Indoor Games to Play With Your Dog

The health and behavioral benefits of a well-exercised dog are legion.

Quick summary: Regular exercise means our best friends live longer and are easier to live with. Sometimes life conspires to keep us inside, however, requiring creativity to keep our canine companions gainfully active.

There are the obvious go-to’s, like a rousing game of hallway fetch or catch-me-if-you-can around the dining room table. But if you’re looking for something different to break up indoor monotony for both you and your dog, you might try picking up a new dog sport.

Options for indoors include Rally-O (great for basic manners!), putting your dog’s sniffer to work with scent tracking or Nosework (Scentwork), getting the ball rolling with Treibball (the perfect sport if you live with a ball-obsessed dog), Canine Freestyle (dancing with your dog!), and Dog Parkour (games-based training that’s fun for any dog and a great confidence booster for anxious canines).

You can get started at home with books (Dogwise.com carries titles on all these sports and more), YouTube videos, or online classes. If you and your dog find something that looks like a good fit, look for classes with a local qualified trainer when you can, too!

AZ Dog Sports offers a wide-variety of Sports/Fun classes for you to try with your dog!

Take a class and learn all kinds of new games to play for years to come!

See our class list here.