Rainy day games to play with your dog

When it’s cold and wet outside (like our friends in the Northern Hemisphere are currently experiencing), taking your dog for long walks isn’t very appealing and your dog might not be keen to get their paws wet either. 

So if your walks are becoming shorter, keep your dog occupied by moving the fun indoors. 

Amelia with her Monkey toy

Playing games with your dog is loads of fun, reinforces obedience commands and can also have some practical applications around the house.

Try these games and when the weather is warmer you can take them outside too.

These games can also be played with dogs who are recovering from an injury or surgery, or for puppies who are not yet fully vaccinated and can’t go for walks.

Find Your Food

You can play this game with treats or you can feed your dog their dinner this way.

This game encourages them to ‘hunt’ for their food which is much more rewarding than just eating it out of a bowl. 

It burns extra energy which is great on the nights you just don’t want to walk for an hour in the cold, wet rain.

The Training Method for Find Your Food

Step 1

Show your dog what’s on offer (either the treats or dinner)

Step 2

Hide the food somewhere quite obvious in the same room (you may need to ask your dog to “wait” or attach their leash to something and ask them to “sit” so they can see what you’re doing but can’t follow you around.

Step 3

Say “find your food” and let pup eat what they find as their reward.

Step 4

Then make the game harder by hiding the food in locations that are harder to find, such as under a rug, chair or even in another room, and make it more difficult and time consuming still, by hiding the treats inside a treat ball which will take pup longer to devour.

Find and Drop it

Teach your dog to find specific items. Once they’ve learned how to do this, put pup to work.

With these skills, your dog could put their toys away in the toy box, and they could also help you to find things you often misplace like your keys!

Credit: Linnea Herner

Part one: Teaching your dog to “Find” and “Drop It”

Step 1

Show your dog a toy that they already like. In this case we’ll assume it’s a ball.

Tell pup to “Find the Ball”, let them put the ball in their mouth and then play with pup (which will make them love the ball even more!)

Step 2

After a few minutes ask your dog to “drop it”, show them a treat that they can’t resist and pup will drop the ball to eat the treat.  

Pick up the ball and repeat many times.

Step 3

Roll the ball a short distance away. Ask them to “find the ball”, then play with them and then ask them to “drop it”.

Step 4

Repeat the sequence, throwing the ball further and further away each time.

Part two: Teach your dog the names of specific objects

Step 1

Follow the directions above with new objects like a Frisbee, rope toy, your keys, your wallet, your slippers and newspaper if you want to get really fancy.

Practice with one item at a time asking your dog to find the object and then drop the object.

Step 2

When you think they may know the names of a few different items, put them together and ask them to find a specific item. If pup doesn’t get the correct one, continue practicing with one item at a time.

Part three: Teach your dog to put their toys in the toy box

Here’s where the “drop it” command comes in handy.

Step 1

Start with one item at a time again so you don’t confuse your dog.

Ask pup to find the item and when they bring it to you, hold a treat over the toy box at nose height and ask them to “drop it in the box”. 

The item will fall into the box and you can give your dog the treat.

Repeat this until they’re consistently dropping the toy in the box.

Step 2

Very gradually, move the treat further away from the box. If pup starts dropping the toy outside the toy box, move the treat closer to the box again.

Step 3

Repeat this with each specific item and then when they understand what to do, combine parts two and three by scattering all the items on the floor, asking them to find a specific item and then asking them to drop it in the toy box.

The rewards can be as simple as praise, continuing to play the game, or, yummy treats. If you teach your dog to find their leash, their reward could be to go for a walk.

Dogs love to learn new tricks and to be mentally stimulated – particularly if they were bred to do more than just be a lap warmer.

The more you are able to test them mentally with walks, games and training the better behaved they will be. They will be less inclined to suffer from boredom or destroy your precious things. 

Plus they will absolutely love all the extra attention from you!

For more puppy raising tactics, save your seat in my free masterclass

“3 Simple Tactics for Raising a Well-Behaved Dog”