Nine Indoor Games That Genuinely Tire a Dog Out
Why sniffing beats running
Scent work is disproportionately tiring for dogs. A dog reads the world mostly through their nose, and asking them to work it hard engages far more of the brain than a repetitive physical game does. Twenty minutes of searching will settle most dogs more thoroughly than an hour of fetch, which is why fetch-obsessed dogs often come home wired rather than calm.
The games below are ordered by how reliably they produce a dog asleep on their side afterwards.
The nine
- Scatter feed. Throw their meal across a rug or a towel and let them hunt it. The simplest and one of the best. Costs nothing and takes no setup.
- Find it. Hide treats around one room while they wait in another, release with a cue. Increase difficulty by using height, under things, and inside loosely closed boxes.
- The muffin tin. Treats in the wells of a muffin tray, tennis balls on top. Cheap, and most dogs need a few goes to solve it properly.
- Towel roll. Treats spread on a flat towel, rolled up loosely. Progress to knotting it once they get quick.
- Which hand. Treat in one closed fist, let them nose the right one, open and pay. Small, calm and surprisingly good for an over-aroused dog.
- Name the toy. Teach one toy by name over a week, then a second, then ask them to pick between the two. Slow, and excellent for clever dogs who get bored fast.
- Stair recall. Two people, opposite ends of the house, calling alternately and paying well. The one genuinely physical game here, so keep it short with young or elderly joints.
- Cardboard box dig. A box with scrunched paper and food hidden in it. Messy, brilliant for terriers, and worth doing on a hard floor.
- Chew time. Not a game, but a long-lasting appropriate chew does more for a restless dog than most owners expect. Chewing is self-soothing.
Stop while they are winning. Two or three short sessions of five to ten minutes beat one long one, and ending before the dog gets frustrated is what keeps them keen the next day. If they start giving up quickly, the puzzle is too hard, not the dog too stubborn.
A realistic wet-week plan
One scent game after breakfast, one short training session at lunch, a chew in the afternoon, and a proper walk in whatever weather the day allows. Most dogs cope with a genuinely miserable week far better than their owners expect, provided their nose and brain have had something to do.