Does anyone know any games to play with your dog? I walk mine daily and we are together a lot but he very often seems bored. I work nights and sleep days so in the evening after we have walked he wants to play.
I don't like the tug of war game he wants to play with toys and he won't "give" so I can throw a ball. We have been trying hide and seek but he seems so confused as to where the voices are coming from (my son and I tried it in the house).
I have been trying to teach him to catch by throwing popcorn at him but he can't seem to catch either and popcorn must be the only thing in the world he doesn't like to eat. :?
So has anyone got any ideas for other activities we can do in the house together when he is bored??

Have you tried clicker training? Google Karen Pryor. Or you might find books at a local book store. There are many things you can teach him.

Thanks Cinn, we do our "homework" training for rally and we will be starting a new class on clicks and tricks. (Of course that will be interesting seeings how I have yet to be able to corridinate the leash, hand signal, treat and clicker all at the same time ops: .)
I was just thinking of fun things when its too dark to walk, or the weather sucks, and when he has had his fill of training. We have been going to classes since we got him, two and half years. People are begining to ask if we are ever going to graduate, lol. I guess that they don't get that it is fun and ongoing.

Here are a few from the top of my head if you haven't already tried them---
Put just a slight dab of peanut butter on your cheek , ask your dog for a kiss, he will automatically lick the peanut butter, praise him a lot, you can keep at it until you don't need the peanut butter.

Get a hoop at the dollar store and teach him to jump through by holding a treat on the other side. Start with the hoop on the ground and graduate higher as he learns.

Put him on the other side of a low table and teach him to crawl by keeping a treat at his nose.

Don't know if these will be helpful to you. Hope so.

Thanks Shelly! Those sound like some fun ideas!

Hi, here are some of things that we play. I have a Tunnel from ( Ikea ) and do some running threw it back and forth. and he loves to play Tag. And we also work on the clicker training. You can turn that into a game for him. Dogs loves to work for there food. .... Hope that helps

[lil mutt]

I usually play with my dog and her dog toys... sometimes we also do hide and seek... but her favorite game is fetching her toys...

What kind of dog do you have? Different breeds are naturally inclined to do different things. I have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, so when we play there is usually a lot of chasing going on (she chases me, I never chase her).

I also play a kind of fetch game with her, but I have 2 tennis balls. I'll throw one, she'll get it, and bring it mostly back to me then try to run off with it. When I see her running off, I'll throw the ball I have. When she sees it, she drops the ball she has and chases the new ball, and I pick up the old ball. Rinse and repeat!

She LOVES to play tugging games, but whenever we play, I always make sure I win. We have a Kong tug toy that has been pretty indestructible so far, and she has to sit before the game, take the toy gently, and let go when I tell her to. We only play for a couple minutes at a time. Whenever she sees the Kong toy, she will drop whatever she's doing and run over and sit in front of me.

Hey, thanks for that hula hoop idea, I hadn't thought of that. I'm going to get one asap, my dog would have a lot of fun with that!

My dog loves to tug too, I hate it, and I'm concerned it will cause some orthodontal problems. When she starts tugging I just walk away. She also loves for me to chase her to get her toy back-- I can't run as fast as her, nor am I as agile, so I practice stealth and sneak up on her when she's pretending not to look, lol.

But one game she has mastered is "find it." Annie is a hunting class dog, so her sense of smell is phenomenal. (She would have made a great narcotics police dog) She can distinguish the difference between two identical items and bring back the correct one-- the "fresh" one that I just hid, versus the one that's been allowed to go "cold." Not only that, but she can sniff out a single tiny piece of kibble that's been hidden in an old stinky shoe! "Find it" will often keep her busy for up to 10 minutes, depending on how well we hide stuff. After she's found everything, she's ready to settle down and stop pestering us for a bit.

Kongs don't work on her. I've tried packing them as full and sticky as I can, but she has them licked clean almost before I can blink, and is ready for another activity. A brand new rawhide lasts a lot longer if we want some quiet time.

BTW, I work nights and sleep days too! On my worknights, I try to fit in a walk before my shift, but on my nights off I'm not afraid to go in the wee hours of the morning. I live in an area with a relatively low crime rate, comparatively, and I walk in an area that is heavily patrolled by Mr. Policeman. Plus, Annie makes anyone who might approach think better of it and take a detour! Her nose makes playing fetch in the dark all the more fun for her, and I take a flashlight too.

Tricks! Teach your dog tricks as many as you can think of.
Tricks teach you how to teach, teach your dog how to learn, teach your dog that learning is very fun, that you're fun.

Dog who know a lot of tricks is more flexible, more confident and has overall body awareness.



Sorry but I don't speak English and I can do a lot of mistakes.

[lil mutt]

Tricks is a fun activity for your pet and you as well.