Indoor dog exercises- Creative home dog exercises

Indoor dog exercises are the best ways you can make sure that your dog gets the physical stimulation that he needs to stay healthy.

You may be stuck at home due to bad weather and you may not even be able to take your dog for a walk.

Also, you may not be feeling well and that hike that you had planned may not happen.

A well-exercised dog is a healthy and happy dog. And it is at these times that your dog may gain some weight.

So, what are your dog exercise options if you are stuck at home for any reason.

Do not worry because am going to give you some tips on how you can tire your dog indoors.

Indoor dog exercises

Some of the things that you should know before exercising your dog indoors. 

🐾The benefits of making sure that your pooch gets enough mental stimulation. Such benefits are toning your dog’s muscles and engaging their minds among others.

🐾Dogs with disabilities and senior dogs still need to exercise.

The problems that may arise if your dog does not get enough mental and physical stimulation;

  • Loss of muscle mass which can be difficult on your dog’s body.
  • Your dog may become destructive.
  • If you do not burn your dog’s calories he may end up overweight.

🐾Know how much indoor dog exercise your pooch needs. You should visit your vet before you decide how much indoor tiring your dog needs.

🐾Set a routine that you can easily follow.

🐾You should pay attention to the signals that your pooch is giving you and know how to best react. Do not put pressure on your canine friend on things that are too strenuous. This could end up doing more harm than good.

So, here are some of the ways to exercise your dog indoors. 

Creative and fun ways to do indoor dog exercises

1. Running up and down the stairs

So, winter is here and you do not want your dog to get bored or overweight.

What options do you have?

Well, several and running up and down the stairs is one of them. This is a great way for you and your dog to workout together.

Notice I also included you. This is because it is not your dog alone that benefits but also you.

Something that you need to keep in mind is that this is not the best exercise for all dogs.

Do not do this if;

  • Your dog is old.
  • He has health conditions such as arthritis.
  • Your stairs are too steep.

You can encourage your dog to run up and down the stairs by using a toy. A ball for example. Stand at the top of the stairs throw it down and encourage your furry friend to fetch it.

Puppy-Climbing-Stairs

2. Playing indoor brain games with your dog

This is a great chance to teach your dog some new tricks. All those tricks you wish your dog knew but have not got the time to train him yet, then this is your chance.

When training your dog, you get him to use his brains a lot which gives him mental stimulation.

Mind games and training also helps your pooch to burn some calories. This is a scientific fact for anyone that may have any doubts.

Interactive food puzzles are also great mind games as it gives them a mental challenge as they work for food. And we all know that dogs love food.

3. Indoor dog exercises using a treadmill

If you have a treadmill in your house then you are in luck. You can as well get one if you can afford it.

There are special treadmills that are made for doggos but a human treadmill will do just fine.

Train your dog to walk on a treadmill and supervise him of course.

You need to take precautions when you are doing this because you do not want your pooch to get injured. Using a leash and harness is one precaution that you can use.

This video by vetstreet shows you how you can train your dog to use a treadmill.

dog-treadmill
Treadmills are very effective

Do not worry if you cannot afford a dog treadmill. There are some other ways your dog can exercise at home. 

4. Make your dog put some effort to get his treats

This is like playing hide and seek but using your dog’s favorite treats and hiding them at different places.

You can hide the treats under tables, under the rug and even behind the doors.

Ask for assistance from one of your family members and let them hold the pup until you have hidden all the treats. Hide the treats in places that will be challenging for your dog to find during the indoor dog exercises.

The dogs should also have an idea of where you have hidden the treats.

5. Tug of war as a way of indoor dog exercises

This is a fun and great game to play with your pooch.

A rope toy could work best in a situation like this as it is decent for the pooch’s teeth and also durable.

However, you should note that this game can make your dog develop some aggressive tendencies in some dogs when he becomes overly competitive.

You should make sure that the dog understands that you are in charge and position yourself as the leader. Make sure that when you are doing this you healthily engage your doggo.

Dog tag of war
Shot of Golden Retriever playing with rope

6.Create an indoor obstacle course for your dog

To do this you might need to clear your living and turn it into a place where you can exercise your dog.

You can use some of the things in your living room such as cushions to create tunnels that your dog can navigate through.

The brooms in your house can also help. Place them across chairs and create jumping obstacles.

Guide your dog through these obstacles.

Purchasing agility game sets fro your pooch will go a great way to when you are looking to tire your dog indoors.

7. Nose work games

You may be stuck inboard and playing nose work games is another great dog indoor exercise.

This is one of the best dog games to help you tire your dog.

It is where you put your dog through a certain scent and allowing them to find the source. This is the technique that is used to train detection dogs.

These games have different difficulty levels but dogs have an instinct to sniff out desirable objects.

You can do this simply by using his favorite treat, hide the treat around the house and introduce the scent to your pooch and your dog will go looking for them.

To make this a bit challenging for your canine friend, you can hide the treats under a flipped bowl and he has to flip it to collect his treat.

This is a great exercise for your doggo.

Indoor dog exercises

8. Play fetch

Fetch is a fun and exciting game that you can play with your doggo indoors. It may seem basic but dogs love to play fetch.

As we had mentioned earlier you can try using the stairs but if you have a long hallway this will work great.

You can increase the difficulty by adding some more obstacles along the way.

Indoor dog exercises

9. Massage your dog

This may seem absurd but t works great.

It may not count as an exercise but it highly helpful when you are looking to relax your dog’s muscles and improve his circulation and flexibility.

This also helps to relieve any pain that your dog may have while at the same time improving oxygen circulation through the body.

Your pooch should now be tired of the indoor dog exercises

Above are some tips on how you can tire your dog while you are housebound. We hope that they proved helpful.

Some of the key takeaways are;

  • Working your dog’s brain can be as effective as physical exercises.
  • It may be more challenging to workout indoors with large dogs than it is for small dogs but it is completely possible. For a large dog, a treadmill can be helpful.
  • There are several amazing accessories that you can either buy or make to tire your dog indoors.

Remember to be creative and to be incomplete supervision when you are exercising your pooch indoors.

You are not limited to the tips we have given to you. If you have any other ideas you can share them in the comment section below.

Also if you have done some of these things let us know what worked best for you.

There you go WOOF!!

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