Indoor Games for Dogs: Fun Activities, Interactive Toys, and DIY Ideas

The daily portions of food, brain games, and body workouts would often make your furry companion bored and the outcome of it results in loud or destructive behaviors. It is the reason why it is important to keep your dogs entertained with indoor activities for dogs, in rainy weather and even during recovery following surgery. It is true mainly for the puppies like Miniature Goldendoodle or a Shih Tzu as well as the adolescent dogs benefitting from a watchful eye once they get cooped up from within.

Finding the better things you can experiment with your dogs indoors is as seamless as purchasing the proper toys in terms of creating fun and game activities. Especially for pet parents who had their puppy undergo spaying, giardia, and warts, as we have brought about effective tips from the experts and dog trainers to create some indoor games for dogs that continue keeping your dogs enriched and entertained.

In our post today, we will examine numerous activities that can help eradicate your dog's boredom indoors. These games can help you manage your one-year-old pup's energy, as they have shown signs of enhancing the bond and their ability to focus out of distracting spaces.

Why Indoor Games are Essential for Dogs

Considering the indoor games for dogs, they prove to be more than just a mere pastime activity. They remain at the core to maintain the entire well-being of your dog. Similar to humans, your dog requires greater mental stimulating activities and physical exercises like swimming for dogs to make them stay happier and healthier. 

1. Preventing Boredom: Boredom eventually leads to a series of issues, including depression, anxieties, weight management issues, and depression that involves excessive barking or scraping through your furniture. Well-laid indoor games render effective stimulation for your pup, which requires staying content and occupied.
2. Promoting Physical Health: It is essential to keep your dogs engaged with regular physical activities, which aim to retain their fitness while reducing their chances of obesity.
3. Enhances Mental Stimulation: Dogs are super smart and intelligent as they thrive on resolving issues and taking up new things. Indoor games would often challenge their minds as they would enhance their cognitive functionality while preventing imbalances associated with aging.

Indoor Interactive Dog Toys

Indoor interactive dog toys are the ideal way to keep your dogs engaged and offer better mental stimulation indoors. These toys are uniquely streamlined and challenge your dog's mind while rewarding them with treats following their diet especially when you own small dog breeds such as Mini Goldendoodle. Ensure to follow the right Goldendoodle diet, solve puzzles effectively and keep them entertained for a longer time.

Types of Toys

• Treat Dispensing Puzzles: These are the toys that need your furry companion to find out the way of releasing the treats that are hidden from within. The prominent options that follow include the Kong Classic, which you can fill with kibble as well as peanut butter, also include Outward Hound Hide-A-Squirrel. Here make your dogs hunt for the squirrels from within the trunk of the tree.
• Interactive Balls: You can notably continue to keep your dogs entertained with the help of the balls lighting up and making noises while dispensing the treats upon rolling.
• Snuffle Mats: The mats often resemble the generic process of foraging, enabling your dog to search and sniff out hidden treats. These offer extended hours of mental stimulation as well as entertainment.

How to Use

To derive the ideal perks from the interactive toys, try rotating them on a regular basis, as it will help keep your dogs engaged. Initiate the introduction of the toys and reveal to the dog how they work. Try fostering them into exploring and solving the puzzle while rewarding them with treats whenever they succeed. It would help if you made the ideal intricacies, making the puzzles tougher at every level while using a small amount of treats.

Indoor DIY Dog Games

Whenever you are in search of the most affordable ways to keep your dogs engaged, indoor DIY dog games prove to be the ideal option. These indoor games utilize common items you will find indoors and require less preparation, as they are gathered easily. Your furry companion will love them. Find out the best DIY games to try out with your dog.

• Hide-and-Seek: Every dog loves to play hide-and-seek. Start by commanding your dog to sit and stay while you locate the right hiding spot. After this, call out by their name or use a toy to encourage them to search for you. It is the perfect game that stimulates their sense of smell while sharpening their skills to solve problems.
• Homemade Obstacle Courses: This is one of the easiest ones since you can use items you will find indoors and structure a course based on its easy-to-difficulty levels. Try using the broken-down boxes for the dog, as they can crawl through them. Place the chairs down to help them move through them, and also try stacking up the books for them to jump over.
• Tug-of-War with Household Items: Arrange a strong rope toy and engage them in the friendliest game of tug-of-war. This activity helps build their resilience, offers healthier outbursts of their instincts, and strengthens the bond between you and them.

Safety Tips

Whenever you plan to start DIY games with your pup, always ensure that they are safe. Ensure that the space is free from any sharp items or objects that would injure them. Monitor your furry friend up close, mainly when you use household items that are not designed for pets. Stop this game if your dog is showing frustration or fatigue, offering a lot of water breaks to keep them hydrated during the play.

Indoor Mental Stimulation Games for Dogs

It is important to keep your dog mentally stimulated, coupled with physical exercise. Indoor mental stimulation games for dogs will challenge your dog's cognitive abilities while keeping their minds sharp and preventing boredom. These games are distinctively effective for senior dogs or disabled dogs.

Examples

• Scent Trails: Dogs have an amazing sense of smell. Creating scent trails often taps into their natural abilities. Always start creating a scent trail by rubbing smaller treats or toys onto the floor while hiding them in yet another room. Make your dog follow the scent to locate the hidden toys or items.
• Interactive Story-Time: Associate story time using interactive plays by narrating a story to your doll and using the toys. For instance, if you are narrating a story about a squirrel, then start using a plush squirrel toy, associating them with the narrative.
• Brain Games: Try incorporating brain games into their play, like "Shell Game," that would challenge your dog with problem-solving skills. Try placing a treat under one of the three cups you use while shuffling them around. Make your dog sniff around while picking a cup using the treat.

Benefits

Mentally stimulating games effectively minimize boredom, enhance your dog's cognitive functionality, and prevent anxieties. Properly engaging your dog using these activities will pace down the cognitive declines in senior dogs while offering a strong outlet for their natural problem-solving abilities.

Indoor Physical Exercise Games for Dogs

Indoor training games for dogs are vital to their health; fortunately, they can get a decent amount of exercise. Whether you have a spacious hall or a limited apartment space, it is crucial to get the dog engaged in indoor physical exercise games.

Examples

• Indoor Fetch: It does not mean that Fetch has to be played only outdoors, though. Throw a soft toy or a ball and let the dog catch it during playtime in the hallway or a room with enough space. Toss the toy and guide your dog toward it so that it returns it to you. This game is suitable for highly spirited dogs that require some exercise.
• Stair Climbing: If you have stairs at your home then you should know how to incorporate them into your design. Teach your dog to jump up the stairs by tossing a toy or a treat to the upper level of the stairs so that the dog can follow. Stair climbing is also a good form of exercise since it involves a lot of strain and helps develop some muscles.
• Laser Pointer Games: Like cats, dogs also like chasing light, specifically the laser pointer. Using the laser and drawing different patterns on the floor or the wall, the dog chases after the laser. This game is best played short as it requires bursts of energy. However, do not point the laser at the dog's eyes.

Precautions

Spotting is vital when playing physical exercise games indoors since the interior of a house can easily become chaotic, thereby posing many dangers to those playing the games. Remove all the objects from the floor and any other area that the child could fall on or break. 

Indoor Training Games for Dogs

All in all, training games are an excellent way of instilling obedience and social skills and enhancing their skills while indoors. Not only are these fun indoor games for dogs good for exercising the brain, but they also further develop the relationship between you and your dog.

Examples

• Find the Treat: Teach your dog how to forage and leave out rewards that he has to sniff out. First, try the very simple environments and then move towards the more complicated ones as the dog gets used to the training. 
• Command Training Challenges: Make training sessions more fun by playing a dog obedience game where you come up with commands for your dog to obey. For instance, you can order them to sit, stay, and then follow you to another room once you call them. 
• Hide and Seek with Owner: A game that is related to the hide and seek game but with a twist. Lock yourself in a room and make some loud noises so your dog will need to find you. When they do, then you should give them a treat or allow them to play for some time. 

Benefits

When you own a toy breed like a pug, ensure that you follow obedience and training games. These games are another unique way to challenge your dog mentally and keep it engaged while enforcing good pug behavior. Also, these games can assist in enhancing your dog’s attentiveness and obedience to your commands.

Fun Indoor Games for Dogs

With regard to fun indoor games for dogs, the world is their oyster. Everything from toys that can be tossed around with your dog to thinking through how to engage your dog in a project is very helpful in entertaining your dog indoors. This is a part where we’ll be sharing with you some of the best and most playful exercises that you can do with your dog.

Examples

• Puzzle Toys: As mentioned earlier, treat-dispensing puzzles and interactive balls are among the best because they take your dog’s time and require his intellect. They are great for rainy days, days when you are stuck indoors working, or when your dog is bored.
• Hide and Seek: Hide and Seek is one of the most popular games. It involves consciously or unconsciously hiding oneself, a toy, or a treat. This activity gives your dog exercise that activates their predatory instinct and is fun for your pet.
• Tug-of-War: Tug-of-war is also friendly and fun when done with your dog and helps exercise your pet. Choose a strong thread or a used towel, and establish some guidelines that will help during the game so that it is not dangerous for the people who are playing it.

Suggestions

As we mentioned before, every single dog in this world is different, and something that helps one might harm the other. Try various games and toys to determine which kind of games and toys your dog likes the most. Watch how they respond to things and what interests them, and do not hesitate to vary your performance to keep children busy.

Conclusion

Thus, indoor games for dogs are very important for the welfare of your pet and his playfulness especially when outdoor play is not feasible. There are countless ways for a dog to occupy itself indoors, including toys that one has to build on its own, games, and mental and physical exercises. At Happytail Puppies, we share the best resources that will help you train your furry companions in the best way while keeping them mentally stimulated. With these indoor games for dogs at your disposal, it is now time to give some of them a shot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Let us now find out some of the common questions that strike the mind of a dog owner and answer them.

What Can I Give a Bored Dog?

All dogs like to play with their favorite person in their lives, you. Play is beneficial in enhancing the motor skills of young dogs and enabling them to handle stress from real life.

What Is Dogs' Favorite Thing?

Like us, dogs react negatively to the boredom that comes when there is little work for the brain to handle. Playful dogs will always find ways of entertaining themselves to avoid being dormant, and some of these tricks are very difficult to handle.

Are Dogs Bored at Home?

Games that involve you acting like you are hiding from your dog or playing tug of war allow you all to play together and strengthen the relationship. There are specific games, such as scent games, where you can hide the dog treats or the dog toys within the compound.

What Can You Play with a Dog?

You can choose activities such as hide and seek where your dog would locate you. Even play tug-of-war that allows you to play them together to create a robust bond between you and your dog.

How to Play with Dogs Without Toys?

You can try playing with your furry companions without any toys, as it proves highly fun-filled and engaging. Check out a few activities, such as playing fetch using household items, creating DIY toys, and playing interactive games.