If your puppy doesn’t have all their vaccinations yet, or if you can’t get outside for a walk because of the weather, you need some other creative ways to keep your puppy satisfied both physically and mentally! Luckily, there are plenty of fun activities and super easy games you can do right at home. We’re sharing our Top 10 favorites here!
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Before we dive in, is your puppy on a schedule? Maintaining a daily schedule for your puppy at home will help your pup get into the flow of knowing what’s coming up next in their day — which will help them settle into their new home more quickly, and make puppyhood easier for you faster! Get our recommended puppy schedule here that you can use as a template, and draw from our list below to fill in the daytime actives you’d like to try!
Having productive activities at your disposal will decrease the chance of your puppy becoming restless during their free time and looking elsewhere to occupy their time (ie. chewing your baseboards, scratching your throw pillows, digging in the backyard, etc.). Plus, they’ll give you the opportunity to teach your puppy some good manners, great puppy training skills and promote positive behavior while you’re at it!
1. Sniff Out The Treat!
This is a fun one to watch your pup work to find their treats (or kibble) and it’s super simple to set up in any type of living situation: all you need are a few small pieces of food (treats or kibble), a treat-stuffing toy like a Kong, some creative hiding spots, and your phone to record your pup seeking them out! With your puppy watching you from their playpen or crate, put one to two treats into a Kong, hide it, and release your pup to let them go to town searching out their reward!
2. Puzzle Games, Snuffle Mats, and Food-Dispensing Toys
These games are great at getting your puppy to work on their problem-solving skills and rewarding them for their hard work! Many of these games involve hiding a treat in a little compartment and letting your puppy sniff them out. Depending on the puzzle game you pick, your puppy will be able to flip lids, turn knobs, open small drawers, lift up cones, and sift through pieces of fabric to uncover hidden treats. And they come in different difficulty levels so you can keep progression your pup as they get better and better!
The classic Kong toy and other variations of food dispensing toys are a great mental stimulation that will release an immediate reward for your puppy’s work. Stuff it with their favorite food or treats and let them chew it until the food is dispensed. The best part about these toys is that they allow your puppy to problem-solve as they chew. This is a natural way your puppy relieves gum pain, especially if they are teething, and relieves boredom! To increase the difficulty, freeze some healthy dog-friendly peanut butter in the Kong for your pup to lick out. Bonus: licking can be very soothing for pups!
3. Practice Obedience Training
Puppies love to work and learn new things! Doing 5-15 minute sessions of obedience routines will improve your pup’s skills, teach them good manners, and even tire them out faster than a long walk! Obedience training is awesome mental exercise that will leave your pup feeling satisfied and ready for a nap when you’re finished.
This also goes for working on Heel indoors! Teaching your pup to walk inside first is much easier since there’s fewer distractions. And if your pup is already walking outdoors, you can challenge them inside as well! Use a hallway in your home to practice your pup keeping in Heel position and doing Heel turnarounds to change direction, then advance to having them Heel beside you around your coffee table, sofa, dining table, up and down the stairs, and all around the house!
For our favorite obedience command routines and how to teach your puppy to Heel with the exercises we mentioned above, our Online Puppy School goes over all these activities you can do right at home with your puppy! Check out The Puppy Academy Online School for more details and to start working on these routines today!
4. Teach Your Pup “Go Find”
With your puppy watching from their playpen or crate, have them see you take one of their favorite toys and put it down at a distance. Then, excitedly tell your puppy to “Go Find”! Act like it’s a game of Fetch and reset your puppy in their playpen or crate once they retrieve it. Do this a few times until your pup starts to associate “Go Find” with searching out their toy. Eventually, you can train them to do this with a variety of items!
5. Teach Your Puppy Toy Names
We love this one! Your pup can learn so much, so why not the names of their favorite toys? Start by playing with one specific toy such as a ball and when your puppy takes it, say “Ball” out loud. Do this a few times and then test your pup’s skill to see if they pick up the ball when you call out “Go Find Ball!”
6. Reinforce Your Puppy’s Recall
Recall a.k.a. “Come” command is a super important behavior that you want your pup to learn early on in a variety of environments and distances. The first and best place to start is your home! You can do this by starting off in a hallway, and calling your puppy’s name and “Come”, then rewarding them with a treat when they do. Build up to be able to go into different rooms as you call them to you. For more of our tips on how do this, check out our blog on How To Get Your Puppy Responding to Come!
Take this up a notch and play what we call the “Recall Game” by involving the family and having them stand in various spots of the room while you take turns calling your pup to you and rewarding them when they “Come”! As your puppy masters farther distances, you can start including more rooms, then move it to the backyard and have them practice coming back to you. Check out are video below for more details on how to play:
7. Play a Game of Fetch or Catch
Believe it or not, you don’t need a ton of space to play Fetch with your puppy. Yes, as they get bigger and older and better with it, you will probably want to expand the distance, but for the meantime while they’re learning and still growing, smaller spaces can do just fine! We even encourage using a leash to start with to help guide your pup back and prevent them from wandering off, while they’re learning the muscle memory of Fetch.
Start off by having your puppy Sit. Then, throw their ball or toy as you say “Fetch”, and have your puppy run to catch it! Then, call them back by using their name and “Come”. Not only is this game great for their physical exercise, but you are also working on challenging command combinations and recall. For more of our Fetch-teaching tips, check out “Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: How to Play with Your Puppy Pt. 2!”
8.Play a Game of Tug
Tug is a great exercise that teaches your pup how to turn play “on” and “off” while also strengthening your bond together. With Tug also comes teaching your puppy the important command “Drop-it!”.
We’ve got our full guide for you on how to teach Tug and Drop-It, here!
9. Work on Impulse Control
If good manners is your goal, this one’s really going to help you, while challenging your pup too!
Feeding time and going in and out of doorways (especially outside!) can be some of the two most exciting times for puppies. While at home, take this time to up those excellent manners in your puppy and work on their impulse control around the things that excite them most.
If your puppy goes crazy for their food, practice putting them in “Place” (learn about how to teach your puppy Place command here!) and waiting while you prepare their meal. Then have them remain in a Sit or Down as you slowly lower them to the floor. If they move towards the bowl, lift it back up and reset them in their position and try again. This can take some time over several days to get the hang of, so be patient! Use your pup’s leash or have them go in their crate to help you practice this in the beginning stages while they’re learning. When you’re able to get the bowl on the ground without them going for it, calmly tell the “Break” to release them to eat their food.
If your puppy is known for bolting out of doorways to go explore, teach them calm thresholds where they learn to pause in doorways and wait for permission from you to enter or leave. Each time you go through a doorway (this includes your pup’s crate!) have them Sit and wait for your command, then calmly release them. If you are walking alongside your pup, make sure to lead them first and have them follow, or walk out together to instill this good leadership habit. Get all the details on threshold training in our blog: Teach Your Puppy Not to Bolt Out of Doorways!
10. Netflix, Chill, and “Place”
After a long day of activities, a little relaxation time is great for our pups — and us! This is also one of our favorite times to practice teaching your pup “Place duration” where your pup learns how to stay and relax on their Place cot (or dog bed) for extended periods of time.
When you start off practicing this, make sure to have your pup’s leash on with the end in your hand, and be alert to your pup so you can reward them for staying on with a treat, and guide them back to it if they try to get up. You’ll also want to sit closer to them in the beginning, then extend the distance between you as they get better at staying and need fewer resets from you. This is the perfect activity you can do while you catch up on the newest episodes of your favorite shows!
Looking for something to watch? Take our FREE Masterclass on the 5 Hacks to Make Life Easier with your New Pup. It’s only 15 minutes and will save you hours of trying other methods that just don’t work! Get it here!
With all these fun activities while you’re home with your pup, don’t forget to also include some alone time for them. Using their playpen or crate so they’re away from you for periods of time throughout the day will help to prep them for when you need to leave them to go to work or out for errands, and reduce the chances of separation anxiety forming.
Which activity from this list is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!
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