Rottweilers are a perfect blend of loving house-dog and the steadfast protector, which in turn, makes it both adorable and a bit possessive together.  

Their intelligence makes them one of the easiest dogs to train, and they could be managed right within a homestead without calling for any vigorous exercise training sessions.  

Rottweiler dogs usually take time to trust an individual, but once it starts trusting you, it would easily pick up skills from you.  

Well, adding physical exercise into your dog’s daily routine isn’t just enough, you should add a few brain games too!  

Mental stimulation is important to ensure that your dog is devoid of any behavioral issues such as barking or excessive chewing.  

Dogs often tend to get lazy, and inactive. It’s time when you should note its behavior, and think of ways to help your dog get rid of all those troubles.  

Here are a few easy ways to mentally stimulate your dog, try out these boredom busters: 

Let your dog earn its food

Change your dog’s feeding routine. Instead of giving its food in front of it, add a fun game out of it. Use a food dispensing toy such as the Bob-A-Lot and the Kong Wobbler.  

Just place the meal in its toy, and it will have to deal with it to fetch the food. This is more like giving it a token of appreciation! 

Play Hide and Seek 

Remember yourself spending hours in this game. Now, it’s the time to pass it on to your dog as well. Tell your dog to wait and go and hide yourself.  

Once you have hidden yourself, yell out to him, and let him find you out. Your dog is going to use its ears and nose to seek for you, and get up to you.  

In fact, there are a lot of other games which help in mental stimulation of a Rottweiler. These are also called “Brain Games” and Adrienne Faricelli, a professional dog trainer has dedicated her whole life in learning and studying about these “Brain training games for dogs”.  

Red light, Green light 

This is again a command game, wherein you train your dog to react to either of the lights differently. When you put on the Red light, your dog is supposed to stop.  

On the contrary, when you put on the Green light, your dog is supposed to Go around! This is a really astounding impulse control game, that will eventually help you to train your dog and work out on his manners too!  

Get your dog a puzzle toy 

Rottweilers aren’t that focused. Hence, a mental stimulating session can actually help your dog stay focused on a task, and an interactive toy such as a puzzle is a great way to do that! This 15 minute game a day can work greatly in alleviating the problem behaviors of your dog. Puzzle games are amazing to help your dog use its natural problem-solving abilities. This will eventually stir your dog’s brain and boost its confidence.  

Teach him new tricks 

You can teach a lot of things to your dog, just beyond the basics. Teaching a new trick or command is amazing for mental stimulation, and it works great particularly with shy and fearful dogs.  

It will not only help your dog gain the lost confidence, but at the same time, it will nurture the bond between the dog and the owner. Learning new commands would help increase your dog’s impulse control.  

Basic nose work games 

Involving your dog in some nose games can be a great way to help him hone with his natural skills. “Go, Find it” is one of the best games to add mental stimulation in your dog’s daily routine. The very first time I tried out this game on my Rottweiler, I actually used a carrot. Make sure that you put something with a strong smell so that your dog can actually sense it well. In case you are just starting with this trick, pick up some easy spots and encourage your dog to go and find it out. It can be a great fun, and your dog would also find it quite exciting.  

Let your dog go through an obstacle course 

Teaching your dog go through an obstacle course can be a great mental workout for it. In case you do not have a pole or any agility jumps at your home, try using some other alternatives, or create something of your own. Line up a few orange Hazard cones, and you can see your dog trying to get through them all by itself. It is indeed a nice visual treat for you, but at the same time, it will stimulate your dog mentally. Doing one thing after the other can be an amazing way to enhance your dog’s problem-solving skills.  

Play games that are engaging and interactive 

Engaging your dog into an interactive play can be one of the best ways to keep him mentally stimulated. Studies show that more engagement will eventually lower your dog’s risk to suffer from behavioral issues. Play a game of tug, and that would not just give a boost to your dog’s physique, but would also help your dog work on his impulse control.  

Play the shell game 

Keep 3 identical containers, and hide your treat under 1 of them. Now, shuffle the containers and then let your dog choose the correct one. Allow your dog to watch you as you play the treat under one of those cups, and then shuffle them well. It will be really exciting to see your dog play, as he hassles to fetch it out.  

Bottom line: 

Start training your dog right from an early age. It would help your pup develop good behavioral skills right since it has been young. Training a grown-up often becomes difficult and thus, you should commence the procedure when it is active enough!  

Why wait for it to go bad? It would rather be even better if you start the process at a young age. This will also help your dog pick up the skill much easily and at a faster pace. Go, Get started today!