Poor Honey. She’s always waiting for something.
Waiting for the vet. Waiting for one of us to come out of the store. Waiting for us to stop talking to someone.
What if we found special things to do while waiting with our dog?
Waiting Is The Hardest Part
Besides waiting for the vet to see her, Honey has lots of other waiting time built into her life.
When it’s hot, we can’t leave her behind in a shut up boat. So we take her with us. And one of us waits outside while the other one shops or manages other business.
I’ve gotten pretty good at finding ways to make the waiting easier for her.
Here’s my list.
Things To Do While Waiting With Your Dog
Check P-Mail
Never underestimate how important dogs this is to dogs. If you can find the spot where all dogs seem to “go,” your dog will enjoy catching up on the social scene.
Tune Up Your Training
You’ve got time on your hands. Why not practice some training?
Ask your dog to stay while you do weird things at the end of his leash. It’s always great to practice trained behaviors in a distracting environment.
Exercise
Help your dog work her body and hind legs. Have her put her front paws up on a bench. Or do puppy push ups (sit, lie down, sit, lie down).
Meet His Fan Club
If you have a social dog, don’t hide him off in a corner somewhere. Bring him out to a prominent spot where he can greet people walking by.
Practice Comfort With Scary Situations Or People
If your dog isn’t a social butterfly, maybe she needs some practice feeling comfortable out and about.
Find a place where she can observe noisy shopping carts, kids, or big scary men with beards and hats (apparently a big trigger for some dogs). Reward her for staying calm by walking away, playing a game, or giving a treat. Make sure you stay far enough away that you don’t trigger her fear.
Play A Game
Even in a small area, most ball-crazy dogs will be happy to fetch even a few steps. And tug is a compact game you can play almost anywhere.
Feed Your Dog
We sometimes plan errands around Honey’s dinner time.
Measure your dog’s meal into his bowl or favorite food toy and stick it in a sealable plastic bag. If he has any kind of appetite at all, he won’t mind waiting for his person one bit.
Take A Long Walk
If you find yourself waiting outside the store that suddenly put up a no dogs allowed sign after years of allowing them, take a walk.
Lots of developed places have wild fringes of woods and streams nearby that are homes for all kinds of wild creatures.
Give A Massage
Does your dog love having her ears scratched? Or belly? How about a deep, soothing massage?
The benefit of this idea is that it’s as good for you as for your dog.
Play Hide The Treat
We’ve done beginning nose work games with Honey. It’s been a foundation for all kinds of fun sniffing games.
Sometimes I cover her eyes and toss a treat into the grass and tell her to “find it.” Or if your dog has a good sit and stay, hide a treat on a nearby bench or behind a trash can after sneaking around the corner.
Don’t Make The Wait Just About Waiting
I never mind waiting.
When I’m alone I bring a book. When I’m with Honey, we find plenty to do.
So the next time you find yourself waiting for the vet to see your dog or for your training class to start, take advantage of it.
Your dog will love you for it. And you just might enjoy yourself too.
Your Turn: When do you find yourself waiting with your dog? Who’s more impatient, you or the dog?
For The Wash-And-Wear Dog: #Kurgo Muck Collar Giveaway
Awww I love this list. Lovely 🙂
I’m astounded at how many people don’t take advantage of time they spend with their dogs.
I love spending time with Honey. And a wait is just more time to enjoy with her. 🙂
Wonderful ideas ~ you are so right, if the pups are around while we’re waiting on XYZ for whatever reason, it’s never a boring wait time. I like to practice a little obedience (sit, down, stay) & have the pups meet people & kids who express interest in petting the pups 🙂
Of course greeting the public can make a wait pretty long. 🙂
Those are fun tips. Roxy loves to meet her adoring fans.
She has so many I’m amazed you get to do anything else. 🙂
Excellent and practical advice! It’s no wonder Honey is so well adjusted to whatever floats her way. 😉
Poor pup. She kinda has to be. She never knows what we’re going to serve up next. 🙂
And now we’re getting ready for a potential hurricane landfall.
We’ll be keeping our fingers and paws crossed for you all. Stay safe. <3
Like Monika & Sam, we’re likewise praying that you, Mike, and Honey stay safe!! We’re having a windy downpour right now and we’re 2-1/2 – 3 hours from the SC coast!
I do all of these with our dogs and it’s fun for me and for them. I’m not the most patient person in the world so it’s nice to have dogs to distract me.
Funny how much we can learn from dogs about patience.
On the other hand, Honey made sure we knew she was tired of sitting at dinner last night. 🙂
We are real good about waiting. We usually just sit down or lie down and take a snooze. We enjoy some down time since Mom usually has us real busy.
You’re like working dogs. They have to catch a nap whenever they get a chance. 🙂
Ha, I’m probably more impatient than the dogs are. These are all good ideas to keep me entertained as well as the dogs!
Isn’t that always the way? But Honey does sometimes get impatient with us. Especially if she’s waiting for us to finish eating. 🙂
Great ideas! Richie especially loves the one about meeting his adoring public.
And I bet he has quite a fan club. 🙂
Great ideas all! These days, our wait time is at the vet’s or in the car. At the vet’s, they get lots of cuddle time while waiting. There’s usually other clients waiting too, so no room for practicing what they know. In the car, they hang out the windows, watching the world go by and hoping someone will stop by to say hello.
It’s nice to have cuddly dogs, isn’t it? You never need equipment or to remember to bring treats or toys. 🙂
Great list! Rita doesn’t usually mind waiting – except at the vet’s where she waits with dread! I used to be pretty impatient about waiting in lines, but now (if Rita’s not there) I whip out my phone and read my book. I used to think it sounded crazy to read a book on a phone, but I get a lot of reading done that way!
Can’t read books on my phone. But I never mind waiting if I have something to read. I don’t know how people who don’t read can exist with all the waiting that’s part of life.
My guys are very patient. When they see things aren’t happening soon, they just plop down and rest. This happens most often on a walk when I run into someone that wants to chat a while. As soon as the talking starts, the boys just drop, and let out loud sighs.
How smart and understanding Jimmy and Wilson are. Honey shows impatience when she’s not the center of attention.
We do waiting pretty well. Harley just lays down as if to say “take your time” – Don’t ask about Jax – that’s a whole different story. LOL
It’s funny, I could just see Harley being Mr. Mellow and lying down while you had something to do.
I’d imagine Jaxson likes to be at the center everything. Am I right? 🙂
Great tips Pamela! We don’t have a lot of waiting about, but just this afternoon we had to wait to go into the woods as a couple with two dogs was walking out. (I wish I’d read this before I went to lunch.) LOL
And of course when the dogs spotted the woods ahead they were ready to go, right? 🙂
Ducky is the more impatient one; but she just has so much more energy than even I do. Shadow, thank goodness, has mellowed out with age so she’s a lot more patient than either one of us.
Oh! And definitely great tips! I try to work with Ducky when we’re waiting in an exam room at the vet’s office but most times she’s just too busy wandering around, sniffing at every little thing.
My girl is pretty patient for the most part. More so than me.