What Activities Do You Provide For Your Animals?

[baymule]

By activities, I don't mean activities like the Hollywood crowd-let's not get outrageously stupid. I mean activities that keep them busy, let them express their natural behavior. OK, get outrageously stupid-there is always the pet that is completely bonkers and is a lot of fun for their family!

For Parker, our Lab/Great Dane mix, he has his own bathtub in the backyard. He loves it. It was damaged and the big box store was going to throw it out, so it came home with us. I wash it out a couple times a week and he plays to his heart's content in it. Last time our grand daughter was here, I scrubbed it and they both played in it! He also politely stations himself next to DH when we eat supper. DH collects the plates, scrapes them and feeds Parker the leftovers on a fork.

For Polly, our Australian Shepherd, we moved my 90 year old mother in with us. Polly thinks Mom is here for her pleasure and nudges Mom's hand for lots and lots of petting. She cruises under the dining table and scoops up what Mom drops and licks the crumbs out of Mom's lap. Polly and Parker go in the front yard with Mom and run, tussle, play and put on a show. Polly goes with us to the city park and walks the trail, peeing 14-20 times in a half mile.

The chickens have a game they like. I call it bobbing for dog food. It is a good way to feed them extra protein, especially if they are molting. I place an old pot full of water in the coop and dump in several cups of dry dog food. They love the dog food, it entertains them for awhile and they drink extra water while bobbing for the floating dog food. The extra water is important now in the heat, so they have fun, eat, drink and stay busy for awhile.

What do you do for your pets or livestock to give them a play outlet, or activity to keep them busy?

 

[NwMtGardener]

ice cubes...our collie/whatever loves playing in the water bowl, regularly submerging her nose and blowing bubbles, it's hilarious! She likes the ice cubes just to push them around on the floor or in her water bowl, makes a mess but she has fun! I've heard you could freeze treats into the ice cubes for them, but I don't bother. Since I use those ice cubes too, I wouldn't want to accidentally grab the ones with the carrots in them for my drink!

Do you think your chickens would like to peck at a large ice cube, maybe frozen with peas or something that would be a treat for them?

 

[thistlebloom]

Well, lets see... I put Wren in her stroller and stroll around the mall with her (she's just a teensy bit large for my purse ). Then we both get our nails and hair done and finish our "girls" day out with something delicious from the gourmet patisserie.



TOTALLy kidding!!!

Wrens not that kind of girl anyway.
What she and Gator like best is a mountain bike ride on those twisty single tracks through the woods. And ball and frisbee catching.

The goats like their walks, but their favorite activity is eating, so I toss prunings in their pen. They even strip the bark off the branches before they call it done.

Cooper (mini horse ) loves to go for a trot next to the 4 wheeler and holler at all the mares we pass in the neighborhood.
He also has eating up there on the top of his activity wish list so I stake him out on the lawn for short grazing "desserts".

The chickens..., well they're chickens. What can I say. I let them out into the yard when I have time to keep an eagle eye on them
because their number one favorite activity is destroying veg and flower beds.

 

[Carol Dee]

My husbands hunting dog was VERY entertaining the other day! He was chasing and barking at cottonwood fluff. He would run around looking up and bark, then launch himself up and SNAP at the fluff. I wish I had it on film. He entertains himself very well. No special toys needed. Although he does enjoy ice cubes and comes running when he hears the dispenser.
My sister has a dog whose favorite toy is a hula hoop. Even after she has turned it into a hula *stick* Sis also freezes goodies in ice blocks for hot days. (One of her dogs in a Great Pyrenees) she also makes doggie popsicles with ground turkey and yogurt frozen in paper cup. Peel of the cup and yummy cold treats.
Then of course she has a cat that loves her slippers. She has several pair od slippers. Every day Glory brings down one slipper after the other until she has them all downstairs, then snuggles with her favorite.

 

[skeeter9]

Well, let's see - our dogs have appointed themselves the official squirrel chasers, so they entertain themselves with that quite a bit. We have a wading pool just for them and they play in that. We also have a big pool and they love to come swimming with us. Our mastiff mix pup would swim all day if we let her. We have a soccer ball that our corgi loves to herd around the yard, but our big hound mutt popped it the other day - oops. The corgi and mastiff mix love to chase ice cubes around the kitchen floor. We also go on hikes on our property and they have a huge time exploring.

The cat prefers to lay on the back of the couch and do nothing at all, but once in a while he will force himself to play with the corgi. That's about it for him.

The pigs we just butchered had a stall ball in their pen and they played with it all the time - it was very funny to watch.

The horses get turned out to roam free on the property and graze, but none of them are into playing with things (except each other).

The chickens get to play in the hose every day when I give them water. They have a blast getting squirted.

 

[the1honeycomb]

I have 2 dogs, both rescue mixes,they love going swimming in the pond, walking on the hill behind our house and chasing gophers and field mice. Being anywhere that I am even in the shower!!! What a surprise when your in the middle of a shower and your dogs come and jump in !!

My cat a little black and white runt that weights about 66 lbs full grown loves to attack my puppy who is about the sixe of a full grown lab and weights about 80 lbs He runs crying from the room and jumps into my lap

My chickens are free range and son't really need to be entertained, they like to chase each other around,

 

[dewdropsinwv]

My Sadie like to play Frisbee She used to only play with a white one. Now it doesn't seem to matter to her much. I haven't tried letting her play in a wading pool yet. I'm going to get one for the chickens to paly in so I'll get her one too and see how that works.

 

[MontyJ]

I sometimes take a CX to a BBQ. Does that count??

 

[baymule]

I sometimes take a CX to a BBQ. Does that count??

Yes that counts!

 

[bj taylor]

we just got our golf cart fixed. we drive it through the pasture and the goats run after us yelling for us to stop. when we stop, sophie (the grown up girl goat ) jumps up in the back of the cart & rides a few feet with us.