Dogtober is here and we’re ready to welcome lots of happy canines with their owners. All of our guests are welcome to bring their dogs with them in October, absolutely free!
To that end, we thought we’d suggest our favourite games to play with Fido on the beach this October.
Frisbee Fetch
Fetch is a pretty simple game to play with a hound, but try using a Frisbee instead. The ocean breeze will catch the disc making it much more fun for you to throw, and it’ll require your dog to be extremely accurate and agile in order to catch it.
You can start off small, roll the Frisbee on the ground toward your hound, then do some low level throwing, before finally raising the bar and watching them perform some larger jumps.
Hula-Hoop
Dogs not only like to learn, but they like to be nimble and even verge on the acrobatic at times! Take a hula-hoop to the beach and hold it upright on the sand, and tempt your dog to walk through it with a treat and praise as a reward.
Then move the hoop a little higher, just a couple of inches will be adequate, and lead Fido through it again. Keep raising the hoop and rewarding with treats and praise with the hoop height increasing slightly each time and watch your hound transform into a wannabe Crufts contender.
Shoot Hoops
You can teach your hound to play basketball with you on the beach. Place the hula hoop on the ground (or if a family member has a bucket and spade, you may want to weigh down the bucket to use), walk over to it with a ball and drop the ball into the ring while saying ‘drop’ to your hound. Repeat the process a few times before giving Fido the chance to drop the ball. Praise him immediately when he does it before moving further afield and throwing the ball to him to take to the hoop and drop.
Swimming!
It may seem like an obvious suggestion, but when you’re somewhere as beautiful as Cornwall you can’t not take Fido to the beach for a paddle! Whether your hound enjoys a gentle trot amongst the waves or a proper swim, the water will make walkies more fun and tire Fido out for the rest of the day.