How to Entertain your Puppy at Home

If you’ve been stuck at home with a puppy before they received all their vaccines, you know it takes a lot of work and patience. Your adorable dog turns into a little ball of energy that need to be constantly occupied so they don’t wreak havoc.

If you run out of ideas for how to keep your pup entertained, here is a list of fun activities and games you can do together.

1. Hide and Seek: Great to play with two people when the puppy is young. You hide around the house and call the puppy by its name. Once the puppy finds you, give him a treat. Do this multiple times where each person takes a turn hiding in the house. Helps with recall and name learning.
2. Puzzle/Sniff Games: There are lots of these puzzle toys available on Amazon or Chewy. This is great for training your pup on problem solving and for tiring them out mentally.
3. Teach a Trick a Day: Work on a new trick or perfecting old tricks every day to mentally tire them out and improve discipline.
4. Try Virtual Titling Programs: Join a program online and earn titles for your dog. Some options to look up are American Kennel Club and Absolute Dogs
5. Fetch: Yes! You can even play this in the house. The Nerf ball launcher is a fun way to play fetch in the house and tire out the pup by having them run all over the house.
6. Relaxation Training: Tell your dog to lay down and then to stay. Make them stay as you move to different parts of the room/house. This will train your pup to be more patient.
7. Hide Treats in the Toy Box: While your pup is in another room, hide some treats in their toy box (or other places around the house). Then release your dog and have them sniff out the treats.
8. Indoor Agility: Have your dog jump over toilet paper roles, run under chairs, run through hoola hoops, or any other obstacles that your pup can safely jump over or below. This also results in some very cute videos!
9. Name Training Game: Have two people sit in opposite sides of a room. Taking your turns, call out “Dog Name Come” and then give a treat when they come. This is great for learning recall and name recognition.
10. Tug: Play tug-a-war with your pup to tire them out.

Let us know if you have other tips for keeping your pup occupied and having fun at home!