Games to play with your dog

When dogs are bored, they can quite easily find themselves in trouble after keeping themselves occupied with a pair of shoes or practice their digging skills on the sofa. Playing games with your dog will help keep them busy, exercised and out of mischief.

Here are some ideas to keep you, and your dog entertained and stimulated.

Treasure hunt

Your dog’s sense of smell is 10,000 times more powerful than yours, so a treat treasure hunt is bound to get their nose twitching and eager to find their favourite snack. All you need are a few containers or cardboard boxes, and a handful of treats. Just pop the food under one of the boxes and encourage your dog to start sniffing around the containers. Once they’ve identified the box hiding the treasure simply lift it and reward them.

Hide and seek

Instead of hiding treats for your dog to find, why not go and hide while your dog sits and waits. Once you’ve found a good hiding spot, call your dog and see how long it takes for them to find you. This can keep you entertained for a few hours, and great for kids to get involved with too.

The tin game

If you have a muffin tray, or Yorkshire pudding tin and a few tennis balls lying around then just place some treats in some of the holes and cover them with the balls. Then just let your dog loose on the tin and let them figure out how to get to their yummy snack.

Obstacle course

If you have an action pup, then an obstacle course will the perfect thing to build on a rainy day to keep them occupied. You don’t need to go out and buy anything, just utilise your furniture and other household stuff.

Pillows, chairs, boxes and tables are perfect for your DIY obstacle course to get your dog going under, jumping over, and weaving through things without knowing they’re being trained and exercised.

Blow some bubbles

While it’s probably more fun for your dog, watching your dog chase and pop bubbles is quite entertaining. There are plenty of pet-friendly bubbles on the market and they’re well worth buying to keep your dog happy.

Teach your dog new tricks

No matter what the old adage says, training your dog can be fun for both of you! Teach them to catch a (soft) ball or frisbee in their mouths, high-five, roll over, play dead, open doors, or even backflip or skateboard!

There are plenty of Youtube videos showing how to train your pooch to perform these, and of course, every training session comes with a plentiful supply of treats to reward success!

These games will strengthen your dog’s mind and the great bond between the two of you, so it’s worth making these games a regular thing.