Mental stimulation

Happy dog is a tiered dog! However, physical exercises are not enough to make your dog tiered. Most Lagotti would be still “full of beans” when they come back from a nice long walk. The trick is to let your dog use it's brain during that nice walk you just took.

Lagotti are intelligent working breed and if you have chosen to be an owner of Lagotto Romagnolo you must be aware of their needs. This breed need fair amount of physical exercise but most importantly, they need mental exercise. Mental fatigue makes dogs more physically tiered than physical activities. Boredom leads to unwanted behavior, hyperactivity and destruction.

Here is a few tips for you to try:

Go outside with your dog:

Take your time and let your dog sniff the bushes, watch squirrels, meet and greet other dogs or people, let your dog choose the path to walk occasionally, take your dog to new places, new hikes and keep thing interesting. You can incorporate obedience training into your walk, like “heel” for a few minutes and then “loose walk”. You can teach your dog to “stop”, “sit” and wait for “ok” before crossing the road. If you have the opportunity to go on “off leash” trail, play ”hide and seek” games, hide behind a tree and let your dog to find you, make it easy to find you in the beginning then increase difficulty, get super excited every time your dog finds you. This will teach your dog to pay attention to your location at all times. Practice “come” often on your “off leash” walks. Practice “leave it” on your walk. Always have treats with you to praise your smart dog. Walk with your dog not beside your dog. Your walks will be more interesting this way and you will develop fantastic bond with your furry companion.

Teach your dog new tricks:

Spend 10 to 15 minutes a day to teach your dog something new. Teach one thing at a time until your dog reliably performs the trick then you can combine them. During this short training sessions you will learn a lot about your dog and create a stronger bond in your relationship. End each session with lots of praise and treats.

Sit

Down

Stand

Pretty

Crawl

Fetch

Drop it

Find it

Jump over (hop)

Leave it

The list is long, don't be afraid to get creative, lots dogs would offer the behavior, like offering you a paw, you just need to praise it and add command to this offering on regular basis like “shake” or I use “hi”. Have fun with your dog!

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/teach-your-puppy-these-5-basic-commands/

Nose work:

No amount of physical exercises would compare with nosework. In modern world dogs rarely use their noses to solve cognitive problems. Problem-solving is exhausting and if you have a dog that is never tiered, you and your dog would greatly benefit from trying nosework. Nosework helps your dog relax, teaches your dog how to solve a problem, helps your dog to gain confidence and independence. Lagotti have superior noses and it is the most natural way for them to work and get satisfaction from it.

It is very easy to start teaching your dog to find a treat. Get several empty boxes, put treats in all of them and wait for your dog to find it. Repeat and add word “find"it”. Once your dog understands the game, make it more complicated, put treats in some of the boxes, then only in one, use more boxes, then use one room to hide treats then use the whole house. Treat your dog with another treat after every discovery. You can move outside in the yard initially then other places. You can also teach your dog to find different scents.

https://www.puppyleaks.com/teach-your-dog-search/

https://www.rover.com/blog/nosework-secret-calm-happy-dog-youve-never-heard/

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/how-to-teach-your-dog-scent-work/

We only use treats, praise and love to train our dogs.

Classical and Operant Conditioning in dog training:

https://www.verywellmind.com/classical-vs-operant-conditioning-2794861

https://www.thrivingcanine.com/classical_operant_conditioning