access to the same places most days, change the directions/routes you take. Try to go to different places as often as you can.

Toys
Don't leave all your dogs toys out; keep some back for special training...they stay more interesting to the dog much longer.

Don't always take the same ball or toy on a walk, don't always play with the toy at particular sections of the walk.

Get Bens 2 favourite toys make him sit and stay hide them in another room in places like inside an open drawer, under the duvet, behind the toilet and come back and tell him to go find one or the other. Keeps him occupied when he brings it back play for a minute or two then tell himm to go find the 2nd one!

Brain trainning on the Nintendo D.S cant get my boy off it!!!

I wouldn't recommend these sort of bones. They usually have lots of additives which can make dogs hyper or have allergic reactions, are usually smoked as well as roasted which isn't good. Because they are roasted they can fragment and cause blockages. Also it means they are too easy to eat - the dog will eat it too quickly and vomit.

Best bones are raw ones from the butcher (if you ask nicely you can usually get them for free). But don't give cow leg bones because they are very tought and will wear the teeth down eventually.

Also with bones you have to be careful how much they eat because it causes very hard poos and can make the dog constipated. Once the dog is used to digesting them they can eat a bit more.

Pig's trotters are good, but if your dog isn't used to them, just give for a short amount of time because they can cause digestive upset.

Raw, frozen chicken wings last quite a while and are good chewing for smaller dogs.

My two both love using their noses so we do sit stays on walks and I hide their toys or treats. I also hide toys around the house and garden when it's dry
Dale does agility so if its not pouring we do a bit of that. Clicker training is another favourite. You should have seen the Gay Gordons at the Christmas party. The dogs actually did it
Chip is obsessed with balls so he's easy to entertain. I only let him have a boomer ball for short spells. He gets so excited and barks at it with the loudest high pitched bark ever
I also keep squeaky toys out of sight and let them have one to play with every now and then.
If we're going out they get treat balls and they love chewing bones or frozen chicken pieces but that needs supervision.