Toys bought for a new baby, no longer safe or what she wants, but all part of her, and the other two, growing up to be the delight they are.
Maintaining a daily schedule for your puppy while at home will help them know what’s coming up next and have them look forward to their next activity! Having productive activities at your disposal will decrease the chance of them becoming restless during their free time and looking to occupy their time with something more destructive. The best part is that you can incorporate puppy training into your at-home routine to help keep your pup’s mind engaged and promote positive behavior!
1. Sniff Out The Treat!
This is a fun one to watch your pup work to find their treats or kibble and it’s super simple to set up in any type of living situation! All you need is a few treats, a treat-stuffing toy like a Kong, some creative hiding spots, and your phone to record your pup seeking them out! With your puppy watching you from their playpen or crate, place one to two treats into a Kong, hide it, and release your pup to let them go to town searching out their reward!
2. Puzzle Games, Snuffle Mats, and Food-Dispensing Toys
These games are great at getting your puppy to work on problem-solving and getting rewarded! Many of these games involve hiding a treat in a little compartment and letting your puppy sniff them out. Depending on the puzzle game your puppy will be able to flip lids, turn knobs, open drawers, and lift up cones to uncover hidden treats. How fun!
The classic Kong toy and other variations of food dispensing toys are a great mental stimulation that will release an immediate reward for your puppy’s work! Stuff it with their favorite food or treats and let them chew it until the food is dispensed. The best part about these toys is that they allow your puppy to problem-solve and chew. This is a natural way your puppy relieves gum pain, especially if they are teething, and relieves boredom! To increase the difficulty, freeze some healthy dog-friendly peanut butter in the Kong for your pup to lick out. Bonus: licking can be very soothing for pups!
3. Practice Obedience Training
Puppies love to work and learn new things! Doing 5-15 minute sessions of obedience routines will improve your pup’s skills, teach them good manners, and tire them out faster than a long walk! Obedience training is awesome mental work that will leave your pup feeling satisfied and ready for a nap when you’re finished.
This also goes for working on Heel indoors! Teaching your pup to walk inside first is much easier since there’s fewer distractions. And if your pup is already walking outdoors, you can challenge them inside as well! Use a hallway in your home to practice your pup keeping in Heel position and doing Heel turnarounds to change direction, then advance to having them Heel beside you around your coffee table, sofa, dining table, up and down the stairs, and all around the house!
For our favorite obedience command routines and how to teach your puppy to Heel with the exercises we mentioned above, our Online Puppy School goes over all these activities you can do right at home with your puppy! Check out The Puppy Academy Online School for more details and to sign up today!
4. Teach Your Pup “Go Find”
With your puppy watching from their playpen or crate, have them see you take one of their favorite toys and put it down at a distance. Then, excitedly tell your puppy to “Go Find”! Act like it’s a game of Fetch and reset your puppy in their playpen or crate. Do this a few times until your pup starts to associate Go Find with searching out their toy. Eventually, you can train them to do this with a variety of things!
5. Teach Your Puppy Toy Names
This is a fun one! Your pup can learn so much so why not the names of their favorite toys? Start by playing with one specific toy such as a ball and when your puppy takes it, say “Ball” out loud. Do this a few times and then test your pup’s skill to see if they pick up the ball when you call out “Go Find Ball!”
6. Reinforce Your Puppy’s Recall
Recall a.k.a. Come command is a super important behavior that you want your pup to learn early on in a variety of environments and distances. The first and best place to start is your home! You can do this by starting off in a hallway, and calling your puppy’s name and Come, then rewarding them with a treat when they do! Build up to be able to go into different rooms as you call them to you. Play what we call the “Recall Game” by involving the family and having them stand in various spots of the house while you take turns calling your pup to you and rewarding them when they “Come”! As your puppy masters farther distance you can move this to the backyard and have them practice coming back to you. Check out are video below for more details on how to play!
7. Play a Game of Fetch or Catch
Believe it or not, you don’t need a ton of space to play Fetch with your puppy! Yes, as they get bigger and older and better with it, you will probably want to expand the distance, but while they’re learning and still growing, smaller spaces can do just fine! We even encourage using a leash to start with to help guide your pup back and prevent them from wandering off.
Start off by having your puppy sit. Then, throw their ball or toy as you say “Fetch”, and have your puppy run to catch it! Then, call them back by using their name and “Come”. Not only is this game great for their physical exercise, but you are also working on challenging command combinations and recall. For more tips for teaching your pup Fetch, check out “Puppyhood Made Easy for New Owners: How to Play with Your Puppy Pt. 2!”
