21 Things To Keep Your Dog Busy

Is your dog bored and looking for something to do? Trying to find ways to entertain your dog can be challenging and thinking of new things to do is exhausting. To help you, we have put together a list of 21 things to keep your dog busy indoors. Try them out and let us know what you think.

1. Find the hidden treats

Nose work is a great way to tire your dog. Hide treats throughout the house and get your dog to use its nose to sniff them out. Try hiding them in locations that are challenging for your dog to find but still accessible to them. Use a command like “find it” or “find the treats” to start the game. Praise them when they find the treats. You can make the game more challenging when you are confident your pup knows “find it” or “find the treats” means. To make it a bit harder, have your dog wait in one room while you hide the treats in another.

2. Play the Shell Game

The shell game is a simple game that will keep your dog’s mind occupied. All you need for this game are three plastic cups. Show your dog the treat and place it under one of the cups and shuffle them around. Once you’re done, encourage your dog to find the treat.

3. Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek is Louie’s favourite game. Get your dog to sit while you hide. Try to hiding in different places each time to make the game more challenging, Give her a command to find you and watch her roam around the house to find you. When she finds you, give her praise and play another round.

4. Use A Stuffed Kong To Keep Your Pup Busy

Kong toys are amazing. They are durable and super versatile. Try stuffing a Kong with your dog’s favourite treats, broth, or kibble. I like to seal the ends with peanut butter. Pop it in the freezer to make it more challenging to get to the treats.

Here are some things you can stuff your Kong with.

• Apples

• Apple sauce

• Banana

• Carrots

• Cucumbers

• Rice

• Hard-boiled Eggs

• Seedless Watermelons

5. Play Tug

A game of tug of war is a great form of mental and physical activity for your pup. Get a rope that your dog can comfortably grab with its teeth. Contrary to what people say, playing tug will not make your dog aggressive, and letting them win will not make them dominant. Letting them win will encourage them to keep playing. Make sure to have boundaries. Stop the game immediately if your dog’s teeth get close to your hands to discourage them from accidentally biting you.

6. Solve Puzzles Together

There are some excellent puzzles available on the market. They come in different levels of difficulty. Most of them involve hiding some treats and having your dog uncover them. Our favourite are Nina Ottosson puzzles available through Outward Hound. There are so many amazing toys to choose from. Louie has the Dog Tornado and Treat Tumble.

7. Make Your Dog Work For Its Food

There are so many treat-dispensing treats available. Pick up a few and pull them out when your dog needs a distraction. Kong makes a wobble toy with a hole that dispenses treats. There are also balls and other toys that you can stuff treats for your dog to get out. Your dog will get an excellent mental work out with these toys.

8. Obstacle Course

Set up an obstacle course for your dog. It can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it for your pup. I use a combination of empty boxes and rolls of wrapping paper to create a course for Louie. I place a roll of paper between two banker boxes and have Louie jump over them. Another thing I do is make a maze out of boxes and have Louie weave through it. He always gets a treat and plenty of praise following the completion of the course. It’s very fun watching him complete the courses I have set up. Another option is to pick up agility kits and practice some of that indoors.

9. Which Hand Is It In

This is a fun and easy game to play and one that your dog can quickly master.

How to Play:

• Place a treat in one hand

• Ask your dog to choose the hand he thinks the treat is in.

• If he gets it correct, give him the treat. If he gets it wrong, keep encouraging him until he selects the correct hand and then give him the treat.

• He will get better and better with more experience.

10. Race around the house

This is a fun activity for both you and your dog. This will get you both some much needed physical activity. If you have stairs, you can race up and down. If you don’t have stairs, try racing from one end of the room to another. Give your dog a treat at the end of each race to encourage her to keep playing. Train your dog to sit and then run on command. With Louie, I use “one, two, three, go!” and we sprint up the stairs. After a few sprints, we are both pretty tired.

11. Tag

This is really a game of your dog catching you. I usually keep a treat in my hand and have Louie chase me around until he catches me at which point I reward his hard work with a treat. It is great if you have a lot of space in your house to run around. If you have a smaller place, I suggest trying to run around a table or something to make it more difficult for your dog to catch you.

12. Grooming

While this is not the most engaging activity for your dog, it is a great way for you and your pup to bond. Brushing helps to keep your dog’s fur healthy and clean. Brushing their teeth is important for dental hygiene, and regularly trimming their nails will keep they paws in good shape. They may not like it at first, but the more regularly you groom your dog, the more comfortable they will get with it.

13. Rotate Toys

While this isn’t a specific activity, this is something easy you can do to help keep your dog interested in the toys it already has. If you are like me, you probably have a drawer or box full of dog toys. Try letting your dog play with one toy at a time and rotate them out when your dog gets bored with it. I have found that if Louie is given a toy he has not played with and has not seen in a while, it’s almost like giving him a brand new toy.

14. Create a quiet space for your dog to relax

Sometimes all your dog needs when he is bored is a nice quiet place to relax and recharge. Create a quiet space in your home for her to retreat to and get some down time. Put down some blankets and pillows in a quiet corner that will become a sanctuary for your dog.

15. Play Fetch

Great game for smaller dogs. It may be a bit more difficult to do with medium and larger-sized dogs. Throw a squishy ball from one end of the room to another and get your dog to bring it back. An alternative is to throw the ball down a set of stairs and have your dog run down and bring it back up to you.

16. Work on recall

Like everything, mastering recall requires constant work. Set aside a few minutes a day to work on your dog’s recall. Have your dog sit in one part of the house while you go to another. Call out the words you use to recall your dog. For Louie, we use “Hustle Up”. Every time he comes to be after I have called for him, he gets a reward. Our work indoors has paid dividends outdoors.

17. Training Sessions

In addition to recall, it is also important to work on basic obedience. Set aside time to reinforce things like sit, stay, and drop it. All you need is a few minutes a day. Repetition is key to honing these key skills. I usually take a 10 minute break in the late morning or early afternoon to do some basic training with Louie. It is a great way for me to get me away from my desk and help Louie master fundamental skills.

18. Snuggle and Relax

Sometimes your dog just wants to snuggle and relax. Spend some downtime on the couch with your dog and catch a movie, a sports game, or the news. Give you pup some belly rubs and scratches on his chin if he likes that sort of stuff. Lately, Louie and I have been catching parts of the Toronto Raptors games on television after he comes in from his final bathroom break of the day. It was not planned. It just happened one day and we have been doing it regularly for the past several months.

19. Teach your dog to pick up their toys

This is something that will take a bit of work. But it is very rewarding once you dog has learned how to do this. It is important that your dog knows drop it. Start with one toy. Have your dog pick it up and drop it off in a box with the “drop it” command. Give him a treat when he successfully completes the task. Rinse and repeat until he does it consistently. Then move on to two toys and increase the amount until you reach a number of toys that he usually has out.

20. Teach your dog the names of their toys

Start with one toy. Give it a name and use that same name each time you give the toy to her. Have her bring you the toy and give her a treat when she does it correctly. Keep practicing until she has mastered this.

21. Learn New Tricks

Roll over, turn, spin, jump. There is no shortage of tricks for your dog to learn. When it comes to training remember to keep it short and simple. Five-minute sessions a few times a day will help your dog learn new tricks in no time.