indoor games other than fetch

[Jen W]

I need some ideas for games I can play with my almost 1-year old inside other than fetch and tug of war.  I think we both are getting sick of those.

What else could we do to burn off some physical/mental energy?  I've tried hide and seek but I can barely get out of her eyesight long enough to hide.

Ideas welcome!

[Kathy (Ellie & Oliver)]

I practice basic obedience skills indoors. Sit, watch me, heeling with a loose leash, down, stay in one place while I walk around the room, sit-stay for 1 minute, work up to a 3 minute down-stay. Have your dog do doggy push ups (sit-down-sit-down, etc.).

Teaching your dog to do tricks is very mentally stimulating. Sitting pretty is a great trick to strengthen your dog's core.

To work off some energy our doodles jump over homemade agility jumps. (a broom supported by 2 small stools)

We play treasure hunt in our walk in closet. I close the door and hide some small dog treats. I open the door, and they find the treats. We've done this for awhile so now some days I don't hide any treats at all. It's the luck of the draw if there are treats or not.

One of our doodles and I took a conditioning class. For stretching, take a treat and put it in front of your dog's nose and have his or her nose follow it as you touch his shoulder, base of the tail, and back lower leg. Do this 5 times on each side. Do figure eights through your legs. Spread your legs apart, take a treat and have your dog follow the treat as you have your dog weaves through them. For balance, have your dog climb inside of a cardboard box. Take a small cardboard box and try to get your dog to put his front paws in the box. Then keep working until he can get three legs in and finally all four legs. This is quite challenging! Another activity was to take a throw pillow and put it on the floor and try to get your dog to put one or two paws on it. The goal is to get your dog to put all four paws on the pillow. The pillow moves so the activity takes awhile to master. It helps improve your dog's balance. My Oliver found these exercises mentally challenging. After class, he was tired!

[Gail and Bailey]

Great ideas, Kathy!  We do some of these as well, but you have suggested some new ones for us!!  Thanks!

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

Zoe had a couple of puppy puzzles when she was little.  but pretty soon she figured them out real fast and did the puzzles in seconds... 

[Deborah Brown]

The most popular game here is "Find it!"  It's a version of Nose Work.  My doodles are gated in the kitchen and I place a treat somewhere for them to find.  At first it should be easy but you can make the "finds" tougher as your dog gets the hang of it.  I have three and they each wait their turn and search.  We started in just the living room but now they can search anywhere on our first floor.  Treats can be on the floor,chair, window ledge, etc.

[Pat and Traveler]

We play "find it" too, and Trav has always loved this game!  We hide his stuffed fox, mostly in the living room and hallway, and he will really search or a long time.  We're also doing nose work classes, and he loves doing that too.  Our classes are in a variety of locations--Home Depot, a sporting goods store, several parking lots and a car dealership.  Trav recently passed his ORT (Odor Recognition Test), which is the first step toward doing more advanced competitions.  We probably won't do competitions, but he sees the searching as a job, and he just loves having a job!

[Deborah Brown]

I've been taking Wayne to nose work classes but we are not as advanced as you.  He is my OCD ball dog and he absolutely loves the hunt.  Isn't it great to watch them work?  :)

[Pat and Traveler]

Deborah, yes--it's a thrill to watch them work.  :)

[Moe]

For fun / mental stimulation you could try feeding 1/2 of her food (dry kibble) from a feeder toy, I have a  Treat Ball and a  Kong Wobbler. These satisfy the dog's need to forage. I also have a  Tails Teaser toy which she loves to chase. It helps with her prey drive and it completely exhausts her. I think games that satisfy the dog's primal side keep them happy.

[Lynda Kamrath]

We have always enjoyed hiding things and then have the dogs sniff them out.  First we used meat pieces (or cheese) and hid them everywhere.  The dog is in the bathroom while you are hiding things.  Then you open the door and say "Go get em."  Now we do pancake (lately crepes) hunts on Saturday morning out in the backyard.  The dogs (and my husband) really look forward to Saturday mornings and the crepe hunts.  Toy pickups, closing doors, and other little training things work great also.  My small doodle loves dancing with me.  I put up my hands and he puts his paws in my hands and we dance.  My friend's small dogs push a doll carriage around with their toys inside.  All kinds of things you can teach your dogs when it needs to be indoors.