How to Stimulate Your Dog Indoors

If you are a dog owner, it can be difficult to leave your dog at home while you go to work. Even if you work from home, you may struggle to keep your pup stimulated as you try to perform your duties. Thankfully, Small Door Veterinary offers some tips to help keep your dog mentally stimulated indoors. Try these tricks to entertain your precious fur baby.

Practice Obedience Training

One of the best ways to stimulate your dog indoors is through obedience training. While it is a great method to stimulate your dog mentally, it is also a wonderful way to strengthen you and your dog’s bond. Start with basic commands like sit, stay, and come, and gradually work your way up to more advanced ones.

Teach An Old Dog or Pup Some Tricks

In addition to obedience training, teaching your dog new tricks is another great way to keep them mentally stimulated. Tricks you can try teaching them include rolling over, giving a high five, or how to play dead. This can add some fun to your daily routine as well as provide mental stimulation for your pup.

Offer Your Dog Food-Dispensing Puzzle Toys

While obedience training and teaching tricks require your presence, you cannot always be home with your dog. When they have to home alone, they can get lonely and bored. This in turn causes them to show destructive behavior. Avoid that behavior by offering them toys and other stimuli that can distract them from you not being around. Toys in general are great, but try giving them a toy that gives them a purpose and reward like a food-dispensing puzzle or toy. The toy doesn’t always have to be too complicated. Even filling a Kong with peanut butter can keep your dog entertained and mentally stimulated.

Rotate the Dog’s Toys

If you love spoiling your dog, then you probably have a basket of toys set aside just for them. Your dog probably has their favorite toys that they always pull out, but over time your pup may get tired of playing with the same toys. Try introducing new ones or maybe rotating out their favorite toys with toys they don’t often play with. When you have some time, introduce your fur baby to their toys. You can even work on teaching them tricks as mentioned earlier by teaching them the names of their toys and training them to retrieve said toy.

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Give Them a View

If your dog has to stay home, they can get bored laying around the same room day after day. Try changing their view by opening the blinds, so your dog can watch the world go by. Watching cars, people, and other animals go by is a wonderful way to offer your pup mental stimulation.

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