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A Doggie Easter Egg Hunt is an excellent training tool and as a bonus, your dog gets exercise while have great fun. The best part is you can tailor the hunt to fit your dog. Adjust the level of difficulty depending on your dog’s personality and training experience. Use commands when your dog is hunting like “find”, “sit”, “stay”, and “drop it” to reinforce commands in a fun way. Here are some variations of the Egg Hunt to try.
Start off with plastic eggs that are easily opened (so your dog will not crack the egg). Use small training treats with a strong smell so you dog can sniff them out. If you are hiding the eggs outside, put them in places easy and some harder hiding places like in planters or under bushes. If your hunt is indoors, use different boxes, dish towels, or pillows to hide your eggs under. If it is nice weather, consider filling a baby pool with water and float the eggs in the water. Just make sure you use treats that will not get soggy. Tell your dog to find the egg and help him for the first few until they catch on to the game. When they find the egg, you can say “sit” and “drop it” so that you can open it for them. Don’t tighten the egg too tight so when he drops it, the egg cracks open with the treat. NOTE: when playing the egg hunt game, NEVER leave your dog unsupervised with the plastic eggs for their safety. If your dog becomes too excited, you can always keep him on a long line and have him find the egg and you open it for him. What an Egg-citing way to feel like a kid again by having an Easter Egg Hunt with your Pooch.
Make your own training treats:
You can make the treats in a dehydrator or in your oven. You can find a dehydrator at recommended products at Paws I Love You website. If you are going to use a dehydrator, I suggest you also buy the jerky gun. We use ground turkey with some garlic salt. Press out large strips to dehydrate and it takes about 5 hours to make 3-lbs. Lastly, cut the strips into bite size pieces. If you want to use an oven to make your training treats, below is my recipe I use. Pick a lean meat with the fat cut off. The thinner the slice the better. You can use stir fry strips that are cut thinner for faster drying. I always dust them with some garlic salt for extra smell and flavor.
- Preheat oven to 175°F (or use your dehydrator)
- Since these are training treats, slice the meat into small equal sized pieces (or use ground meat with jerky gun). The meat will shrink when cooked.
- Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper and distribute the pieces of meat evenly.
- Dry the meat in the oven for 4-5 hours or until it becomes dry and slightly leathery. Rotate the sheet occasionally throughout the baking time.
- Take the jerky bits out of the oven when they appear to be completely dry. Actual drying time will depend on the size and type of meat used.
- Blot off any oil that may remain on the meat.
- Store with a paper towel in an airtight container and refrigerate to extend shelf life