4 Alternatives To Walking Your Dog If You Can’t Leave The House

There may come a time in your life that you can’t get outside and take the dog for a walk. 

It could be due to an illness, injury, anxiety, or in this day because you are practicing social distancing. 

Whatever the reason might be that you can’t take your dog for their normal walk thankfully there are alternative ways that you can exercise your dog right in your own home or backyard. 

Training

What a wonderful dog world it would be if everyone right now took some of the extra time that they are spending at home to train their dog!

5-10 minutes a day, 10 minutes every other day or even 15 minutes for the entire week can make a HUGE difference for dogs that are struggling in a certain training area. 

Is your dog not walking well on a leash? Put their normal walking harness or collar on and do a few laps around the yard or house. 

There will be way fewer distractions and you can really focus on what areas you and your dog are struggling in when walking on a leash. 

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Basic commands.

Brush up on your dog’s basic commands 5 minutes each day. If they have them mastered, add in a new command. 

Using their brains is an excellent exercise for dogs!

Add in a new training game. 

Odin and I are working on one right now and it’s so much fun. 

I learned this from a friend online and it’s basically an Easter egg hunt. 

I have a basket filled with plastic eggs, I throw them out on the floor and Odin picks them up and places them in the basket. 

You can only use 3 words when doing this and those words are: yes, no and try again. 

We are definitely a work in progress with this, me more than him, but he did awesome on the first try!

I’ll share a video and some more info about this next week!

Trick training is also a good way to interact with your dog. 

We just got a great book written by a fellow Newfie owner called Tricks in the City: For Daring Dogs and the Humans That Love Them 

Obstacle Courses.

The best investment I made last year was when I purchased a cone set.

I bought these to help Leroy with his mobility but I can still use them with Odin. 

Right now we are practicing jumping and weaving and use them just about every day.

These exercises can also be done with homemade obstacle courses super easily. 

If you don’t want to purchase a cone set you can always make a DIY set if you have the products on hand.

Games

There’s a long list of games that you can play with your dog including fetch, find it, hide n’ seek, and the shell game.

The shell came is a really easy game using plastic cups and treats. 

You’re basically just trying to have your dog guess which cup is hiding the treat.

You can use dog puzzles, snuffle mats and food dispensing toys to keep your dog’s mind and body active too. 

If you have room in our house or a large backyard you can also try nose work. 

Nosework or scent work is a great way to tire out your dog’s mind and body!

You can read more about it here. 

And our friend Tori at Wear Wag Repeat just made this genius DIY Busy Box for dogs! You have all the stuff for this at home right now!

Work

If you have a Newfoundland then now is a great time to put your working dog to work!

Been putting off training your Newf to pull a cart? Do it now when the weather is not too warm or too cold. 

Give them a job, train them to help pick up sticks in the backyard. 

The choice of jobs you can give your dog are endless!

 

 

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