For a child their dog is the best kind of best friend. Dogs don’t judge and they’re always there to provide comfort and distraction if school gets stressful, they argue with friends (or their parents) or life gets hard. That kind of relationship can take time to build, but there are some really great activities that can help them build it. Or, if your child and dog are already best friends, might give them a way to connect that’s not just creating chaos together…

Tug is my favourite game to play with my dog (and her favourite game to play too). But unfortunately it’s kinda developed a bad reputation, with a lot of people worrying that playing tug will make their dog aggressive. If that’s you, don’t worry. There’s absolutely no association between playing tug and dogs developing aggressive behaviours.