10 (more) ways to tire out your dog indoors

A few winters ago, the boys were stuck inside, bored, and restless. At the time, lots of other people were facing the same thing because of a harsh, icy winter. I put together 10 ways to tire out your dog indoors because I needed a checklist of things to do with my boys.

Now, we’re facing a similar situation, but for the opposite reason: It’s too darn hot!

We’ve been getting up EARLY to get the boys walked (and I am so not a 6 am kind of person), but even this morning it was 90 degrees with 86% humidity when we finished at 7:30 am.

So, I decided to put together a second list of things we can do. Combine that with my previous list, and you have 20 ways to tire out your dog indoors!

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1. Stairs, stairs, and more stairs. I played rugby in high school, and during the off season we – along with the wrestling team – would be forced to run the zillion stairs around the basketball court. The coaches put trash cans along the top because kids threw up from the torture. I’m certainly not saying push your dogs until they throw up!! But I am saying that running stairs is tremendous exercise. To encourage the behavior, sit at the top of your steps and toss a TINY treat to the bottom. Once they collect it, call them back to the top and give another TINY treat. Repeat until your pup is panting!
2. Puppy pushups. This is a fun little training exercise we picked up along the way. It’s basically repeating: sit, down, sit, down, sit, down, and on and on. When your dog is new at it, start with one rep: sit, down, treat. After a while, try fading out the cues for sit and down, and try to incorporate a single cue (push up!) for the combined sit, down behavior.
3. Find it. By far, Cooper’s favorite game. Allow your dog to smell a super tasty treat. If he has a solid sit/wait or sit/stay, give that cue, then hide the treat where he can see it. Release him with “find it.” Gradually increase the challenge – hide it where he can’t see it, have him wait in another room, switch from a smelly treat to his favorite toy, and so on. Seriously, Cooper LOVES this game. It’s getting to the point that I’m running out of hiding spots for his toys…
4. Doggy IQ test. There are tons of these available for free online. I haven’t tried any yet, so I can’t recommend a specific one, but this is on our indoor task list. Most have a series of challenges that could be fun training exercises, regardless of whether or not you actually score your pup.
5. Chase the treat. Another favorite around here. This simple game is exactly how it sounds: You throw treats all over the place while your dog chases them down. To make this more challenging, we’ve been working toward putting all 3 boys in a sit/wait, tossing a treat, then releasing them one at a time to get the treat. It’s TOUGH for the other two to sit still and not go after a tossed treat! Lots of reps, and they’re all mentally and physically tired. Hint: Combine this with STAIRS to increase the cardio impact.
6. Make meals challenging. Serve your dog’s meals in a food puzzle. Check out this super comprehensive review of the Top 10 Food Dispensing Toys from Pitlandia. We love the Outward Hound Fun Feeder (side note: it’s great for cats, too!), and we’ve recently worked in the Northmate Interactive Feeder, which is quickly becoming a fave along with the Wooly Snuffle Mat.
7. Stay proofing. Clearly, it’s important to proof behaviors outside the home. But you can work on tons of “stay” proofing indoors, which can only help solidify your stay outside. Criteria could be everything from: rolling or bouncing a ball nearby, sprinkling treats around the room (Note from Emmett: That’s just mean.), singing/dancing/jumping/clapping around your pup, in another room, while you play with your other dog/cat/rabbit, while you turn your back, and so on.
8. Loose leash party. Just like with stay, you need to work on loose leash walking out and about, but to stay busy inside, practice your skills by upping the ante. Go up and down stairs, take sudden 90-degree turns, traverse obstacles (Ottomans, the cat, etc.), start and stop suddenly – clicking and treating all the while. Be exuberant with your praise, and your dog will think this is a blast. It’s Emmett’s favorite indoor game!
9. The shell game. Just like the casino game but with dog treats. Place a treat under one of two cups–with your pup watching, of course–and let him find the treats. Cooper is a master at this game now, so I use three cups and don’t let him watch where I hide it. Start slowly so that your dog “wins,” but gradually build up the difficulty level!
10. Make a movie! You’ve probably seen dozens (hundreds?) of videos online of dogs doing tricks. Some of them are pretty impressive. Others, well… I’m sure you’ve thought, “Huh. My dog can do that.” So make a video together! Have your dog run through his repertoire of tricks. Here’s why this is great: It keeps you both busy and working together, of course, but even if you never plan on posting it anywhere, you have documentation that you can watch closely to see what you and your dog need to do to improve. For example, when you film yourself, you may notice that every time you cue a sit, you make a minute step forward (this is something I was totally guilty of…) that you never would’ve noticed. With the video, now you know! And you can come up with a plan to improve.

Whew! So there you have it: 10  (more) ways to tire out your dog indoors. What can  you add to this list? What are your go-to inside activities to keep your dog busy – and out of trouble? 

Looking for MORE ways to tire out your dog indoors? Check out 10 more fresh ideas for indoor dog fun here! And another set of 5 indoor activities for a rainy day!

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