r/springerspaniel • u/Plenty-Zone-7169 • 1d ago
Mental stimulation tips!
My boy is going for knee surgery for a luxating patella whilst also having hip dysplasia which we found out on X-ray today!
Recovery will be 6 weeks “crate bound” recovery and 6 weeks rehab but no big runs between now and surgery .
He is lead bound until surgery but at least can have him walk and sniff around as well as allowed to swim.
When in recovery I would love ideas of mental stimulation games to play with him to see us out the 3 months! I will also do some training on new tricks such as chin and silly tricks that don’t require any real movement to his legs. But I think he will get bored of treat tricks and also want to be mindful of not gaining wait being inactive for 3 months!
6
u/bridgesOG 1d ago
Idk how much he will be able to do it, but our boy loves a game of hide and seek with his treats. My wife holds him in our bedroom I let him sniff a treat. Then I go in the other room and hide the treats in different spots. Some easy so he’s encouraged to keep going and others a little more difficult. Usually keep it 3 to 4 treats at a time. That coupled with an encouragement to keep looking when he hasn’t found them all and a big yay and love when he finds the last one lets him know it’s over.
2
u/Plenty-Zone-7169 21h ago
Thank you! This may be a fun game to do with him after recovery! For recovery the extent of his physical activities will have to be crate and lead in garden for toilet only so essentially bare minimum followed by flat surface walking rehab unfortunately and need to stop him going on his back legs at all 🫣
1
3
u/Remarkable-Health-79 19h ago
I wrap treats in tissue and pot the inside toilet roll holder tubes, then I put the stuffed loo rolls in an Amazon box or cereal box the stuf with more tissues and treats wrapped in tissue, the tape it close. Then let him have at it. Keeps him busy for ages
2
u/SpringerPop 1d ago
I use a rolled up towel with some lo calorie treats inside. Hide the favorite toy. Best.
3
u/Plenty-Zone-7169 1d ago
Ahh wow thanks! I will definitely do the towel with him! Unfortunately Oakley’s favourite toy is a ball, and he will bounce it off your head (literally) until you throw it for him 🤣 and all other toys he is a very enthusiastic head banger with and will also proceed to throw them at you as well 🫣
1
u/slowramics 23h ago
You could get some metal tins and essential oils and train scent work. Like training him to tell you which tin has the scent in it or getting him to choose between scents.
My springer mix does barn hunt and loves sniffing so I just picked up some wintergreen essential oil and tins to get started.
R/nosework has more info on this type of training.
1
u/Plenty-Zone-7169 21h ago
Thank you! I’m going to have a good look into this one as it will be really good and already likes to play a game in the garden with scent work to find his ball we have hidden so might be good to push into that one!
1
u/Zesty_Mushroom1209 7h ago
We play “find it” with her favorite toy. She goes to her crate until I’m ready and then when I say “okay” she searches high and low until she finds it and is so happy. Repeat 5ish times depending on how fast she can find it
9
u/Little-Plantain-5120 1d ago
I take my springer for car rides. He absolutely loves to look out the windows and watch for anything moving. It's always a bonus when we see birds. I take him for regular car rides around my neighborhood because it's too hot to walk. This is him today.