Dog Entertainment
Daily meals, physical exercise, and mental games are essential aspects of taking care of a dog. When a dog gets bored, it can result in destructive behavior or excessive barking. This provides how to entertain your dog indoors, during meetings, rainy seasons, or even during recovery after surgery, especially for cautious or young dogs when they get stuck indoors.
Finding things to engage with how to entertain your dog indoors is as easy as buying the right toys to create play and recreational activities. Drawing from my experience as a dog parent who has gone through the challenges of leash training, obedience, and dealing with behavioral issues within a year, the compiled recommendations from dog trainers and experts to create routines on how to entertain your dog.
In this blogpost, we’ll explore 7 different activities that can help how to entertain your dog without leaving the house. These games not only help manage the energy of a one-year-old dog but also improve their ability to focus on distracting environments.
How to Entertain Your Dog?
1. Create a Dog Window Seat
Dogs enjoy a good view. Even those who aren’t strong guard dogs still enjoy seeing what’s happening in the world. It’s even better if the view is elevated!
Find a window in your house that offers an interesting view of the street or yard. Leave the curtains open so your pooch gets a good view all day long. Pair it with their favorite blanket or bed so they’re encouraged to spend time there. You’ll be surprised how much time a dog can spend watching the world go by, eagerly waiting for your return home.
2. Tune into Dog TV
Believe it or not, many dogs enjoy watching television – it can alleviate their loneliness by providing sights and sounds of other animals. Dog TV and Discovery Channel are excellent choices, and there’s even a subscription-based channel dedicated to how to entertain your dog! It’s called Dog TV.
3. Make Frozen Treat-Filled Ice Cubes
Place your dog’s treats or some suitable food in an ice cream container, fill it with water, and freeze it. Alternatively, freeze a toy in water, like a knotted rope. As the ice melts, the treats or toys become accessible for your dog to enjoy.
If your dog enjoys chewing or licking stuffed toys, you can also try freezing them! Adding ingredients like broth, peanut butter, pumpkin, hydrated food, etc., to these toys can make them more interesting, and freezing them can provide your dog with a more challenging time to get them out.
If you’re worried about leaving your dog with a hard crunch, frozen toys and treats can be a better, safer alternative.
4. Scatter Food Puzzle Games around the House
Many dogs enjoy sniffing out and finding their food, so before leaving for work, scatter some food around specific areas of your home. Mix it up a bit so it doesn’t become routine, and your pooch will spend their day enjoying the tasty treasures.
You can hide the food game and solve puzzles in treat-dispensing toys for your pets. This way, not only do they have to use their sense of smell to find the treats, but they also must use their brains to figure out how to get the treats out.
5. Keep Your Mind Busy with Puzzles
There are plenty of interactive dog toys on the market that can keep your dog busy for hours. Some of our favorites are made by Nina Ottosson, who creates some of the best puzzle feeders for dogs. Watching your dog figure out how to eat or retrieve treats from their puzzles will require moving pieces, using their noses, and engaging different parts of their bodies. Available at various difficulty levels, start easy and watch your dog begin to problem-solve.
If you don’t want to invest in puzzle toys for your dogs, DIY works just fine! Keep reading for a DIY canine enrichment activity from the Animal Humane Society.
6. Get Dog Walking Services
A tired dog is a good dog! If your dog has energy to spare, hiring a dog walker during workdays can be incredibly beneficial. Extra human interaction can potentially provide mental stimulation for both you and your furry friend, and exercise is always a great way to alleviate stress!
7. Rotate a Set of Toys for Variety
Two things seasoned dog owners know best:
- Every dog has their favorite toys
- Those toys don’t stay interesting for long
Dogs can get bored with their favorite chew toys, so it’s up to you to rotate them to keep things fresh. By rotating toys in and out, your dog gets excited to rediscover them, keeping their playtime interesting and engaging.
Conclusion
Entertaining your dogs is not only essential for their physical and mental well-being but also helps prevent environmentally unfriendly behaviors. By implementing the suggested activities on how to entertain your dog’s such as creating a dog window seat, tuning into Dog TV, making frozen treat-filled ice cubes, scattering food puzzle games, engaging in puzzle toys, utilizing dog walking services, and rotating toys regularly, you can effectively provide stimulation and enrichment for your lovely friend. These activities not only reduce boredom but also foster a stronger bond between you and your dog while ensuring they remain happy and fulfilled, even when confined indoors.