Kids Activity Page

Fall 2016

Welcome to our Fall 2016 Kids Page

This page is for all you kids who are interested in learning about dogs, how to help look after your own pet dog, and how to be safe around dogs.

Have fun and enjoy the activities. There is a lot to learn. Please keep coming back. We will put something new on this page regularly.

Parents: There is a lot of information on child safety around dogs in the links at the bottom of this page.

Note: Because this page uses scripts you may get the following message "Internet Explorer restricted this web page from running scripts or ActiveX controls." You may have to allow blocked content if you can't see the jumping sheep or the answers to the quiz, for example. Unfortunately the jumping sheep also can't be seen on iPads because the animation is powered by Flash. We are sorry about that, however we are leaving the sheep on the page because they are fun for the people who are able to see them!

You can read the Summer 2016 Activity Page here

An Easy Trick to Teach Your Dog

"Tricks are fun! Tricks, like games, keep your dog alert and energetic. They give your dog a chance to play. Tricks give you and your dog time to be together.

Tricks help your dog to 'learn how to learn'. If they can learn tricks, then they can learn obedience and good behaviour. Go ahead...have some fun and teach your dog some tricks!"

From the Love your dog website who have very generously allowed us to reproduce some of their articles. Please visit them, there is lots to enjoy there.

How to teach: GO BACK CLICK HERE TO GO TO THIS TRICK

Word Find Puzzle

Let's see how many hidden words you can find CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PUZZLE

Colouring Pages contest

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THIS MONTH'S CONTEST

Jumping Sheep!!

Move your cursor over the sheep and watch them jump!
(from sheepgame.co.uk)

image: small brown dog image:
small brown dog

An Easy Trick to Teach Your Dog

How to teach "Go Back" : from the Love Your Dog website - http://www.loveyourdog.com/goback.html

This is an easy one! Stand facing your dog and as you walk toward him, say "Go Back". He will want to get out of the way and will automatically walk backwards!

I love to teach tricks that are useful and 'Go Back' is one of the most useful tricks I've come across. If your dog learns this trick, he will be able to back away from his food, move out of the way at a doorway, back out of a crowded corner, and walk backward out of the area when a glass breaks on the floor. You'll be amazed at how often this trick is helpful. Have fun!

TIP: If your dog doesn't walk back in a straight line, practice up against a wall or in a narrow hallway. After your dog is walking backward with you, try walking toward him only a step or two. Eventually, you will be able to stand still and say "Go Back".

Be sure to watch the video of the collie learning to walk backwards, on the Love Your Dog web page.

Not just dogs! As you can see from the picture, this Alpaca is walking backwards between two poles.

Puzzle

See if you can find these 11 words in the puzzle below.

LEASH WATER COLLAR PUPPY BOWL PLAYTIME TREATS

TRAINING BALL FOOD LOVE

When you have found as many as you can, here is a link to click on that will show you the answers:

word find puzzle answers

Good luck!

puzzle produced by Julie More

Colouring Pages contest

We would love to hear from you

Click here and print out the picture that opens. Colour the picture carefully with pencils or crayons.

Then tell us why your pet is special, and what rules you have in your house to make your pet safe.

Send it to us at [email protected] with your email address. We will choose a winner each month and post it in our newsletter for everybody to see.

Puppies, like kids, don't like to be interrupted when they play. They are over excited and may hurt you accidentally. Their owners know their pups and may ask you to wait until they finish playing. They may also get the pups to sit ... and then you can pet them. Or the dog (although not the puppies in the colouring picture) may be a service dog and you don't want to distract him.

(from the Fido, Friend or Foe activity book)

What if you can't have a dog?

Not everyone can add a dog to their family.

Perhaps your house is too small (you live in an apartment or condo), or your landlord doesn't allow you to keep a dog. Perhaps your family just doesn't have the time to exercise a dog, groom her, or take her to the vet when she is sick. Or maybe someone in your family has allergies to dogs.

Have you considered one of the cuddly and loving creatures below instead? Or even something not quite as cuddly, like a tortoise or a fish?

How about a rabbit or a guinea pig? They make wonderful, affectionate and fairly long-lived pets. Or a mouse or rat? They are intelligent and can be taught to do tricks quite easily. How about a hamster or gerbil? A chinchilla? Or, if the allergic person cannot tolerate any animal hair, there are pet birds. Or fish. Did you know that with patience you can actually train a goldfish to do simple tricks such as swimming through a hoop for rewards? Amazing!

Be sure to check out your local humane society or animal rescue when looking for a new pet. They often have many different types of animals, both large and small.

This time we will talk about guinea pigs:

Guinea Pigs are not related to pigs. Perhaps they are called Guinea pigs because they squeal and grunt when they are hungry, excited or scared. They make other sounds too – they can whistle when they are happy to see their owners, and also make “wink, wink, wink” noises. So you can see, they are quite talkative pets!

Guinea Pigs live about 7 yrs. They rarely bite (although you might get a little nip before your new pet gets to know and trust you), and they are gentle and friendly. They are sociable and are happiest when kept with other guinea pigs. But don’t put 2 males together, they may fight. Because they are neither too big nor very small they are easy for children to handle. However, it is not a good idea for a child younger than 6 yrs. to hold a guinea pig without assistance, they are easily injured if they wriggle and fall.

They are very clean, but their cage does need cleaning out regularly. They do need plenty of space in their cage to run around because they are very active, and they also need a hidden area where they can make a nest and sleep (be sure to admire the beautiful cage in the video below). Cages must be kept securely locked so that cats, dogs or other animals can’t harm them. Guinea Pigs have no defences against larger animals.

Guinea Pigs are vegetarians, and need a variety of veggies, fresh greens, hay and special pellets from the pet store.

One lovely thing about Guinea Pigs is that they come in lots of different colours. Coats can be smooth and short, long and silky, ruffled like rosettes, harsh, or a mixture of all of these types. Colours can be solid, or patches of different colours. And they don’t have tails, at least not a tail that you can easily find. So the story about their eyes falling out if you pick them up by the tail is obviously just a myth!

Here is a link to some pictures of beautiful guinea pigs ( PDF file)

"Guinea Pig Morning Routine" video. What a lovely cage!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGVGFkQwtKA

Animal Planet Pets - Guinea Pigs 101

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjm0ZcBWtSE

Some useful links for you:

http://www.ottawahumane.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/guinea-pigs.pdf

http://cfhs.ca/athome/guinea_pigs

https://www.lovethatpet.com/small-pets/guinea-pig/

http://jackiesguineapiggies.com/guineapigsounds.html

For Parents Too

http://www.getdogsmart.com

"Get dog smart with Diggity the Dog! Diggity the Dog’s story encompasses the number one cure for the dog bite epidemic. The story takes children on a fun walk through the neighborhood. Along the way, children encounter a whole lot of dogs in different situations. Diggity tells the "do's" and "don'ts" - right from the doggie's mouth."

http://www.liamjperkfoundation.org/talk.html

Little Liam was fatally bitten by his family's own beloved dog. This site is full of information for parents and caregivers - such as dog body language; dog stress signals; signs of anxiety; why dogs bite; Be a Tree, and more. Well illustrated.

https://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/free-downloads-posters-handouts-and-more/

Dr. Sophia Yin's website: dog body language of fear and anxiety; how to greet, and not to greet a dog; also training tips and much more.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities.html

"Science Kids is the home of science & technology on the Internet for children around the world.”
This wonderful website helps kids learn about the amazing world of science by enjoying the “fun science experiments, cool facts, online games, free activities, ideas, lesson plans, photos, quizzes, videos & science fair projects."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/woof/index.html

Woof! It's a dog's life. Tips and training help from "Uncle Matty"

Acknowledgements

Be A Tree program

The information on our Education - Dog Bite Prevention page was compiled by Doggone Safe - visit their website for more information on the Be A Tree program.

The Love your dog website has very generously allowed us to reproduce some of their articles. Please visit them, there is lots to enjoy there.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) also has much information and many games to play.

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