Hide and Seek

Dovetailing nicely with yesterday’s post about crating, Ray and I ended up playing a little game of Hide and Seek this morning.

While Ray is very good about being in his crate, it really is more of a resting and sleeping place for him whereas I’ve noticed that his ‘safety zone’ is under the kitchen table.  A couple of things Ray really does not like are the blow dryer and the lawn mower, so when I’m getting ready in the mornings he often will hide under the kitchen table while I dry my hair.  I’ve tried treating him while having the dryer running in the background and that has helped for a short time but he goes back under the table more often than not. 

If he is outside while we mow, he typically will huddle against the back door even if we are mowing outside the fence.  That is kind of a struggle as we think being outside would be preferable to being inside on a nice afternoon huddled in the crate, but Ray may not see it that way. 

This morning Ray started out on his mat, watching me get ready but I soon realized he moved to his usual spot under the table even before I began to dry my hair, so I decided to try and make a little game to get him out.  I walked into the kitchen and deliberately did not look at him and began making a big deal of looking for him.  “Where’s Ray-Ray?  Are you hiding?” I looked under the stove, and around the furniture, in his crate, and under the end tables.  I heard him approach when I was looking in the crate and made a big deal of being surprised when I turned around.  He had the cutest expression on his face, like, “Here I am, Mommy, were you looking for me?”  I’d like to try to continue to coax him out more in that manner, making it seem like his idea, rather than making a big deal of him being under there. 

Does your dog have a safety zone apart from his crate?