Play time with your dog can be an incredible way for you to bond with each other. During cold winters, you and your dog may need a little more exercise.
You should set aside time to give your dog enough mental stimulation and exercise to keep him occupied all day. By adding some fun activities, it is possible to keep your dog fit both physically and mentally. There are so many games that you can play with your dog depending on how much time you have available and how large your house is.
Hide And Seek
The dog’s creative energy can be stimulated through hide and seek game. You will have a great deal of fun when you play this game with your dog. In order to get this game used to your dog, you ought to hide in areas that are easy for your dog to find you from the start.
Dogs love to play find hide and seek. It is an easy game for them to play. It will help a lot if your dog knows some basic commands such as stand, sit, come and stay.
You can “cheat” by guiding your dog by calling its name gradually i.e. if it is needed in the beginning. When the dog locates your hiding spot, give it kisses and hugs so that it will be excited and eager to play the game again. With hide and seek, you can have unlimited hours of fun and play.
Fetch / Retrieving
Fetching or retrieving is something that most dogs enjoy obviously some more than others. Using a tennis ball, knotted rope, or squeaky toy throw it down a hall way and make sure your dog bring it back. Beware; most dogs will do this for hours. Yet there are dogs that won’t do it at all.
Fetch is an awesome game you can play with your dog either indoors or outdoors. If you have a retriever or some so, it’s possible that your dog will presumably beg you to play for hours. Not all dogs are natural retrievers therefore; you may need to teach your dog how to play. The idea is to make your dog as energized as possible about the ball (retriever). Play with the ball, throw it up in the air, command with an excited voice, pronounce the dog’s name and ask “Where’s the ball?
Now the next thing to do is toss the ball in a little way. Don’t expect the dog bringing it back to you at first. All you have to do is to encourage your dog to pursue the ball. If she runs to the ball and touches it you owe her hugs, kisses and a few treats.
After which you can start encouraging her to take the ball back to you once she starts picking the ball. Try not to chase her or go angry if she doesn’t bring the ball back to you. When she begins bearing the ball you ought to hold off on the treats until she actually takes it back to you.
Most dogs are fast learners and can learn to fetch/retrieve a ball or other objects in only a couple days, at most. When they figure out how to fetch, dogs usually love to flaunt their new skills.
Retrieving/fetching is a great way to exercise your dog and build a bond between you two at the same time.
Tug of War
Some dogs are keener on playing tug of war than others however you can get most dogs to play if you wiggle the toy before them. You should shower praise on your dog for grabbing hold of the toy to tell them you are okay with it. This is a game that most dogs really appreciate. You should not allow your dog to win the tug item because it will create some aggression with some dogs.
Tug of war is a tactical game that needs to be played in a sensible way. No wonder some people don’t support playing tug of war with dogs. It’s also a great way to teach your dog some basic commands. You play tug of war with simple toys such as a small rope.
If your dog gets over-energized and pulls too hard, or won’t quit when you instruct them to do so, you can just stop playing. After all, the game requires two players and if you stop playing the game is over.
You can teach your dog basic commands such as “drop it” when playing tug of war. “Drop it” is a good command for your dog to learn if she grabs something she shouldn’t eat or something unsafe.
Children should never play tug of war with dogs.
Training Your Dog
Make sure you devote time for training while indoor. Go through some training exercises, watch training videos on YouTube and teach your dog some of these exercises. This is a great way to bond with your dog. It is of beneficial to have a well-trained dog in your home and it is necessary to have larger dogs. Work on sit, down, catch and run exercises, these are extremely important to establish you as the master (dog boss).
I hope you catch a lot of fun with your dog by exercising these indoor games.
About the Author: Mary Thompson
