Bad Weather? Enjoy These 7 Indoor Dog Activities

Wet or cold weather can make it impossible to play outside with your dog. Don't let the weather get you down try some of these indoor activities to ward off boredom for you and your dog.

1) Take your dog to a friend or neighbors house. Dogs love play dates too! My Rat Terrier Daisy loves to visit Grandma's house because she can run and play with Grandma's two dogs and the neighbors' two dogs. We just let them the five dogs loose in the basement. We watch the dogs play while sipping steaming cups of tea. We can relax and catch up on all the latest gossip.

2) Teach your dog a new trick. Dogs love to please us and love to be stimulated. What better way to ward off the bad weather blues than by learning a new trick that you and Fido can show off to all your friends.

3) Go shopping! We had two weeks where it rained non-stop. I got to the point where I just had to get out and do something. I just couldn't leave daisy behind when she gave me "that look". Instead of leaving Daisy behind I dressed her up for a day on the town and we went shopping at every pet store within a thirty minute drive. We visited seven stores and Daisy got lots of treats and attention at everyone of the stores!

4) Pamper yourself and FiFi! Who doesn't love a spa day? If your dog enjoys baths give him/her a bath first. Then move your dog's favorite bed into the bathroom with you, light some candles, turn on some soft music, and relax in a nice hot bubble bath. After your baths you can each enjoy manicures/pedicures and a good brushing. Got some doggie nail polish? Now is the perfect time to use that doggie nail polish sitting in the back of the closet!

5) Popcorn and a movie. One of my dogs favorite treats is popcorn, so when I found unsalted flavored popcorn for dogs I just had to buy a pack. Her favorite flavor is the Bacon Woofy Pop. Rent a dog themed movie or just any movie that has a dog in it (As Good As It Gets is a great choice.), pop some popcorn for you and some Woofy Pop for Fido and sit down and enjoy the show. I hold the bowl of Woofy Pop on my lab and every few minutes throw a piece as far as I can, Daisy enjoys running to find the popcorn while I get to relax and enjoy the movie.

6) Create and play! Daisy loves to get new toys, but I don't always have the time or money to run out and get a new toy. So I came up with a plan, whenever Daisy destroys a toy I save the squeaker. I take the squeaker, a clean sock, and a few treats. I stuff the sock with the treats and the squeaker tie the open end shut and we play fetch and tug-a-war until she gets the treats and squeaker out of the sock.

Another great game that Daisy loves to play uses a ball and a laundry basket. I place the ball under the laundry basket and she will spend hours trying to the ball! She is getting to good though! The last time I did this she had the ball out in twenty minutes.

7) Hide and seek. Another game that Daisy loves to play is hide and seek. We have two different ways that we play hide and seek. In the first version I show her a treat and make her stay. I leave the room with the treat and "hide" the treat in another room. I usually just lay the treat on top of a chair or bed, I then return to the room where she is anxiously waiting to be released and tell her to "find it". In seconds she is back for another round.

In the second version of hide and seek I hide a treat under a bowl. I line up three bowls and place a treat under one of the bowls. While daisy watches I mix up the bowls. Then she has to sniff and find which bowl has the treat. Once she has found the treat she flips the bowl and eats the treat. Tupperware bowls are great for this game. The lip on the top makes it easy for the dog to flip the bowl.

Next time bad weather comes your way you might actually look forward to it!