Engage Your Dog Indoors: Fun Activities & Games for All Weather

 

When the weather outside is frightful and you (or your dog) don’t want to venture outdoors but they’re still looking at you expectantly, what do you do? It’s going to be a long winter if you leave them to their own devices. And shorter days mean fewer good walking hours. Luckily, there’s plenty of ways to stimulate their brains and bodies indoors.

• Nosework games. You can scatter food around the house for your dog to find or work on finding various odors. There are nosework kits for sale online or you could work with scents you have at home like dog-safe essential oils (preferably ones you don’t use often as to not confuse the dog).
• Impulse control. Work on a good leave it around food. Train your dog to run to a mat or their crate when guests come over. Have them do a sit stay and wait for a release before throwing a toy.
• Tricks. Tricks are a great way to exercise your dog’s brain. If you want to get fancy, you could work on behavior chains where your dog learns how to string together a series of cues into one big trick (cleaning up toys for example).
• Refine old tricks. Work on duration, distance or distractions. Can your dog perform roll over while bacon is frying?
• Indoor fetch. This works best if you have small or gentle dogs who won’t go running into furniture and knocking things over. I recommend using soft toys or balls for this purpose.
• Help with the chores. They can turn on/off light switches, close doors, put laundry in the machine or throw trash away in the trash can. And if your dog is brave in the face of temptation, you can have them fetch you a beer after your house is sparkling clean.
• Work on a behavioral issue. Practice loose leash walking in the house or staying out of the kitchen or staying calm while you leave (for dogs with separation anxiety).
• Puzzle Games. There are now a score of different puzzle games on the market. Or you can make simple puzzles at home using a plastic bottle and putting food in it or using a muffin tin and tennis balls.
• Compete for a title. These days, you can earn a virtual title in almost every dog sport (rally, obedience, parkour, agility, freestyle, disc etc).
• Relax and Settle. Games are all good and fun but at the end of the day, your dog has to know how to settle. You can’t play with them 24/7! Dr. Karen Overall has a good protocol for teaching relaxation to dogs.

Which indoor games and activities do you enjoy with your dog? *We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. If you buy something after clicking the affiliate links on this site, your item will not cost more but the pennies will go towards Mr. N’s treat allowance and upkeep of this site.