7 Fun Ways To Keep Your Dog Busy Indoors

There could be a variety of scenarios requiring your canine to stay inside. Maybe it’s freezing and snowy outside. Perhaps it’s because you’re away a lot, leaving your pet home alone. Taking away their walks and chances at social interaction can cause them boredom and loneliness. It can manifest as destructive behavior.

In order to keep your pet from getting bored, it’s essential to keep them adequately engaged and entertained. If you’ve already tried giving your pets, dog toys, and you want to try something new, keep reading. These seven ways described below are fun, exciting, and straightforward solutions to keep them out of trouble and relieve their boredom while indoors:

1. Teach your pooch new tricks

With our busy schedules, we often find it challenging to take the time out to teach our pet new tricks. But there are a few impressive and fun tricks that you can show your canine, which doesn’t require much of your energy or time. You could also take it up as a weekend project, and commit yourself to teach some basic everyday commands.

No matter the breed or age, all pets are capable of learning something new. If your pet is already perfect at the easy ones like shaking hands and fetching, go for other crowd-pleasers like twirling, somersaulting, or doing a karate kick. It’s a great way to keep them busy.

2. Play hide and seek with your pet

Strengthen your bond with your pooch by playing a game of hiding and seek with them. It’s not just a great way to kill some time, but also an excellent workout for their body and brain. It doesn’t matter whether your pet is a little lazy or loves a good challenge; this is one activity all pets enjoy.

Make your dog “stay” in one place while you go hide. Alternatively, you can also get somebody else to hold them down, so don’t follow you. Once you’re in place, call out to the dog and wait patiently without interfering till they sniff you out. When you’ve been found, reward them with their favorite toy, a treat, and some belly rubs.

3. Play mentally stimulating games

Hone your pup’s problem-solving skills by playing games that stimulate his brain more. Just like physical exercise with a game of tug of war, mental exercise can tire them out and keep them busy too. Playing hide and seek, nose work games, teaching them new tricks, and giving them a puzzle toy are all examples of fun, mentally stimulating games. Classic nose work games include the ‘3 cups shell game’, ‘find it’ or ‘treasure hunt’, and ‘pick a hand’.

4. Have your pet help with chores

With a little persistence and patience, you can teach your dog to help around the house. Imagine how impressed your friends will be when your pet can bring you your keys, mobile, slippers or the newspaper!

Being useful boosts a pet’s self-confidence and makes them feel important. You can teach them to do simple chores like picking up the trash, cleaning up their toys, closing doors, and grabbing certain items from the refrigerator. Another general-purpose helping behavior you can instill in them is to train them to wake you (or your kids) up at sunrise. Basically, you can train them to do anything as long as you make them see that it’s fun and rewarding.

5. Give your pet spa treatment

An in-home spa day is a great way to pamper your pet and show him/her how much you care. Some pooches might not like being groomed, but you can make them do it anyway by using positive reinforcements every step of the way.

Before you start, make sure you have everything you’ll need nearby to ensure It goes smoothly. Begin with a gentle massage using the tips of your fingers, starting from the head and going down towards the neck and shoulders. Next comes nail clipping. After that, you want to give your furry friend a warm bath with a gentle shampoo. Finally, pat them dry with a towel or hair dryer on low heat. To reward their patience through the process, give them an extra special treat!

6. Let your furry friend play with a stuffed Kong

Most pets get a real kick out of food puzzle dog toys like a stuffed Kong. Dogs are made to scavenge and work for their meal, not have it given to them for free. A Kong ball (or something similar) stimulates their minds and gives them a chance to express this natural behavior.

So, just buy a Kong that’s the right size considering your dog’s teeth and fill it with their favorite treats like bananas, canned food or yogurt. It will keep them busy and occupied indoors for quite some time.

7. Invite a play date

Dogs are one of the most social animals on Earth and love meeting new people and new dogs. Organizing a playdate for your four-legged companion with some of his/her friends gives them the chance to be pack animals, just like nature intended. It keeps them from getting bored and exhibiting destructive behaviors. Playdates also benefit us by giving us a chance to catch up on work, or to meet fellow dog owners. Or, if you like being in the company of a pack of dogs in a room, you can blow them some non-toxic bubbles and watch as they fascinatedly try to catch and pop each one.

Concluding Thoughts

These seven easy and fun ways are a blessing to keep your dog busy when you can’t take them out. Most of these ideas don’t require much of your effort or time. By keeping them occupied with something new and playing with them whenever possible, you can ensure your dog isn’t idle, even when indoors.