Stapelstein® was originally designed for children. But anyone who owns a dog knows that children’s and dogs’ curiosity and playfulness are strikingly similar.
Here are ten ideas for how you can use these colourful items with your dog: for exercise, balance, mental stimulation and simply more fun in everyday life.
Important: All exercises must be carried out under supervision. The Stapelstein® elements are not suitable for chewing or biting.
1. 🐾 Balance game – Put a paw on it
Place an object flat on the floor and teach your dog to place one or more paws on it. The level of difficulty varies depending on which side is facing up – flat or curved. This game is ideal for strengthening the shoulder and joint muscles.
2. 🐾 Obstacle course – over and around
Place several objects around the room or in the garden. Guide your dog through the course – sometimes stepping over them, sometimes walking round them. This helps improve coordination, body awareness and concentration. Soon, he’ll be able to do it on command without any guidance.
3. 🐾 Target training – Stay on the stone
An obstacle serves as a fixed standing position. Your dog learns to climb onto the obstacle deliberately and remain calm until you give the signal. This is a classic positional training exercise that builds patience and focus.
4. 🐾 Nose work – What’s hiding underneath?
Hide a treat under an upturned object. Your dog has to work out where it is and how to get to it. Pure mental stimulation – ideal for days when the weather’s bad. Watch out for teeth and claws!
5. 🐾 Sorting and colour game – Which stone is it?
Lay out several objects in different colours. Train your dog to touch or stand on a specific object, for example, always the blue one. This helps to develop cognitive flexibility.
6. 🐾 Jumping and stepping target exercise – precision is key
Place objects at varying distances apart and guide your dog deliberately from one to the next. Sometimes take a big step, sometimes a small one. This helps develop body awareness and precision.
7. 🐾 Balance beam – step by step
Build a path using several obstacles that are either placed flat against one another or have small gaps between them. Your dog should step from one obstacle to the next as precisely as possible. This is good for developing hind-quarter awareness.
8. 🐾 Stack them high
Stack two elements on top of each other and see how this changes the exercises. Get your dog to jump up and down, raise its front paws on command, keep its hind legs on the stacked blocks, and much more.
9. 🐾 Wiggle away – for advanced learners
If you slot two pieces together to form an egg shape, you’ll end up with a wobbly stool – or a real challenge for your dog’s muscles and sense of balance.
10. 🐾 Creative game – What can you think of?
Stapelstein® doesn’t come with instructions – and that’s the beauty of it. Watch as your dog discovers the pieces, and see what happens when you simply get started.
Find out how your dog can make the most of the stacking stones!
Please note: These ideas are intended as suggestions for playful activities with healthy dogs. For therapeutic purposes, such as following surgery or in cases of joint problems, we always recommend consulting a vet or an animal physiotherapist.