Summer is here and with it the sweltering heat and humidity. It is still very important that your pup gets physical and mental exercise every day even if neither of you have any desire to be outdoors. Here are a few indoor activities that you can do with you dog when you’d rather stay in and enjoy the air-conditioning.
Paying ball on stairs:
Sit at the base of your staircase and toss a ball to the top, or sit at the top of the stairs and toss the ball to the bottom. Have your pet run up or down the stairs to fetch the ball and bring it back to you. This can be an easy way to burn excess energy in young pups, but may be too strenuous for older or arthritic pets.
Hide and Seek:
This game gets your dog moving around the house without throwing a ball.
- Put your dog in a separate room.
- Take their favorite toy or some of their food and hide it in the another room. Start by placing the toy or treat in an obvious place that is easy for your pup to find. Let him out of the room and tell him to seek. (You may have to show him/her where you hid it the first couple of times). Once he finds the toy or kibble praise him with tons of affection.
- Take him out of the room again and hide the toy or kibble again, continue to make the hiding places harder and harder until your dog is a hide and seek pro.
You can also play this game with people instead of toys or treats. Have someonehelp you distract your dog while you hide.
Indoor Obstacle Course:
Use objects such as empty drawers, broomsticks, pillows, cushions, hula hoops, and cardboard boxes to create an obstacle course around your house. Have your dog weave, jump, tunnel, navigate, and crawl through your obstacles.
Command Stations:
Command stations are a great way to stimulate your dog mentally! Set up different stations around your house, and mark them with a sign that has a command written on it: sit, stay, role over, shake and so on. Walk your dog from one station to the next and have him do the command that is on the sign several time. Reward him with praise or with a pieces of the normal kibble.
Stepping Stones:
Create stepping stones out of bath mats or none slip rugs and place them around the house. Start with the mats very close to each other. Place you dog on a leash and have him walk on the mats rewarding him every time he goes from one mat to the next without stepping on the floor. Slowly increase the distances between that mats making him have to leap from one to the next. Use caution not to extend the mats too far out.