Tag Archives: dog games

3 Inside Dog Games to Play at Home

Leave a reply

If you and your dog are a little bored, we have some ideas for inside dog games you can play at home, no special “stuff” required!

Life has a way of falling into routine. For us, and our dogs. Especially since the pandemic has restricted the way we do things, it’s easy to fall into a rut. Just taking a few minutes to try a new game with your dog can bring smiles to both of you and help energize your day.

If you have more than one dog, play these games with only one dog at a time. Everybody gets a “turn,” and it’s each dog’s special time to play with you and get all the attention. None of the games take very long, and each dog loves having you to him/herself for the duration.

Inside Dog game #1: Kitchen chaos

All you need for this game is a muffin tin, tennis balls, and treats. Simple enough – put a treat or six in the bottom of each section of the muffin tin. Cover them each with a tennis ball. Put it on the floor. Let your dog have fun. 

Muffin tin with treats for inside dog games

If your dog is a tennis-ball maniac, you may want to use something else to cover the treats. One of ours is, and he’d much rather run away with the ball than pursue the treats. For him, we put little paper cups over the goodies. It works for him, and when the cups are destroyed, it’s not a great loss.

Inside Dog Game #2: Sniff for it

One of the most popular and growing dog sports is scent work. In the version we know about, dogs learn to distinguish several different aromas, anise, birch, clove, and cypress. Then they find scented items that are hidden, buried, inside, outside, etc. There are lots of levels of difficulty which we’re not sure of, we haven’t really explored it completely.

But you don’t have to know all the rules of the sport to enjoy playing it. Hope thought it would be fun to teach her French Bulldog Torque to use his nose, instead of just barrelling into anything around. She also had some clove essential oil, so started there.

At first, she just put a drop of the clove oil on a cotton pad and showed it to Torque. As soon as he sniffed it instead of trying to eat it, she rewarded him. Then she had two cotton pads, only one with oil, and let him choose. When he picked the scented one, he got a reward.

Dogs learn what gets them rewarded really quickly. In almost no time, Torque was choosing the scented pad, rather than just grabbing everything in front of him. 

To “step up” the game, Hope enlisted Fran to help out. While Hope had Torque with his back to the room, Fran “hid” the scented cotton pad. She was the only one who knew where it was, so she had control of the “clicker” to mark when Torque found it. 

We were pretty amazed at how quickly Torque started scanning the space, his little nose sniffing a mile a minute. He loves this game and gives a Frenchie “wiggle” when we sees us reaching for the cotton pad.

Speaking of which, we keep the pad in a plastic sandwich bag between uses, and refresh with a new drop of oil on the days we play. 

Inside Dog Game #3: Hide and seek

For this inside dog game you need either a very reliable “stay,” or another person. It’s easy – just grab a few treats and go hide from your dog. It’s the leaving the dog that’s the tricky bit. All of our dogs seem to follow us from room to room wherever we go. We never have to go looking for our dogs – they’re always with us. 

On the other hand, a friend of ours with Shiba Inus knows where her dogs are because they have favorite spots in the house – not always with her. It’s a different dog mindset, and one we’re not accustomed to dealing with. But it would make “Hide and Seek” easier to start. The hard part would be getting her dogs motivated for the “seek” part.

With your dog on a “stay,” or being held by someone else, go “hide” from your dog. You can really hide behind something, or you can just go into another room. After a countdown from 10 (or more, if you have a lot of ground to cover), release the dog. Until your dog understands the rules of the game, you can call the dog’s name and, when he/she finds you, celebrate with lots of praise and some treats. 

When your dog understands the game, you’ll no longer need to call – just release from the stay or tell the other person to say “find So-and-So!”

Play away routine

Dog games break the monotony of an ordinary day. It’s a simple, fun thing you can do with your dog. Let us know your favorite inside dog games!

3 dog games to play inside

Leave a reply

The weather outside is frightful, you and your dog are both missing those nice long walks. We can break up the boredom with these three dog games – no special equipment required!

These games are designed to make the dogs think, which is actually just as tiring, if not more exhausting, than physical exercise. Remember back when you were in school? Which was more taxing, a final exam or a soccer game? For most people, the answer is that they’re about the same. Each is tiring in its own way. For dogs, it’s the same. A short brain-game wears out your dog just like a game of “fetch.”

These are all short-session games – no more than a few minutes at a time. You can certainly play more than once a day, but dogs learn better if they’re given a break after any new behavior.

Short and sweet dog games

dog training clickers

All of these games can be played with a clicker to “mark” when your dog gets it right. It’s a terrific training tool, and makes timing and consistency a little easier. Whether you use a verbal “yes!” or click – let your dog know when he/she does it right.

Don’t worry about it if your dog doesn’t “get” the game the first time you play. Dogs sometimes need time to process things, according to an article in Psychology Today, and your dog may be one of them. Don’t abandon a game just because he or she doesn’t excel right away. Give it another go and you may be amazed!

Game #1: Touch

You’ll need: a bunch of treats. The plastic lid from some food container. Our favorite is an ice cream pint lid. It’s not really any better than a cottage cheese lid, but we’d rather have an empty ice cream than an empty cottage cheese.

Instructions: Hold the lid in front of your dog. When he/she touches it with his/her nose, say “good touch” and give him a treat. Move the lid to the other hand. Repeat!

The tricky part is transferring it to other places, other circumstances, and “fading” the lid. So try it in another room. If somebody else is around, have them try it.

Game #2: Hide and seek

Did you know dogs can play it, too? It’s easier if you have two people, but you can certainly play with just you and your dog. If you have somebody else around, have that person hold your dog’s collar. Meanwhile, you grab a handful of treats and go “hide.” It can be anywhere in the house – even the bathtub! If you’re alone with your dog, drop a few treats where she’s sitting and, while she’s chomping them up, go hide (be sure to bring treats with you!) When you’re in your hiding place, call your dog’s name one time. Celebrate when she finds you! A good game of tug can be as much of a reward as treats.

Game #3: Switch

Does your dog have a favorite toy? One that’s the best toy in the whole wide world and when it gets destroyed (we won’t mention any culprits by name) you run around frantically looking for a replacement? We did, too, until we learned this game.

dog toys at Golly Gear

Get two toys (or more), not including the “favorite.” Start playing “tug” with your dog. If he seems not “into” it at first – be annoying! That’s how puppies get older dogs to play with them, as we’ve learned in the last couple of months with Simon. Wiggle the toy at their feet. Give them a gentle push. Blow in their face. If your dog has any kind of “prey drive,” undulate the toy across the floor. Sooner or later one of these tactics will annoy your dog sufficiently that he’ll “give up” and play with you.

When he’s truly into the game, drop the toy you’re tugging with, grab one of the others, and tell him “I wanna play with this one now!” And start being annoying. Pay no attention to the first toy until he grabs the second one.

Keep switching!

If your dog runs away to play with the toy by himself, it’s up to you how you treat it. On the one hand, you’re happy he’s playing with a different toy. One the other hand, he’s supposed to be playing with you! If you want him to play with you, just pester the dickens out of him until you have his attention back and the game can continue.

Conclusion

It doesn’t take a lot of time, special training, or complicated equipment to play interactive games with your dog. It just takes a little energy, some stuff you have around the house, a minute of planning, and the will to do it. If your dog is stricken with cabin fever and driving you crazy, these games will help take the edge off and restore peace and quiet.

These ideas will get you started. What other “indoor games” do you play with your dog?

Game night review

Leave a reply

Yesterday evening our obedience club had “Game Night” – a chance to relax, play with our dogs together, socialize, snack, and remember that ours is a social club as well as a dog training group. The select few that came had a good time – and we learned a good lesson about which games are good for obedience clubs and which are not.

The Good:

Relay races – the group divides into two teams and the teams line up. When the starter says “go” one pair from each team races down the room/yard to a pile of toys at the other end. The dog picks up a toy and they run back, tagging the next team to take off. The dogs and people all had a good time. One dog couldn’t decide which toy to get, so lost a little time. A couple other dogs didn’t hold on to the toy the whole way back. But overall, a winner.

Weaving race – the two teams line up again, with a few feet between each pair. When the starter says “go,” the last pair in line weaves to the front, in and out between all their teammates. When the pair reaches the front, the next pair takes off. This one was great – everyone had fun, dogs and people alike.

The Okay:

Carry your dog – Another relay, this time with the small-dog-people carrying their dogs, and the big dog people either carrying, or wheelbarrow-racing their dogs. Without another interest factor, this one really didn’t do much for anyone.

The Bad:

Mimic – Each dog/handler team takes center stage and either the person mimics the dog, or the dog is to mimic the person. This one would benefit from advance notice – and practice.

Sirius Does! – Like Simon Says, but with dogs. The leader calls out behaviors and thnsdtc_gamenighte dog/handler pairs have to perform them. Any failures and you’re “out.” The problem with this game was trying to do it with competition obedience dogs. Only the two youngest/greenest dogs were “out.” After 10 minutes, we declared everyone a winner. Not really bad, but the caller will need to plan some more challenging behaviors before we try it again.