Ways to Keep Your Dog Busy While Social Distancing
As much as we love being out-and-about the city or exploring new places, coronavirus had a different idea for us this month. While I’m lucky that my pups don’t require too much mental or physical stimulation to stay sane, I know I’m already going crazy by being at home and so must they.
So, I created this list of ways to keep your dogs busy while social distancing. Some of these will require little to no equipment, while some may require a few Amazon or Chewy purchases. But, anything to keep us (and our dogs) busy during these times.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR DOG BUSY:
Stuffed Kongs
- If you don’t have a Kong (or similar) toy, you need to get one right now. If you don’t want to leave home, you can get one here or here. Once you’ve secured your Kong, stuff if with peanut butter, canned food, raw food and/or kibble and freeze it for a few hours. This will give them something yummy and challenging to enjoy while you “work” from home.
Interactive Games and Puzzles
- Keeping their mind stimulated is just as important as keeping them physically active, which is we love using games and puzzles. Getting one or two of these will keep your dog busy while you actually gt some work done.
- Some of our favorites include:
- If you don’t want to buy one, you can make one! Our favorite (and easiest) way to do that is to get an empty soda or water bottle and stuff it with treats/kibble of all shapes and sizes — but remember if they are too small it’ll be too easy. Then give it to them without putting the cap on. They’ll have to roll and shake the bottle around in order to get the food out.
- Pro tip: if you’re worried about them gaining weight with extra food and little exercise, use their kibble and feed them breakfast/dinner this way!
Teach Them New Tricks
- Don’t let anyone say you can’t teach an old dog new treats — learning is one of the best ways to keep their minds fresh and stimulated through all ages of life! Use this extra downtime to teach them that one trick you’ve always wished they knew! For us, we plan on working on the following:
- Bow/curtsey — where they crouch the top part of their body down to the ground.
- Hug — where they use their paw/arm to “hug” whatever is next to them.
- Meerkat — where they sit on their hind legs while raising the rest of their body.
- Speak — barking on command!
Go For a Hike
- While this technically implies leaving your home (which you won’t be able to do if they enforce a mandatory curfew or quarantine), now is the perfect time to head out to nature and escape the city life. Why not visit that trail that always seemed a bit too far? As always, make sure you’re following the leash laws for the area and pick up after your pet. Oh, and this goes without saying, but don’t go visit the most popular hiking areas if you’re trying to avoid human interaction.
Play Hide and Seek
This is our favorite game to play indoors on a rainy day, and it’s the perfect way to keep both you and your dog busy during these times. It’s quite simple:
- Put your dog(s) in a sit in a common area like the living room
- Go hide at your preferred spot
- Call your dog/give them their “free” command and hide until they find you
- Repeat as many times as you want. Fun, simple and will tire everyone out!
Foster a Dog/Cat
- With the risk of this virus spreading exponentially, a lot of our businesses are struggling, including our local animal rescues and shelters. If you’re in ATX, both the Austin Animal Center and Austin Pets Alive are seeking emergency fosters to get a lot of their animals into homes before it gets even worse.
- Just be sure to let the shelter know you have dog(s) at home so they can match you with a dog-friendly foster. Now, your pup has a playmate and you’re helping a homeless animal during these hard times! It’s a win-win!
Now, to address the elephant in the room. According to the World Health Organization and the AKC, dogs cannot get COVID-19. Nor can they transmit it to humans. However, it’s always better to be safe than sorry, so stay healthy and safe y’all. Wash those hands. Clean those dirty paws. And whatever you do, don’t panic!
We hope these precautions help this thing pass quickly, we truly can’t wait to get back out to our favorite dog-friendly spots soon!
Warm wags
GGW Momma
