GM News - July 2024

This GM-News (no. 61) is all about activities to do inside where it's warm!

Thanks for being a subscriber. Stay cosy :-)
Cheers, Amanda, David, & Ruth
Gentle Modern School of Dog Training

A Sensory Room

Tessa Savelkoel of Puzzle Dog is a specialist in providing sensory enrichment for dogs and an analyst of dog movement for health and wellbeing.

I recently prepared a sensory room for Pluto under the guidance of Tessa through her Long Distance Sensory Room program. Pluto's room consisted of

different surfaces (crackly plastic, foam, carpets, cloth) and objects to negotiate (tubes, plastic strips, netting)
lick mats and bowls
food and drinking water on different elevations and under / behind / on top of objects

The treats in plastic cups in a large bowl was probably the biggest hit with Pluto. He carefully lifted out each cup and then dropped them so the treat would fall out.
I videoed Pluto's interaction with the Sensory Room and then received Tessa's feedback on the video and the way Pluto moved through and interacted with the objects - great fun! Have a go at your own sensory room with or without expert guidance :-)

More Indoor Activity Inspo . . .

Indoor Obstacle Course - 3 Fun Indoor Games to Play With Your Dog by Daniela Lopez

Brain Boosting Games by Jennifer Messer

Teach Your Dog the Names of their Toys
Teach Your Dog Quantities
Hot-Cold Game

Work for your Food Activities - The Best Food Dispensing Dog Toys by Pat Miller

Snuffle Mats, Fill-with-Food, Kibble-Dribbling, Slow Feeders, Licky-Sticky, Puzzles, Electronic
Benefits
Cautions
Recommended Products

Body Language

While your dog is resting after doing a fun indoor activity, why don't you test your canine body language knowledge with these quizzes?
How well do you know your dog? City of Charles Sturt, South Australia
https://www.charlessturt.sa.gov.au/services/pets-and-animal-management/dogs/dog-body-language-quiz

What are These Dogs Trying to Say? Take this Quick Quiz by Teoti Anderson
https://moderndogmagazine.com/articles/what-are-these-dogs-trying-to-say-take-this-quick-quiz/

Image Quiz: Canine Body Language by Monique Feyrecilde, BA, LVT, VTS (Behavior), Teaching Animals, Mercer Island Veterinary Clinic https://www.cliniciansbrief.com/article/image-quiz-canine-body-language

A bit of fun for the scientifically-minded

Are you familiar with the psychological tests where people are shown videos and some of the viewers are given a task such as counting the number of people wearing white? A gorilla appears within the video, and half of the viewers who had the task to do don't notice it. Linda P. Case of Science Dog in 'Would Your Dog See the Gorilla?' describes a version of the research with dogs - it's a test you could do with your own dog!

Review Us?
If you feel it's warranted and you're comfortable writing a sentence or two in the form of a testimonial for use on our website (please email it to Amanda), or reviewing us on Facebook or Google (how to and direct link to GMSDT Google review), we would be very grateful. Small businesses live or die based on reviews.

Reward for Reading to the End

Have you ever wondered how commercial pet food is designed and developed? Prepare to be fascinated: Dog Food Lab - 200 cats, 200 dogs, one lab: the secrets of the pet food industry by Vivian Ho

"The Waltham Petcare Science Institute in Melton Mowbray [British Midlands] is the science arm of Mars Petcare, a leading company in the pet food industry. The research that takes place there determines the future products of dozens of pet food brands: Iams, Cesar, Whiskas, Sheba, James Wellbeloved, Pedigree, Eukanuba and more.
About a third of the staff at Waltham work in its research labs. The other two-thirds are dedicated to feeding, training, exercising and maintaining the living spaces of the real stars of the show: the 200 dogs and 200 cats that live at Waltham and test the products developed there. The 200 dogs belong to four different breeds, chosen to represent different canine sizes: labradors for big dogs, beagles for medium, and norfolk terriers and petit basset griffon vendéens for small dogs. Almost all the cats on site are domestic shorthairs. . ."
Waltham Petcare Science Institute is just one commercial pet food provider (includes a raw food provider) examined in Vivian Ho's article.

Bonus: Heather has recommended Barking Good, 277 Lower Heidelberg Rd Ivanhoe East as providing a wide range of food treats for dogs.