Looking for a creative ways to exercise your dog? Check out Treiball!

Posted by Kirby @ Dog.Nerd.101 at 7:27 PM

Sourced October 1st 2011

My fellow mudi fanciers and I were brainstorming about different ways to exercise our busy body dogs...especially on days like today where the rain in the North East part of the country has taken over! Torrential downpours for almost two days straight means lots of stir crazy pups! I took Griff out for a long run this evening and on the way home, it started to pour really hard! My squishy sneakers were not happy about it, but Griff was so in his element! The rain slicked right off his coat and he didn't even seem to notice. Aside from a head shake or two to clear the water from his big water catching ears, he was entirely un-phased. For the record, I did invite Sophia to join us on our rain run, but she politely declined and waited for us by the door.

Lack of access, weather, expenses all affect the things we can do with our dogs. A creative bunch of folks in Germany must have had lack of access (to sheep) when they came up with this crazy new sport called Treiball.

In Trieball (which means "ball herding" in Germany) the dogs herd huge exercise balls (i.e. sheep) into pens or large nets (like in soccer.) Handlers have to learn to work their dogs at a distance, direct the dog to go out and around the "sheep," collect the "sheep" and then drive them in the correct direction! Interesting concept eh? I suppose if you have a herding dog, or any dog that really needs and wants a job, but you don't have access to sheep or herding lessons, this might be a great fit! Maybe Sophia could herd tiny, little exercise balls? If you are interested in learning more about Treiball, you can join the Treiball Yahoo Group here. What do you do with your dogs to exercise their mind and body, especially during those times when lack of access or resources presents additional challenges?