9 Games to Play With Your Dog at Home

Plenty of times we can't get out of the house as much as we'd like to walk and play with our dog. So we need to come up with some fun games to have a great time with our dog at home.

It doesn't matter if it's raining, the weather's bad, we're unwell, or we're simply confined because of a state of emergency… at home we can play with our dog and have a great time. Want some ideas? Let's go.

Why Play at Home?

Stress is one of the main causes of health problems in dogs, besides being the trigger for bad behaviour. A bored or stressed dog is a dog with lowered defences, and one who'll likely end up misbehaving (breaking or biting things at home).

That's why, when we can't take them for a walk to let them run and play, burning off their excess energy, we need to try to keep them entertained at home for a good while. This way, we'll prevent them getting bored or suffering canine stress. Let's look at some examples of hugely fun games we can play at home with our best friend.

Hide and Seek, a Hugely Fun Game

Have you ever played hide and seek with your dog? It's hugely fun and will get them exercising and activate all their senses. We can play at home with no danger at all, as many times as we like.

• Open every door in the house (except the front door, obviously).
• Tell your dog to sit and stay sitting (if you can't, ask a family member to hold them for a moment).
• Hide somewhere in the house, where they can find you but not at first glance.
• Call your dog to come and find you, and stay silent while they search.
• Once they find you, praise them and give them plenty of cuddles.

If for some reason they don't find you, you can make small noises from time to time, to give them a clue about where you're hiding.

Playing Find the Food

We all know dogs love food, so with this game, besides giving them a delicious reward, we'll make them work by fully activating their sense of smell. It's similar to hide and seek, but hiding food.

• Grab a sausage or some treat for your dog
• Hide it somewhere in the room they have access to, and let them see you doing it
• Give them the command to search, and let them find the reward and eat it. Praise them when they do.
• Now do the same but in another room where they can't see where you hide the food (you can drag the food along the floor towards the hiding spot, so your dog can use their sense of smell to follow the trail).
• Once your dog becomes an expert at locating food, you can hide it in other rooms of the house.

You'll see your dog go crazy playing this fun game, because the reward… is food!

Find the Toy

Every dog has a favourite toy, so we just need to grab it and play with them for a good while so they have fun and get exercise. It's very simple — we just need to throw their toy again and again for them to go fetch it and bring it back to us.

What's more, we can change the spot where we throw the toy, so they don't get used to always fetching it from the same place. This game is very simple but hugely effective.

Tug-of-War

We can also play tug-of-war with our dog, a game where we'll wind them up a little to keep them entertained. We can use a dog rope, or if we don't have one, we can grab an old T-shirt and tie plenty of knots in it (you'll see how much they love biting it).

We'll let our dog bite one end of the rope or T-shirt, while we pull the other end (gently) to wind them up a little. They'll have a great time trying to snatch the rope or T-shirt from us.

Even so, once the game ends, don't lose sight of them, since they'll possibly try to tear and unravel the rope or T-shirt, and we can't let them swallow the pieces (it could be dangerous for them).

The Kong

Never underestimate the power of the mighty Kong, a practically indestructible toy that will keep our dog entertained for a good while, while they enjoy some delicious food.

The Kong is a toy with a hole in the middle, where we can put a bit of jam or pâté, anything they love. Our dog will spend hours trying to get their food out, licking up whatever comes out along the way.

The Power of Boxes

Cardboard boxes are an excellent toy too — we can put a treat for dogs inside so your dog goes in on their own and discovers how great they are as a den.

We can also play at tearing it apart, letting our dog have a blast biting the cardboard again and again (watch that they don't swallow any pieces).

Lastly, if the box is big enough, we can also hide inside it ourselves to play with them (hide and seek, for example).

Where's the Treat?

You've surely played that game where someone hides something in their hand, closes it, shows you both closed hands, and you need to guess which hand it's hidden in. Well, it's the same with our dog, putting a dog treat inside our hand.

With this fun game we'll stimulate their sense of smell a great deal, and on top of that, they'll have a blast eating their rewards.

Obstacle Course

Have you ever seen an Agility training field? I encourage you to look one up and see how fun it can be to set up your own at home. We can use everyday things such as chairs, tables, cushions…

Once it's set up, we simply need to teach our dog to do the course gradually — with practice they'll gain agility and end up having a great time going through all the obstacles. Remember to give them rewards when they do well.

Throw Them the Ball

Who said ball games are only for outdoors? Dogs love going to fetch the ball, watching it bounce off every corner of the house until they catch it.

The best balls are hard rubber ones that can't be unravelled (tennis balls aren't very advisable). What's more, rubber ones bounce far more, making them much more fun.

Enjoy a good ball session with your dog — throw it around the whole house so they have fun catching it.