Winter is fast approaching, and in a few months, it will be freezing outside. We must ensure that our dogs stay indoors to keep them warm and comfortable. However, keeping a dog indoors for a long period can be tricky. There are so many dog owners who are constantly facing the same challenges as you during winter. That’s why we have created a compilation of tips on keeping your dog indoors during winter and preventing them from becoming bored. Check out the tips below to keep your dog occupied indoors and try them when the winter season arrives.
Offer Long Lasting Dog Treats
Dogs love to nibble on dog treats, and it’s one of the ways that they do it when they’re bored. However, most dog treats won’t last long, and if you want to keep your dog occupied for a long time, you must choose long-lasting treats to occupy your dog. This way, you will never have to deal with a bored dog.
Remember, an excessively bored dog tends to get into trouble in an attempt to entertain themselves. Therefore, you don’t want to deal with a bored dog, as boredom can result in excessive barking, chewing, and other destructive behaviors.
As the owner, you must provide your dog with proper stimulation to keep them occupied and prevent boredom.
Teach Your Dog New Tricks
You can take advantage of being indoors for a long time and teach your dog new tricks. Dogs love learning new tricks, especially if they get reinforcement during the training, such as food reward or even the praise they get from their owner.
Teaching your dog new tricks while keeping them indoors is like hitting birds with one stone. You can ensure your dog isn’t bored throughout the winter and help them acquire new skills. Additionally, your dog will not be the only one who will enjoy this activity. You will also find it entertaining and keep you occupied.
It’s also an excellent chance to bond with your pet, especially if you are a busy person and you haven’t got any opportunity to bond with your pet. Thus, you should grab this chance and strengthen your relationship by teaching them new skills.
Set up an Indoor Obstacle Course
Dogs love to be active, and what is more fun than challenging them on an obstacle course? Aside from it will help prevent your dog from being bored. It is also a great exercise to ensure that your pet still gets their daily dose of exercise and keeps their muscles going.
An obstacle course isn’t only for outdoor areas. You can still create an obstacle course even inside your home. This way, you will never have to deal with the cold or wet surface outside. Even a simple obstacle course is enough to keep your dog engaged.
Use old cardboard boxes and create tunnels where your dog can crawl in. In addition to tunnels, use a hula hoop, hold it as high as you like, and let your dog jump through it. There are many ways you can create a simple obstacle course indoors. All you need is a wide imagination.
Provide Dog Toys
Dogs, like children, love to play with toys. They find toys fun and interesting. Thus, if your dog is starting to get bored from one activity, you can offer them toys they can play with while relaxing. Aside from being a great way to keep your dog busy, toys are also stimulating.
They can enhance your dog’s ability to learn, so it would be extra helpful to offer them toys to prepare them for your next dog training session. Toys also help in promoting their natural behavior, such as foraging, playing, and exploring.
Being indoors can deprive a dog of doing the things they are bred to do. Toys allow them to explore these natural behaviors without having to go outside and leave the premises of your home.
Engage in Games
Since playing is in a dog’s nature, why not spend time and play with them? If you have kids, it’s a great opportunity to occupy the entire family while staying home. Your dog will surely enjoy playing games with you and the children, and they will surely forget about being bored.
Try to play hide and seek as it will help stimulate the dog’s natural seeking skills. They are naturally curious, and letting them look for you around the house will satisfy their curiosity and the urge to use their seeking ability.
Aside from hiding and seeking, you can also play tug of war with your dog. With this game, they can divert their aggressiveness into the game. This game has been known to be a classic favorite by dogs of all sizes and breeds.
Help Your Dog Survive the Winter
Most of the time, boredom can result in negative behavior toward your dog. However, letting them play out in the freezing weather isn’t good for them. What you can do instead is to find ways that your dog won’t get bored while preventing them from going out.
With the tips provided, you will have enough ideas and ensure that your dog will be happy this upcoming winter despite being banned outside.
