How to Entertain Your Dog in 12 Ways

Even if your dog prefers to snuggle up on the couch all day, there are many advantages to keeping your dog active, including:

1. 1. Improves sleep: When dogs are active during the day, they are more likely to get a good night’s sleep because they’ve expended most of their energy before bedtime.
2. 2. Improves mental health: Leaving your dog home alone for too long or depriving them of physical activity and stimulation increases their likelihood of developing depression and anxiety.
3. 3. Improves physical health: An active dog is less likely to develop health issues like diabetes and heart disease. Exercise also improves a dog’s overall health and may increase their lifespan by improving cardiovascular function, joint health, muscle strength, and digestion.
4. 4. Prevents behavioral problems: Bored dogs deprived of playtime or exercise have excessive pent-up energy that they may release in inappropriate ways. Keeping your dog stimulated and active can help prevent bad behavior like destructive chewing, excessive barking, aggressiveness, and hyperactivity. Learn how to get a dog to stop barking excessively.
5. 5. Strengthens relationship with pet parent: Connecting with your dog through fun activities cultivates a stronger pet and parent bond, making your pooch’s love for you grow, and increasing the likelihood that they’ll respond to your commands.

There are many fun activities to try with your dog beyond long walks or playing a game of fetch. If you’re struggling to think of fun ways to entertain your dog, try out some of these ideas:

1. 1. Build an obstacle course. Purchase a starter dog agility training kit to set up your own obstacle course outside—complete with seesaws, hurdles, and more—or make your own DIY indoor course if you have the room. For instance, have your dog jump over pillows, weave through chair legs, and run through a tunnel made from taped-together cardboard boxes. Running courses like this helps your dog burn off excess energy and sharpen their problem-solving skills.
2. 2. Enrich your dog’s mind with food puzzles. Enrichment tools keep your dog’s mind occupied. These toys have food hidden inside (typically treats, kibble, or peanut butter), requiring your dog to solve a problem for access. When your dog needs to work hard to get their treat—either by solving a puzzle or licking a hard-to-reach place—they will stay active for much longer than if you feed them in the usual way.
3. 3. Develop an interactive game. Create your own food puzzle at home using common, dog-safe household items. For one popular DIY puzzle game, all you need is a muffin tin and enough tennis balls to fill every slot in the tin. Place treats in one or two muffin slots and cover each one with a tennis ball. Using scent work, your dog can find where you’ve hidden the treats.
4. 4. Enroll them in doggie daycare. Even with a dog walker dropping by to give your canine companion a bathroom break when you have to spend all day at work, your pooch spends most of the day home alone. A great solution is to enroll them in doggie daycare—a place where dog owners drop their pets off in the morning to play with other canines all day. Even if you can’t afford this option every day, doing so once or twice a week is still an effective way to give your dog some much-needed socialization time.
5. 5. Get a second dog. Getting a second dog comes with extra responsibility, but it’s also a fantastic way to ensure that your pup has a best friend to play with at all times. However, keep in mind that getting a second pet isn’t a reliable coping method for a dog with severe separation anxiety because they experience stress specifically due to the absence of their owners, not from just being alone.
6. 6. Leave the TV on. Whenever your dog lays around the house between physical activity sessions, try turning on the TV or radio to help prevent boredom. Some cable packages even include dog-friendly channels airing content specifically tailored to canines.
7. 7. Play tug of war. A vigorous round of tug of war can help expend your dog’s energy to calm them down for the rest of the day: You’ll need a tug toy (or make your own DIY model by tying together old T-shirts), some open space, and a willingness to get sweaty.
8. 8. Practice daily obedience training sessions. Ten to fifteen minutes of daily basic obedience training is an easy way to stimulate your dog’s mind while simultaneously teaching them useful skills. The most efficient way to train a pooch is to reward them with treats or a clicker as positive reinforcement when they obey a command. Check out these dog training tools from renowned animal trainer Brandon McMillan.
9. 9. Set up a doggy playdate. If you’re friends with other pet parents—and your dogs get along—schedule a playdate for your pups. Energetic playtime with other dogs releases anxiety and tension, with the added bonus of allowing you to relax as your dog burns off energy. Before doing this, learn how to socialize your dog to ensure that they will play nice with others.
10. 10. Set up a treat scavenger hunt. Any activity utilizing your dog’s keen sense of smell helps to stimulate their mind. Play a game of hide-and-seek with dog treats by hiding a few high-value aromatic treats around the house. Allow your dog to sniff around and hunt for their reward. Use different types of treats to increase the difficulty.
11. 11. Teach your pooch a new trick. Dog training doesn’t need to end after your pup learns all the basic commands (sit, stay, down, heel, no, come, off). There are numerous tricks to teach your pooch purely for fun that will help keep their mind stimulated. Some fun new dog commands to try include: shake hands, play dead, roll over, kiss, fetch, and stand on hind legs. Learn more about dog tricks.
12. 12. Try out new toys. If your dog has a favorite toy, you may feel compelled to give it to them whenever they need to burn off some energy. However, they can become bored when playing with the same toy repeatedly. Keep various toy types on hand (chew toys, puzzle toys, plush toys, rope toys, throw toys, etc.) and swap new ones into their play routine regularly.

Your dream of having a dog who understands words like “sit,” “stay,” “down,” and—crucially— “no” is just a MasterClass Annual Membership away. The only things you’ll need to train up a well-behaved pup are your laptop, a big bag of treats, and our exclusive instructional videos from superstar animal trainer Brandon McMillan.