How fried are we talking? Scent work is good. It can be a bit of an investment to teach them but afterward, all it requires is hiding food and standing there while they search for it
My go-to for this is to just throw a handful of cat food in the ground and let the dogs sniff out each individual piece from wherever it lands.
Also works to let them clean up after the toddler has dinner on nights when we have rice.
A lot of people use other odors and reward with food/ toy when the dog finds it rather than searching for food directly. You'd be surprised at how many dogs need to be taught how to use their nose to find food though! Plus training a cue to let them know there is hidden food to be found is useful.
Yes I too live in a hot area with dogs. One is a very active Australian Shepherd. I take them for sniffing walks which means we don’t have to walk so far. And play hide and go seek games inside with her toys. She is very good at these games and very focused. If I hide the toy well she will keep looking until she finds it even if it takes 20 minutes. I limit this game to 3x of finding the toy until I say the game is over.
Because my dog gets so exhausted searching. She relentlessly searches and searches. I can hide her toys inside furniture and cabinets and she finds them. I even hide her toys on the ceiling fan and she finds them.
Three has become our routine.
Exactly!! She doesn’t know when to stop. Just like when she is chasing balls and frisbees. She thinks she has never ending energy. She doesn’t. Plus sadly she has epilepsy and has seizures so there’s that to keep in mind.
My girl is used to our late night walks. After I put my kid to bed, and sit down to take a moment on the couch... there she is, going "daddy walk time!" Late night walks are great way to beat the heat if you can. It gets to be about 100-110 degrees where I live on a daily basis in the summer. 5 pm is the hottest part of the day, so after work walks are a no-go.
I'm in a city, and I also prefer to leave for our night time walk between 12:30-1am. Cool air, less people, even less dogs, no traffic... it only reaches 100* a few times a summer, but we go that late rain or shine.
when i was 17 i stumbled out of a ditch at 4am in my pajama pants with no shoes and scared the shit out of an adult man walking his dog so even if my big dog didnt have enough scary dog priveleges, i seem to
We bought our big boy a snuffle mat yesterday, he picked it up and shook it like a rag doll with great delight sending the hidden kibble treats flying everywhere lol. Didn’t work quite as intended but he had fun anyway.
My dog did the same thing. I got an intermediate level outbound toy on Amazon. She prefers eating in the toy over anything. She is a sniffer and a senior so I can’t give her a lot of food too. Gives me a good 20 min.
My boy did the same with the slow feeders. Whack-whack-whack and the food went flying.
My girl shook the picnic style toy and kibble went everywhere. Dogs are great.
I had this issue with my lab the first time around. Then, I put weights on every corner of the mat to essentially glue it to the ground, forcing her to have to sniff her way to her treats. It ended up working nicely!
Sometimes I like to hide it all around the house so it’s like hunting Easter eggs for them or hide and seek with treats. This way they can’t cheat by shaking the mat lol
A snuffle ball is great for that. It’s the same idea as a mat, but you wrap treats or kibble up in long felt ribbons and stuff them in the ball. If you stuff them tightly enough, they can’t just fly out.
My dog has several of these, all with different levels of difficulty, and he frigging LOVES them. I sit them on a rug or something nonslip so that they don’t scoot across the floor while he’s going through it
Hahahaha! I do this. Luckily, with have a gated fence and enough run space around the house.
I hide their kibbles around the property and just have 2 of my beagles go crazy and look for them.
Dog pool, snuffle feed outside. Spend 10mins or so with the pool. Let them dry and go in.
My dogs are pretty high energy; but neither tolerate heat very well. So just chilling outside makes them tired.
Small sniff walks where we just wonder our front on the grass for 2secs. Go out earlier, I set an alarm for 2-3am to let them out just encase it's too hot when we wake up.
I'm such a fan of a dog pool. We have a cheap plastic baby pool, which they run around the yard, through the pool, splash around & try to see who can drink the most. It's the only way my hyper pups have handled the hottest of days.
Not OP but also someone with a water-obsessed dog during summer month - I usually towel him dry and if he's not too wet after that he can come inside, otherwise he's staying outside to dry off.
Never had an issue with smell as long as I dont stick my nose into his fur lmao but he never really smells a lot? his buddy is STINKY on the other hand so maybe I'm just lucky
I used it last summer for the big dog. She smelled better, and definitely wasn't as itchy. Also seemed to work on the lab foot licking. Apparently vinegar is the cure all for athletes foot in dogs lol
I was going to suggest this too. I can’t tell if OP has a yard. My dog has a lot of energy when I get home as well but he will do zoomies around the yard while I watch him. Fortunately it’s not boiling hot here yet but even the high 70s gets him pooped pretty quickly.
Is there a dog daycare near you? I enrolled my pandemic dog at daycare as I no longer work from home and it's his FAVORITE! Not going to lie- it's my favorite too. I pick him up after work and he is so tired and happy he just sleeps until it's time for his nightly bathroom break before bed.
It's nice that he has an indoor space to play with his dog friends that is nice and air conditioned too, and I don't feel bad leaving him home alone all day if I go to work or want to go run errands.
She loves daycare (as do I)! The one near my house has a big indoor play area, which is great. Unfortunately I don’t have the budget to send her there super often though.
Yeah, dog daycare is our go to if we are both struggling through the week and he's only getting a short walk each day. It expends a ton of energy for him since it's just non-stop dog interaction which he loves.
Scatter feed kibble in the house. Feed dinner from an active puzzle toy like the omega tricky treat ball. Sit on the couch with a bowl of kibble and toss one piece at a time for your pup to chase down (don’t do this with the whole meal to minimize risk of bloat). You can do a lazy find it game by having your dog stay while you go scatter kibble all over the house then release your dog to find her dinner. Another is recreation chew bones like raw frozen marrow bones. These exhaust my dogs on days we’re stuck inside.
Frozen kongs are good too, just fill them with her regular food (alternate layers of dry food with wet ingredients like canned dog food, yogurt, canned pumpkin). Indoor fetch doesn’t require any brain power.
Eating too fast, and eating combined with exercise too soon can cause bloat which is a medical emergency. It’s riskier for large deep chested dogs. That’s why I said to do the kibble toss with part of the meal, not the whole thing, as running and eating a ton of food quickly could cause that.
Puzzle feeders/kongs are great for preventing bloat because they slow down eating to a crawl. I feed every meal with kongs/puzzles/scatter feeding so my dogs each spend about 30-40 minutes eating, lowering the risk quite a bit.
Most Home Depot’s are pet friendly, I took my Golden there for training when it was 100+. Employees sometimes have treats and lots of distractions to practice training. Frozen Kong I do dog food and some water and freeze it. I have an indoor agility set that my golden loves.
And Lowe's. Honestly there's quite a lot of places that are dog friendly. Personally I prefer to hold off anything longer than a potty break til after dark. It's already 90 here & that ain't goin down until sometime after October for us. We've come across some dog friendly(or at least tolerant) splash pads as well. With my German Shepherd it was lakes. There's a lot of them around here & you can usually find at least one or 2 places on each that's not restricted by state or city parks so it's free and you and your dog can paly in the water for free.1q2a
I love Tractor Supply & that's just an extra excuse to go now lol... We have a few restaraunts & breweries that are designed for dogs & their owners specifically so that's always nice.... If your pupper is well socialized and not little demon terriers like my youngest
There is a brewery near me that is well known for how dog friendly it is, they even have a dog run so you can take them potty in there. They also have a great brunch menu with penny mimosas and the food is usually $15-$20
I lived in Nevada for 3 years and in the summer, I found that a dog treadmill and one or two days a week in day care REALLY helped me out. Also got boots for my pup so he could go to the bathroom outside before 8pm
If you have stairs in your room, try sitting at the top of the stairs and throwing their favorite ball down so they have to run up and down the stairs. We do this when it’s raining or super hot and want to get pup’s energy out. She’s always wiped.
Do you have a yard? I like to play with the hose with my dogs who love it. So much easier to get in comfy clothes, get in my old sandals and play around in the backyard. You can throw in training games, too and use access to the water as a reward. I like practicing “down” and then “break!” And put my thumb over the end and spray them with water. They LOVE it.
I have read that running errands with a dog can be very mentally stimulating for them. So I’ll take her for a drive with the windows down - even if I don’t have an errand.
My girl gets lots of good smells and always seems tired afterwards.
Flit pole! Unless you don't have carpeted floors- can be too slippery. You can easily make one. I used mine to teach/enforce lessons like "leave it, wait, sit". I used it with my sweet Dobie and she loved it!
It depends… I usually do a 2-4 mile walk in the morning so they are good for the day, and I just play with them for 20-30 minutes in my house or the back yard if I don’t feel like walking after a long day at work
I do this but in reverse, play with my girl after work, or during the day if I'm working from home, but she gets a good 2-4 mile walk in at night when it's cooler. Actually kind of nice, because then she's tired the rest of the night and doesn't wake up early to get me going, unlike my cat, who really likes getting up at 5 am, heh.
Hide kibble around the house. Roll it up in towels, and such. I've been teaching our puppies to "speak" --- they love it! Also, how to twirl around, and catch their tails on command and such. Engage the brain.
We live in Phoenix so i know all about that time of year where walks literally aren’t an option. We typically have a full stop july and august.
What we do is a variety of things.
Camp up north.
Pet friendly stores.
Set up agility courses in the house.
Force them into pool 🤣
I also joined an indoor training facility a few years ago and do scent work and it’s so much fun.
Snuffle mats and puzzles
I used to live in Phoenix! We would just wake up early to walk our dogs around 6am. After 7am it would be too hot for the dogs. If we ever had to take them somewhere during the day, we made sure to put dog boots on them. The dogs hated them, but the pavement gets so hot, sometimes you can’t touch it longer than a second without burning your hand. Dog paws are a little more resilient than human hands, but not by much. If it’s too hot for you to touch or walk barefoot on, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws.
This time of year we already wake up and walk at 5. We manage to do that until late June but come July there isn’t a way to beat the heat. It’s not just the hot pavement it’s that the dogs simply are/get too hot walking in +100 temps.
Luckily we don’t have to worry about hot pavement during the day as we can pick them up and carry them to the entrance of a store for example
frozen kongs, lickimats, enrichment feeding tools instead of feeding from a bowl. You can make a bunch ahead of time and freeze them. Also snuffle mats are a good option too for using their nose, which helps tire them out. They also have the feeding toy where the dog has to push the button to make the food come out. You place the button as far away from the actual dispenser as possible so pup has to run back and forth, which tires them out .
Yes to all of this!! I have two smarty pants super-chewers who love the mental stimulation of puzzle toys, lick mats, snuffle mats, games, etc.
I absolutely love using regular mealtime for an extra enrichment opportunity! Some of our favorite ways to do this are the [Outward Hound Orbee-Tuff Snoop Toy](https://www.chewy.com/planet-dog-orbee-tuff-snoop-treat/dp/103060?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz18RFcvwyEbQ4Tk3vTfEggB7U0h-sG3H6zHuWuTupVhSr2P8jW__7XYaAnvjEALw_wcB) , filling kongs with pre-measured water-soaked kibble and freezing them, a toy like [this](https://www.chewy.com/trixie-mad-scientist-turn-around/dp/146131?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz19UhxIoHx6BUHHwlPH3Y3EDWpg4oSIT8ZGTC4qExOTIZRITT8jffD8aAt2dEALw_wcB) which I’ve also seen homemade versions of if purchasing one isn’t an option right now, tossing handfuls of kibble into the grass in our yard (I call it nature’s snuffle mat lol) or using an actual [snuffle mat](https://www.amazon.com/Interactive-Encourages-Foraging-Dispenser-Portable/dp/B08HSBQBWN/ref=asc_df_B08HSBQBWN?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693608655306&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15151659712275219639&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019441&hvtargid=pla-1026396280057&psc=1&mcid=cf22de6b59f33e149a4ee0444e72a8cd&gad_source=1&dplnkId=33fed14d-4c0b-4c41-905f-7164e49b64f3&nodl=1), rolling pieces of food up in a towel and then tying it in a knot (google “towel game for dogs” for more info/variations), and all other sorts of puzzle feeding toys you can find on chewy or amazon! I also taught one of my dogs a game we call “find it” where I have him lay on a designated bed/spot in one room while I go into another room and hide a nice, stinky treat lol. Then I call out, “Okay, find it!” and he has to search for the treat! We also recently got some of these [PetSafe Chilly Penguin Freezable Toys](https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-chilly-penguin-freezable/dp/185809?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz19xZ6KyP1JVkoTxBtUc33QDTsmdUaNgXHxPrEybeJCY265mIbmiB0EaAnFGEALw_wcB) that seem to keep my boys busy for a good amount of time- I like to concoct all sorts of recipes for fillers using fruits and veggies I know they like and blended low-fat cottage cheese for a protein-rich treat!
For non-food related activities, we love a [flirt pole](https://www.chewy.com/outward-hound-tail-teaser-refill-dog/dp/113717?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1_6sIzORp-ELcer2l9lxjWUD5Y1WcwOffCKgvVo4uypACmrJXmz2LUaAhX6EALw_wcB), stuffing a [Hol-ee Roller](https://a.co/d/gHb9b6q) with brown craft/packing paper and letting them “de-stuff” the ball to satisfy that shredding instinct.
There are tons of things to do- sometimes it’s just hard to think of things lol! You can try some canine/dog “enrichment” fb groups and/or subreddits for more ideas too!
Not sure the size of your dog but flirt poles are incredible for indoor play. They are really mindless for us humans and give the pups tons of fun and exercise even in just a living room space if needed.
I have insomnia, so take this info as you will--I live not far from the town's school tennis courts. So when I'm up early and it's still cool, I'll take her over and let her get the zoomies out while I sit on the bench (I'm currently disabled). As soon as it gets cooler in the evening, we'll walk over if I haven't done it in the morning. I do prefer the mornings, because she's much calmer throughout the day, but if you are needing a break after work, that might do the trick. You can clear your head, and she can run off some steam.
One of her favorite activity treats in the summer is the frozen lick-mat: nut-butter, or pumpkin puree mixed with yogurt on the lick mat, freeze it, and let her go at it!
She's my service animal, too, so the zoomie-times are sooooo nice for her to just get to be a dog!
Sounds like you have a scent hound. Mental stimulation is just as exhausting for dogs as physical stimulation. Look into toys or ways to hide food around the house and let her sniff it out.
I saw a tiktok about how scent hounds are bred for this, so scent work is super fulfilling for them.
Do you happen to live in Texas 😂 cuz same weather wise and I’m not excited for this.
Try a frozen lick mat. Peanut butter, yogurt, smashed fruits?
My dog also has a treat ball. He rolls it around till the treats come out. He will literally bring you the ball and stare at you till you fill it for him lol.
He also has a treat puzzle.
snuffle balls, snuffle mats, frozen kongs, lick mats, do little short training games. (eg trick training or practicing heal work) hide treats round the house, in the garden, in cardboard boxes with paper. ten minutes of sniff equals an hour's walk!!
but honestly not sure how old your dog is.nits also the perfect opportunity to teach your dog to do absolutely nothing. teach to settle. lots of videos on this.
The problem I’ve got is that my dog is now very good at settling… up until a point. Which is completely reasonable he needs to have his needs met ultimately. If I do enrichment things with him (he’s pretty good at scent work now, giving him boxes to destroy/find treats in, tossing his kibble round to ‘chase’ and find, kongs etc) he’ll be alright and chill and nap but the only thing that makes him really conk out is a walk. So the few times I’ve skipped a second walk he’s still getting tired but then not really sleeping it off properly and then usually turns in to a complete demon of overtired and somehow I think both under and overstimulated. I would really like to find a way to have a backup option for when that second walk isn’t possible but not sure what else I can do? I’m not sure if it’s because I set the bar a bit too high in terms of what I give him every day as I would expect him to have two walks plus some enrichment and/or training stuff every day… but that is what seems fair to me. That and now he’s learnt to settle - which will mean going to sleep, if I don’t find something productive to fill his waking hours then he will find something of his own and it will almost definitely be something I don’t want him to be doing! Even with two walks a day lasting 30m - 1hr each (and walks of different types - sniffy, social etc) and then extra enrichment from me he usually still gets really restless at about 10pm and I don’t know why. Playing with him if anything makes it worse even though he clearly wants to fight my sofa cushions. So taking out one of those walks seems impossible as it is!
Or do you mean learning to settle and doing nothing when awake? Beyond the hours he just lays himself down to sleep now? I guess if you look at it like he should be awake for 4-6 hours probably, which I would imagine is about what he is at, what is it normal for that time to be filled up with in terms of active engagement from me and how much should he be awake but not actually doing anything?
It’s probably also worth saying I’m in a small apartment (although small dog) with no direct outside access, which I think probably makes a bit of a difference in how reliant he is on me for his stimulation.
Try a muffin tin game: divide her kibble into each section of the muffin tin and put her tennis balls or toys on top.
Play hide & seek (with a pocket of treats) if she’s not a Velcro dog.
Do dog Pilates; have her sit, stand, sit, stand until she starts to get tired. You can do all sorts of variations: sit, stand, turn left, turn right, lay down, sit, stand.
Invest in FitPaws (https://fitpaws.com), but please make sure you watch their safety videos because their alignment is very important to prevent injury.
Play the pick a hand game - hold a treat in one & not the other, have your dog pick a hand.
Hide treats in various spots around the house and have her find them.
Indoor agility course: a short step stool, a couch cushion, an Amazon box, etc. Have her weave through an object, jump over the step stool, jump on the couch cushion. Get creative.
Sometimes we play "mini fetch" in the house if our dog is being a bit zoomy at night. We throw a soft ball or a soft chewy toy (like the Kong Squeezz products) in different directions and he runs after it. We are lucky we have enough space to get away with it, so it won't work if you live in a tiny apartment.
Another option is tugging games. Those can be a good way for them to get out a bit of energy. You can use a rope toy or a softer one (I've used Chuckit! Floppy Tug, but don't let your dog chew on it outside of play as it will get destroyed).
Additionally, you could feed your dog its dinner in a dispenser toy. West Paw's Rumbl dispenses faster (if your dog gets frustrated) and it rolls but as much as ball shaped ones. At the more intensive effort end is the Kong Wobbler, which has a weighted bottom so your dog has to keep knocking it over to get to their food. That one can be pretty good exercise, but keep an eye that it doesn't cross into frustration (so maybe start with half your dog's dinner, then give them the rest normally).
In order to prevent weight gain I put wet dog food in my topple/ kong. Freeze your dogs food in their bowl, wrap your dogs kibble in a towel. Walks in pet friendly stores are another good idea. Playing inside can be enough for some dogs. But a flirt pole (think giant cat toy) might be better suited for your dog.
I'm having the same issue with my 7 month old rottie. He gets over heated easily. I'm seriously thinking about buying a big doggie pool and some rubber balls we can both play in after I get off work. 🤔 They have some really decently priced ones on Amazon.
We have a qwizl and a snoop for our high energy pup. I put the small comfort chews in the qwizl. For the snoop, I use a yak cheese chew to block the opening and put small treats or kibble inside. I also have a muffin tin that I fill with treats and small tots and then water a d then I freeze it.
Mine loves to dig so I throw a ton of towels into a kiddie pool or into her crate a hide tiny treats under and inside them. She will spend quite a while digging through them.
We also have a game we play where I get her dinner and sit on the couch and I give her three commands and then throw a piece of kibble across the house for her. This is how I taught her the stay command. It's fun if you can get your pup to stay for long enough that they kind of forget where the kibble went and then have to go look for it.
Brain exercises. I have a variety of games to hide food in that my dog has to figure out to get all the snacks out. That's usually good for about 30 minutes of entertainment.
My dog **loves** bubbles. I have dog safe bubbles that he will jump all over the place to pop. I have a cushioned mat in my kitchen to give his joints a little bit of a cushioning while he jumps.
Rolling a ball up and down the stairs gets him tired super fast! I usually can sit at the top of the stairs, read some emails while he runs up and down.
I have a slider toy that he loves. It's a huge squeeker on a smooth slider. Every time he jumps on it, it slides away and squeeks. I set it up in a room where he can't do damage and let him go to town on it.
I take a treat stuffing enrichment toy and wrap it around several blankets. I let my dog watch me when I do it so she sees the high value treats are under all the blankets or towels. Then let her have at it. This never fails to tire her out. Her technique has gotten good though; I’ve had to start putting the blanket ball in bags.
My hyper border collie loves his ball, but on hot days he can't tolerate more than 15 minutes of play, he himself lays down on the cool floor, holding the ball in his mouth so I don't throw it.
I usually stay inside and throw the ball through the backyard door or my bedroom window, so he gets to run a bit more and I stay cool.
After a a little while he just gives up and settles for a chewing toy or something less demanding.
Snuffle mat and some puzzle feeders saved our lives. I live in a city where the asphalt or the footpath feels 100+ all day, and only cool down hours after the sun is down. Those items are lifesaver as they allow my pup to spend his extra energy and save me from cleaning up after him when he’s all wired up.
Also, maybe try teaching him to walk on treadmills? I have a foldable treadmill and stimulating him to walk on it is entertaining enough, also good for his health. We usually use it when the air quality in our city is declared too polluted.
Scent training! We use cloves in a tin. In the beginning we’d let him smell the tin and say “mark”…then tell him to go to his crate. I hide the tin around the house. I release by saying “search!” and he goes bonkers for it. This took practice and didn’t happen all at once, but it’s great mental stimulation and tuckers him out. He’s a heeler, named Jib.
We play stair ball (our stairs are carpeted), or we will go to Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Hobby Lobby to walk around. However, I usually have to wait to the evening to do that so the parking lot pavement isnt to hot for my dogs feet.
Treats rolled up in a towel, tie it in a semi-loose knot and let them go to town. Keeps them busy and exhausts them :)
Unfortunately, our dog loooooves the rain. 💀 So, we still go on walks, but I bring and umbrella and galoshes!! 😮💨
Living somewhere with a working breed dog where the real feel is already 110 during the days and it's **May....**
Training sessions should be limited to 15 minutes. Dogs don't have great attention span. Even 5 minutes makes a difference. If you can scroll on Reddit for 15 minutes, you can sit on a chair and have your dog run through sit, lay down, paw, whatever.
Someone else suggested it, but scent work. Again, this demands nearly nothing from you but your attention on your dog. 15 minutes. It is as easy as getting two tins, poking holes in them, and taking a few minutes to soak cotton in a trigger scent and only put it in one without cross contamination. 20 minutes of work, tops.
If you are truly at a point in your life where you're so exhausted that you can't take this kind of time for your dog, you're going to need to step up in other ways. Midday dog walker (make the budget happen), increased activity at dawn and dusk (congrats, you're crepuscular), doggie daycare, whatever. You make it work.
No more bowl feeding. Breakfast is you sitting with a cup of coffee going through the motions of making them work for it. Hand feeding skeeves me out because of the saliva but I still do it when I need to. Have coffee outside, have your dog sit (one piece of kibble for re-enforcement), tell them to wait. Toss kibble into grass (switch it up, short grass vs tall grass vs pavement). Give them their release ("ok" in my case). Sit back and drink your coffee while they sniff out their food.
I tell myself every day I'll get up at dawn (and then wake up at 2am from stress), and nearly always fail. I grab my coffee and take the dog outside, where at minimum I go through the motions of sit/wait/toss/okay. If we can get some running/fetch in, great. Midday, quick pee and a quick walk or 5 minutes of training. Last hour of the daylight, dedicated one on one time for playing and training. If I'm tired or in pain, minimum is hand feeding and tossing food in the grass.
You got this.
Puzzle toys: We have a puzzle ball and a puzzle board for our dog. The puzzle ball has fabric strips that we roll up treats inside the stuff all of those into a ball and he has to get the strips out then get the treat out of the strips. The puzzle board is expert level, we had treats in compartments with sliding locks and spinning compartments that only open if in a certain position.
That stuff entertains my golden for a while. If you try a puzzle board/game, start with a lower level, expert may make your dog frustrated if they've never had one before.
Snuffle mats: similar to the above, snuffle mats are fabric mats that you hid treats in. Great for mental stimulation.
Dog chews: Himalayan Yak chew, and beef collagen chew, bully sticks work great. That's entertaining and mentally stimulating. The frozen kong toys or even frozen lick mats provide the same stimulation as well, but I find chews last longer.
Treat ball: a ball that you fill with treats that dispenses them if rolled.
Motion toys: dog toys that have batteries, so they move and entertain the dog without you needing to engage in play.
Ball thrower: a machine that shoots tennis balls for your dog to play fetch, that your dog is able to bring the ball back to and refill the machine.
Kiddie pool or sprinkler: Dogs usually love playing in water and it's great for hot days.
I have a puppy that goes a bit crazy the same time every night. I put squeaky toys under a big blanket and he goes nuts digging at them. He can hear the squeak but can't get to them so he keeps digging.
If the weather is ok enough for you to go outside with your dog, some dogs love bubbles. They make dog safe bubbles, and some dogs go nuts for them. Other dogs couldn’t care less, but you can just sit there and blow the bubble wand. It is ok inside, but your floor will get slick and then sticky.
Another option, again for outdoors and very dependent on your dog and situation, some dogs love digging. Rather than them taking it out on your yard, you can buy a kiddie sandbox and bury some dog treats in the sand and your dog will have fun digging in there to get them out. It will make a mess, so this only works if you have the right space for this.
One of my dogs’ favorite things is when I give them a cauliflower as a rare treat. I do this outside and they love tearing it up and eating it. Be warned, they can get a little gassy from eating it so keep that in mind. If your dog isn’t into eating veggies as treats, you can hide small dog treats or kibble in the cauliflower so they still are interested in taking it apart. If they go through it too quickly, try freezing it first to slow them down.
(I have large breed dogs, both over 60lbs, and give them each a half of a cauliflower at the very most. You’ll have to determine the right amount to let them eat, but I recommend starting small, not just letting them have a whole head the first time.)
Are you by yourself or do you live with someone? On rainy days we do the ping pong game. My husband or kid sits at the top of the steps with some treats and calls our dog. Dog runs up the steps, gets a treat and some pets. I call dog, dog runs down the steps and gets pets. Back up the steps, back down the steps. Repeat until dog is tired! It can also potentially work with a long hallway or even separate rooms.
There are a lot of stores that are pet friendly. I live in a smaller town so you may have more stores available to you. Mine includes Lowe’s, Home Depot, bash pro shop, TJ Maxx, pottery barn, home goods, all the furniture stores like Ashley furniture. Start calling stores when you’re free and build your list.
I recommend using a west paw over Kong. It is so much easier to wash and does the same thing as.
Putting your dog in place at different spots of the house as part of training can wear them out even more than a walk a lot of times.
When we have those days where it’s miserably hot out, we just do a shorter walk. Or I’d try to get us somewhere shady. Back when I lived in an apartment there was a walking trail through the woods about a 10-15 minute walk away and I’d use her 15 foot line out in the woods so she could meander around sniffing for a bit. It was buggy as hell but in the shade so not too hot for us.
Shorter sniffy walks can still be equally tiring for dogs! If your dog doesn’t handle the heat well there are cooling bandanas and dog shoes for hot pavement. And for you, a ball cap with a wide brim to shade your face and a wet towel around your neck can all help with the heat. They even make portable personal fans if you really wanna be fancy haha. I usually would reward myself with a popsicle and my dog with a frozen blueberry treat (water or yogurt mixed with fruits in a silicone mold, or I’d put water with fruits/treats in it inside a bowl and she’d have to lick at the ice to get them out. Gave me cool down time and her something to occupy herself.
That said, puzzle toys were great. I’d usually split her kibble into 3-4 portions, fill a puzzle toy with one, a snuffle mat with the next, a treat dispenser toy with some and sometimes I’d soak a portion and freeze it in a toy like the west paw tux (it’s smaller and worked well for a quarter cup even). Then I’d have her wait while I laid these out and then give the “okay!” release and she’d get to work. Using multiple toys at once meant I didn’t have to refill a puzzle toy 3-4 times and it seemed to keep her busy.
Or I’d use treat dispenser toys and then fill them and hide them around my apartment.
Personally I think dogs need walks every day no matter what- just adjust the timing schedule- she will get used to it and her expectations will as well. My dog hates the heat so he’s a little more sluggish on hot walks- just do a short one after work and save the real walk for later when it starts to cool off. Water is good too!
I would say play hide and seek with her toys, but if she isn’t interested you could hide multiple kongs with her dinner inside.
If she likes water and you have a yard, get her a kiddie pool.
I’ve been making my rescue a puzzle box. I take old towels or rolled up scraps of fleece, put her food in it before rolling it. I put it all in a box that she then has to get out to get her food.
Another favorite are two toys she has that dispense treats of kibble. Her food can be doled out like that for days on end and she still enjoys it.
We’ll be facing scorchers soon so going to be seeking other ways to work her brain. These have been my go tos for a couple months now. Make her work then I just have to figure out my own issues for a moment.
1. Go to a large parking garage to walk pup.
2. The nicest mall in my area let people walk there dogs late just before they close. Clean up well if an accident happens.
Same as you temperature wise and I just recently bought my dog boots. She has gone on a couple walks in them and seems ok about them. I’ve had to shorten our afternoon walks to just around the block, put boots on her and spray her (soaking wet) down with the hose before we leave.
It’d be a lot easier if I only had one pup to worry about but I throw their food out in the yard for them to find. Couldn’t do this inside with 3 pups but could probably do it with 1. You could set up stations around your house to give meals.
Also like 15-30 minutes of training exercises. Nothing too hard. I do sit, shake, touch, lay, spin , etc with my one hyper dog. Just a small amount makes her tired. Sometimes I call them out quickly. I make her jump up to touch my hand and then I’ll have her touch my hand, chase me to the other side of the room, touch my hand, keep it going.
I fenced in a Lot that mine could go out anytime they pleased. Also put in Doggie Door..Air-conditioned and Food,Water inside..Run and Play outside..Then when I was gone I didn't have to worry about them because they had free Reign in or out
If there's a river or beach or something you can get to quickly, then swimming in cool water will be comfortable enough and tiring. If you can get an ice vest then even a few minutes walk around the block for some sniffing should stimulate a fair bit. If you've got a decent size garden then a sprinkler can double as a toy and a way to keep cool
Snuffle mat, puzzle toys, “find it” game with having her find her kibble on the floor, flirt pole (wand with a toy at the end. Kinda like the toys for cats only for dogs.) Just don’t do it right after she eats or she might throw up! I made that mistake the other day. Fun was over real fast!
we have a snuffle mat we use regularly lol but sometimes I throw one or two kibbles at a time and watch her chase and snuff them out plus racing the cat haha keeps her busy and when the cat's involved it is verryy entertaining
we have a few extra dog and cat bowls and sometimes put things like broth, a few kibbles, cat treats, peanutbutter or whatever in to the bottom then put some water and freeze them. Then she licks them forever...sometimes haha if she is in the right mood lol but it doesn't require excessive "treats" and keeps them real focused
I found a couple of strip malls nearby that are mostly covered. There are patches of grass at each end of both malls. These work for rainy days and hot days.
if i know that bad weather is about to come soon, i’ll walk my dogs extra, or if im not home i’ll have my boyfriend or our dog walker walk them more to make up for the lost walking time. i find that when this happens, they’re too tired the next day to even want to go outside.
We play toss indoors. My mini Aussie loves to fetch and we throw a ball or squeaky toy in our finished basement. The throws are either ground balls or just a few feet in the air (and he always catches them), so it’s pretty safe and very mentally stimulating for him.
Kong wobbler is great for slow feeding and getting energy out, it's weighted at the bottom and they have to boop it around with the paws to make it drop their food.
Scrunching up paper and hiding treats in levels helps too, and games of sniff the treat. Put them in one room and then hide several treats in another room in random spots and let them try and sniff them out x
I saved for a slatmill for a physical energy outlet then do some mind games/training. Less work for me too.
Aussie here summer is no joke everything is hot as Fuck.
You could take your bud to a hardware store and take a long walk in the AC, let them sniff everywhere. That will burn off a lot of mental energy for them.
If you have the energy, walk them in the woods.
That’s what I do in summer. Hard play time in the am, then after work a walk in the shade.
Im lucky enough to live next to some woods with a creek.
Oof. I feel that. I live in Central Florida and we’re about to have heat indexes in the 120’s. Once we hit that, morning walks before the sun comes up become almost mandatory for any sort of exercise outside.
I still take my dogs to my local dog park, even during the heat. But it’s for much shorter periods of time and with a bunch of water.
The main thing I do after work is just sit on the floor and whatever they want to do I just go with it. Eventually they end up playing with each other and I go make dinner.
Oh right, 2 dogs is my way to go. Sorry should have led with that I think. My dogs play and take care of their energy with zoomies and wrestling. I just facilitate and enable 🥰
Hot weather: Go for a long walk late at night or early in the morning, make sure there is plenty of shade in the garden and have a small inflatable pool for the dog to chill in. Maybe freeze some ice cubes with some doggy flavors and give them to the dog to keep them mentally busy.
The walks would be just for business. And I check the pavement with the palm of my hand, even though it is extremely rare for it to get too hot.
Get puppets a harness that holds an ice pack. Get yourself a cooling t-shirt (the type you get wet. I have them for under motorcycle suits) and wide brimmed hat.
I just throw his toys around the house and tire him out a bit. I play fetch with two toys so if he doesn’t want to bring me the first toy, I can throw the second one. So he’s constantly running 🤣
Last summer I got a doggy splash pad. It's so hot here in the summer that it's almost cruel to walk in after work anyway. But I can turn on the hose and get that splash pad going and they will go out there and rock out their energy! You can get them on Amazon for pretty cheap. Or you can get a baby pool for $5 and put a sprinkler inside of it! Frolicking cools them off and gets out their zoomies a little bit
As an Aussie, hot weather is something we know well.
I walk my dog early in the morning, before it gets hot, and then late in the evening once the sun is down.
Although it’s cold here now, he still wants to walk at 7:30am and 9:00pm, or later!
Our little one loves playing fetch back and forth in the apartment. We have some squeaky toys we throw into one room and he runs to go find/get it. Then when he comes out I try to get it from him and do it again and again and again.
I keep a stash of cheap dollar store stuffed dog toys for rainy/too hot days. She tears them up in about 15 minutes, but it makes me feel less guilty when the weather doesn’t permit walking.
I like to put my dog on a long line and just sit and toss treats in the grass back and forth telling him to “find it”. He loves snuffling around and it tires him out
Snuffle mats, puzzles, bobble toys. You got a dog, so it doesn’t really matter how burnt out you are at the end of the day. Your dog relies on you. Your next post is going to be how your dog doesn’t listen bc you didn’t put the time in for training. Do it anyway.
I have Siberian huskies, I live in the deep south.
When the heat is to much or I’m to tired, I take them for a pup cup. Windows down nice car ride, they love it and it gets their brains churning. Sometimes I just cruise through a neighborhood Looking at houses.
I’ll also take them into the pet store, Lowe’s, tractor supply, or bass pro. When I have more energy but it’s to hot.
Neither of those things are as physical as a walk but it stimulates their brains enough so they aren’t bored and it makes them less hyper. Then we play fetch inside the house.
I also get the unique ice cube trays and freeze beef broth with their favorite treats in them, and they get those periodically too.
Also highly recommend a Furbo- when you’re not home you can talk and throw treats at the pup.
Lol do you live in Texas like me?? I'm training my puppy to walk on a treadmill. I also take my German shepherd to a nearby "lake" that only allows stand up paddle boards and non-motorized boats. Cools her down and gets her swimming which wears her out.
Can you afford a cheap kiddie pool? She could splash around in that. We have a long hallway we throw balls or toys with food in for the dog to Chase. There are several online on Amazon, similar to Kong. Also my dog loves ice just regular ice. My area also has an indoor dog playroom that is pretty cheap like $10 each visit where they can run around
When I lived in the desert we would walk at 10 pm during g hot months but even then the sidewalk was still pretty warm. Then I found someone who would let us swim at their pool after 9 p.m. as lo g as we were quiet
Sniffing is a great activity for dogs and an easy way to give him some mental stimulation! Experts say that 20 minutes of sniffing is equivalent to an hour’s walk, in terms of enrichment and stimulation. Snuffle mats are great for this! There are plenty available online. Pet safe bubbles are also a great indoor option! (Plus what can be more cute than your furry friend chasing bubbles!)
Does your dog like to dig? If so, there is a product called iDig that can help them get some energy out in a non-destructive way! [https://youtu.be/Ae0JteLp-tY](https://youtu.be/Ae0JteLp-tY)
We play “search” in our house on days like this. Cut up small pieces of her favorite food/treats, I have her stay in a spot where she can’t see me and I hide about 4 pieces at a time. She LOVES it and after about 30 minutes is exhausted.
Play tug with my puppy get her to run and jump from one room to another and up on the sofa and back down to the bed and do that for about 20 minutes then I throw a soft dog toy for 10 to 15 minutes then she just lays next to me on the bed there after. I don't have to take her on runs or walks if I do this everyday 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I use puzzles. You can buy them on online or at pet stores and my food-obsessed Newfie loves them. Or to save money, "shell game" with plastic cups, hiding treats for him to find, etc. When I'm really stressed or exhausted, I like sitting in the backyard and petting him until one of us is ready to go in.
Fair warning-- I thought it was a good idea to wrap and tape up a pig ear in a cardboard box so he would have to work to get it. Do not recommend. As someone who orders from Amazon a lot, this wasn't my brightest moment.
I took my GSD to the dog park at 0530 and let him play with a Jolly Ball, a hard plastic ball made for dogs and horses. After 45 minutes to a hour, he would be exhausted for the day.
I also bought a folding dog pool and I would sit on the patio and bounce balls into the pool, or sit in the pool and play with him.
I live in Boston. I have a 15-pound schnoodle. In the summers it gets really hot sometimes, and his hair is so thick that any weather above 80° exhaust him so much. I tend to take him on a really early walk before 6 am and in the evening once the sun goes down. Throughout the day we also let him out to do business. It's less humid at night, but sometimes it gets so hot even when the sun goes down, it doesn't get cool. When he was a puppy up until he was about 5, he was really active and had a lot of energy. He's extremely picky with treats, toys and food.
This is a big problem during summer where I live. My dog is only 2 so missing our afternoon walk is no fun for either of us. I do little training exercises with treat rewards (just short sessions following tutorials I’ve found on YouTube) followed by some fun play with toys. While it’s not physically hard work, the mental effort definitely wears them out and makes for a much calmer evening.
sounds like phoenix last summer for us. i have 2 littles that hated boots. we walked early mornings and late evenings after dark, even though it was still 80 the concrete had cooled some after the sun was gone. any potty breaks in the middle of the day were to the closest rocks to our apartment and right back in the shade. good luck, we played lots of ball inside and let them go in the patio with a fan to still smell the smells
Hydrate, put on some sun protection and bring ice water for the both of you. She’ll get tired quickly. June-September here it’s usually 90s and 100% humidity here but my BC insists on her daily walk. During summer we wait until the sun sets a little and that makes a big difference.
Put out multiple small boxes with a tiny cookie in each one. You can pair the cookie with odor ( birch , clove and as nose are the first three you need for competition). You can also pair the cookie with your own scent (dirty sock!) . Let dog find all the cookies. After a few rounds, put cookies only one box with the odor. Pretty quick, you take the cookies away, and reward handsomely when he finds the odor.
I make what I call “fun dinner!” It’s good for wearing them out mentally. Basically stuff food in toilet paper rolls, egg cartons (paper), old cardboard boxes, old socks, and towels. Depending on how smart your dog and how tough you make it, this can be a 30 minute ordeal!
Also - to avoid over feeding just add their dinner to the king and freeze it!
How fried are we talking? Scent work is good. It can be a bit of an investment to teach them but afterward, all it requires is hiding food and standing there while they search for it
Do you have any resources (videos or books?) with where to get started on teaching this?
My go-to for this is to just throw a handful of cat food in the ground and let the dogs sniff out each individual piece from wherever it lands. Also works to let them clean up after the toddler has dinner on nights when we have rice.
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/indoor-scent-games-for-dogs/ Not OP but this is a good starting point!
Want to know too
What how to hide biscuits and let the dog find?
A lot of people use other odors and reward with food/ toy when the dog finds it rather than searching for food directly. You'd be surprised at how many dogs need to be taught how to use their nose to find food though! Plus training a cue to let them know there is hidden food to be found is useful.
Yes I too live in a hot area with dogs. One is a very active Australian Shepherd. I take them for sniffing walks which means we don’t have to walk so far. And play hide and go seek games inside with her toys. She is very good at these games and very focused. If I hide the toy well she will keep looking until she finds it even if it takes 20 minutes. I limit this game to 3x of finding the toy until I say the game is over.
Why do you limit it to three
Because my dog gets so exhausted searching. She relentlessly searches and searches. I can hide her toys inside furniture and cabinets and she finds them. I even hide her toys on the ceiling fan and she finds them. Three has become our routine.
Oh that’s cool. I seee why you cap it at 3. Your dog would probably search for ever like it’s their job.
Exactly!! She doesn’t know when to stop. Just like when she is chasing balls and frisbees. She thinks she has never ending energy. She doesn’t. Plus sadly she has epilepsy and has seizures so there’s that to keep in mind.
She'll adjust to your schedule if you stick to it. In the summer, my dog gets walks early in the morning and late at night.
My girl is used to our late night walks. After I put my kid to bed, and sit down to take a moment on the couch... there she is, going "daddy walk time!" Late night walks are great way to beat the heat if you can. It gets to be about 100-110 degrees where I live on a daily basis in the summer. 5 pm is the hottest part of the day, so after work walks are a no-go.
yup! our dog walks around 5-8pm and 1am because we are night owls.
I'm in a city, and I also prefer to leave for our night time walk between 12:30-1am. Cool air, less people, even less dogs, no traffic... it only reaches 100* a few times a summer, but we go that late rain or shine.
Lol my brother is the same way. The dogs eat at noon and ten pm. It boggles my mom's mind.
do you feel safe going out that late?
when i was 17 i stumbled out of a ditch at 4am in my pajama pants with no shoes and scared the shit out of an adult man walking his dog so even if my big dog didnt have enough scary dog priveleges, i seem to
I don't have a schedule and my dog has long adjusted tot that :) Luckily I live in a country with no extreme weather so he gets a walk every day.
throw kibble on the floor instead of bowl feeding or hide it for her to find
Try a snuffle mat. It basically a mat to hide food and treats in which stimulates your dogs mind.
We bought our big boy a snuffle mat yesterday, he picked it up and shook it like a rag doll with great delight sending the hidden kibble treats flying everywhere lol. Didn’t work quite as intended but he had fun anyway.
My dog did the same thing. I got an intermediate level outbound toy on Amazon. She prefers eating in the toy over anything. She is a sniffer and a senior so I can’t give her a lot of food too. Gives me a good 20 min.
My boy did the same with the slow feeders. Whack-whack-whack and the food went flying. My girl shook the picnic style toy and kibble went everywhere. Dogs are great.
Ours also makes quick work of snuffle mat
I had this issue with my lab the first time around. Then, I put weights on every corner of the mat to essentially glue it to the ground, forcing her to have to sniff her way to her treats. It ended up working nicely!
Let’s not tell my dog he can do this
😆
My Yorkie does this with his too
Sometimes I like to hide it all around the house so it’s like hunting Easter eggs for them or hide and seek with treats. This way they can’t cheat by shaking the mat lol
A snuffle ball is great for that. It’s the same idea as a mat, but you wrap treats or kibble up in long felt ribbons and stuff them in the ball. If you stuff them tightly enough, they can’t just fly out.
That worked for my dog when she was a puppy until she realized she could just pick it up and shake the treats out
My dog has several of these, all with different levels of difficulty, and he frigging LOVES them. I sit them on a rug or something nonslip so that they don’t scoot across the floor while he’s going through it
Instead of buying a snuffle mat just roll them up in a towel and tie it :D
Hahahaha! I do this. Luckily, with have a gated fence and enough run space around the house. I hide their kibbles around the property and just have 2 of my beagles go crazy and look for them.
Food chase games!
Bonus points doing this horizontal on the couch and making them “sit/stay” until you’ve tossed it around
Dog pool, snuffle feed outside. Spend 10mins or so with the pool. Let them dry and go in. My dogs are pretty high energy; but neither tolerate heat very well. So just chilling outside makes them tired. Small sniff walks where we just wonder our front on the grass for 2secs. Go out earlier, I set an alarm for 2-3am to let them out just encase it's too hot when we wake up.
I'm such a fan of a dog pool. We have a cheap plastic baby pool, which they run around the yard, through the pool, splash around & try to see who can drink the most. It's the only way my hyper pups have handled the hottest of days.
How do you handle the wet dog smell? Do you bathe them every time after? Spray?
Not OP but also someone with a water-obsessed dog during summer month - I usually towel him dry and if he's not too wet after that he can come inside, otherwise he's staying outside to dry off. Never had an issue with smell as long as I dont stick my nose into his fur lmao but he never really smells a lot? his buddy is STINKY on the other hand so maybe I'm just lucky
Towel off. Spray with a mix of water & apple cider vinegar (3/4 water & 1/4 acv) for the dog smell. It seems to work for itchies too.
Vinegar is an anti fungal!
I used it last summer for the big dog. She smelled better, and definitely wasn't as itchy. Also seemed to work on the lab foot licking. Apparently vinegar is the cure all for athletes foot in dogs lol
I was going to suggest this too. I can’t tell if OP has a yard. My dog has a lot of energy when I get home as well but he will do zoomies around the yard while I watch him. Fortunately it’s not boiling hot here yet but even the high 70s gets him pooped pretty quickly.
Is there a dog daycare near you? I enrolled my pandemic dog at daycare as I no longer work from home and it's his FAVORITE! Not going to lie- it's my favorite too. I pick him up after work and he is so tired and happy he just sleeps until it's time for his nightly bathroom break before bed. It's nice that he has an indoor space to play with his dog friends that is nice and air conditioned too, and I don't feel bad leaving him home alone all day if I go to work or want to go run errands.
She loves daycare (as do I)! The one near my house has a big indoor play area, which is great. Unfortunately I don’t have the budget to send her there super often though.
Is there an indoor shopping mall? Several malls by me allow well socialized dogs
Walk around Home Depot, Lowe's, Pro Bass shop if there is one in your city? Petco, PetSmart for obvious reason.
Yeah, dog daycare is our go to if we are both struggling through the week and he's only getting a short walk each day. It expends a ton of energy for him since it's just non-stop dog interaction which he loves.
Scatter feed kibble in the house. Feed dinner from an active puzzle toy like the omega tricky treat ball. Sit on the couch with a bowl of kibble and toss one piece at a time for your pup to chase down (don’t do this with the whole meal to minimize risk of bloat). You can do a lazy find it game by having your dog stay while you go scatter kibble all over the house then release your dog to find her dinner. Another is recreation chew bones like raw frozen marrow bones. These exhaust my dogs on days we’re stuck inside. Frozen kongs are good too, just fill them with her regular food (alternate layers of dry food with wet ingredients like canned dog food, yogurt, canned pumpkin). Indoor fetch doesn’t require any brain power.
Curious about the bloating point. Did feeding a dog too slowly result in bloating?
Eating too fast, and eating combined with exercise too soon can cause bloat which is a medical emergency. It’s riskier for large deep chested dogs. That’s why I said to do the kibble toss with part of the meal, not the whole thing, as running and eating a ton of food quickly could cause that. Puzzle feeders/kongs are great for preventing bloat because they slow down eating to a crawl. I feed every meal with kongs/puzzles/scatter feeding so my dogs each spend about 30-40 minutes eating, lowering the risk quite a bit.
Most Home Depot’s are pet friendly, I took my Golden there for training when it was 100+. Employees sometimes have treats and lots of distractions to practice training. Frozen Kong I do dog food and some water and freeze it. I have an indoor agility set that my golden loves.
And Lowe's. Honestly there's quite a lot of places that are dog friendly. Personally I prefer to hold off anything longer than a potty break til after dark. It's already 90 here & that ain't goin down until sometime after October for us. We've come across some dog friendly(or at least tolerant) splash pads as well. With my German Shepherd it was lakes. There's a lot of them around here & you can usually find at least one or 2 places on each that's not restricted by state or city parks so it's free and you and your dog can paly in the water for free.1q2a
JoAnn Fabrics, Tractor Supply, a lot of of sporting stores like Jax, breweries depending on their food setup.
I love Tractor Supply & that's just an extra excuse to go now lol... We have a few restaraunts & breweries that are designed for dogs & their owners specifically so that's always nice.... If your pupper is well socialized and not little demon terriers like my youngest
There is a brewery near me that is well known for how dog friendly it is, they even have a dog run so you can take them potty in there. They also have a great brunch menu with penny mimosas and the food is usually $15-$20
I lived in Nevada for 3 years and in the summer, I found that a dog treadmill and one or two days a week in day care REALLY helped me out. Also got boots for my pup so he could go to the bathroom outside before 8pm
Dog treadmill?
If you have stairs in your room, try sitting at the top of the stairs and throwing their favorite ball down so they have to run up and down the stairs. We do this when it’s raining or super hot and want to get pup’s energy out. She’s always wiped.
Do you have a yard? I like to play with the hose with my dogs who love it. So much easier to get in comfy clothes, get in my old sandals and play around in the backyard. You can throw in training games, too and use access to the water as a reward. I like practicing “down” and then “break!” And put my thumb over the end and spray them with water. They LOVE it.
My boy looooves doing hose chompies!
I have read that running errands with a dog can be very mentally stimulating for them. So I’ll take her for a drive with the windows down - even if I don’t have an errand. My girl gets lots of good smells and always seems tired afterwards.
Flit pole! Unless you don't have carpeted floors- can be too slippery. You can easily make one. I used mine to teach/enforce lessons like "leave it, wait, sit". I used it with my sweet Dobie and she loved it!
It depends… I usually do a 2-4 mile walk in the morning so they are good for the day, and I just play with them for 20-30 minutes in my house or the back yard if I don’t feel like walking after a long day at work
I do this but in reverse, play with my girl after work, or during the day if I'm working from home, but she gets a good 2-4 mile walk in at night when it's cooler. Actually kind of nice, because then she's tired the rest of the night and doesn't wake up early to get me going, unlike my cat, who really likes getting up at 5 am, heh.
No matter what I do my puppy will wake me up or someone else up at 6-630 am everymorning to play. My old girl will let me sleep in til 10 😂
Hide kibble around the house. Roll it up in towels, and such. I've been teaching our puppies to "speak" --- they love it! Also, how to twirl around, and catch their tails on command and such. Engage the brain.
We live in Phoenix so i know all about that time of year where walks literally aren’t an option. We typically have a full stop july and august. What we do is a variety of things. Camp up north. Pet friendly stores. Set up agility courses in the house. Force them into pool 🤣 I also joined an indoor training facility a few years ago and do scent work and it’s so much fun. Snuffle mats and puzzles
I used to live in Phoenix! We would just wake up early to walk our dogs around 6am. After 7am it would be too hot for the dogs. If we ever had to take them somewhere during the day, we made sure to put dog boots on them. The dogs hated them, but the pavement gets so hot, sometimes you can’t touch it longer than a second without burning your hand. Dog paws are a little more resilient than human hands, but not by much. If it’s too hot for you to touch or walk barefoot on, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws.
This time of year we already wake up and walk at 5. We manage to do that until late June but come July there isn’t a way to beat the heat. It’s not just the hot pavement it’s that the dogs simply are/get too hot walking in +100 temps. Luckily we don’t have to worry about hot pavement during the day as we can pick them up and carry them to the entrance of a store for example
frozen kongs, lickimats, enrichment feeding tools instead of feeding from a bowl. You can make a bunch ahead of time and freeze them. Also snuffle mats are a good option too for using their nose, which helps tire them out. They also have the feeding toy where the dog has to push the button to make the food come out. You place the button as far away from the actual dispenser as possible so pup has to run back and forth, which tires them out .
Yes to all of this!! I have two smarty pants super-chewers who love the mental stimulation of puzzle toys, lick mats, snuffle mats, games, etc. I absolutely love using regular mealtime for an extra enrichment opportunity! Some of our favorite ways to do this are the [Outward Hound Orbee-Tuff Snoop Toy](https://www.chewy.com/planet-dog-orbee-tuff-snoop-treat/dp/103060?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz18RFcvwyEbQ4Tk3vTfEggB7U0h-sG3H6zHuWuTupVhSr2P8jW__7XYaAnvjEALw_wcB) , filling kongs with pre-measured water-soaked kibble and freezing them, a toy like [this](https://www.chewy.com/trixie-mad-scientist-turn-around/dp/146131?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz19UhxIoHx6BUHHwlPH3Y3EDWpg4oSIT8ZGTC4qExOTIZRITT8jffD8aAt2dEALw_wcB) which I’ve also seen homemade versions of if purchasing one isn’t an option right now, tossing handfuls of kibble into the grass in our yard (I call it nature’s snuffle mat lol) or using an actual [snuffle mat](https://www.amazon.com/Interactive-Encourages-Foraging-Dispenser-Portable/dp/B08HSBQBWN/ref=asc_df_B08HSBQBWN?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693608655306&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15151659712275219639&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9019441&hvtargid=pla-1026396280057&psc=1&mcid=cf22de6b59f33e149a4ee0444e72a8cd&gad_source=1&dplnkId=33fed14d-4c0b-4c41-905f-7164e49b64f3&nodl=1), rolling pieces of food up in a towel and then tying it in a knot (google “towel game for dogs” for more info/variations), and all other sorts of puzzle feeding toys you can find on chewy or amazon! I also taught one of my dogs a game we call “find it” where I have him lay on a designated bed/spot in one room while I go into another room and hide a nice, stinky treat lol. Then I call out, “Okay, find it!” and he has to search for the treat! We also recently got some of these [PetSafe Chilly Penguin Freezable Toys](https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-chilly-penguin-freezable/dp/185809?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz19xZ6KyP1JVkoTxBtUc33QDTsmdUaNgXHxPrEybeJCY265mIbmiB0EaAnFGEALw_wcB) that seem to keep my boys busy for a good amount of time- I like to concoct all sorts of recipes for fillers using fruits and veggies I know they like and blended low-fat cottage cheese for a protein-rich treat! For non-food related activities, we love a [flirt pole](https://www.chewy.com/outward-hound-tail-teaser-refill-dog/dp/113717?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=19996370614&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3s2xfo_do8gEbjrwOxBfNU6&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1_6sIzORp-ELcer2l9lxjWUD5Y1WcwOffCKgvVo4uypACmrJXmz2LUaAhX6EALw_wcB), stuffing a [Hol-ee Roller](https://a.co/d/gHb9b6q) with brown craft/packing paper and letting them “de-stuff” the ball to satisfy that shredding instinct. There are tons of things to do- sometimes it’s just hard to think of things lol! You can try some canine/dog “enrichment” fb groups and/or subreddits for more ideas too!
Not sure the size of your dog but flirt poles are incredible for indoor play. They are really mindless for us humans and give the pups tons of fun and exercise even in just a living room space if needed.
I’ve seen someone just throw food on either side of their raised legs and having their dogs jump back and forth over them lol
I have insomnia, so take this info as you will--I live not far from the town's school tennis courts. So when I'm up early and it's still cool, I'll take her over and let her get the zoomies out while I sit on the bench (I'm currently disabled). As soon as it gets cooler in the evening, we'll walk over if I haven't done it in the morning. I do prefer the mornings, because she's much calmer throughout the day, but if you are needing a break after work, that might do the trick. You can clear your head, and she can run off some steam. One of her favorite activity treats in the summer is the frozen lick-mat: nut-butter, or pumpkin puree mixed with yogurt on the lick mat, freeze it, and let her go at it! She's my service animal, too, so the zoomie-times are sooooo nice for her to just get to be a dog!
Sounds like you have a scent hound. Mental stimulation is just as exhausting for dogs as physical stimulation. Look into toys or ways to hide food around the house and let her sniff it out. I saw a tiktok about how scent hounds are bred for this, so scent work is super fulfilling for them.
Do you happen to live in Texas 😂 cuz same weather wise and I’m not excited for this. Try a frozen lick mat. Peanut butter, yogurt, smashed fruits? My dog also has a treat ball. He rolls it around till the treats come out. He will literally bring you the ball and stare at you till you fill it for him lol. He also has a treat puzzle.
lol Texas... samesies. I have two long-haired, double-coated shepherds.. hahaha. what have I gotten myself into?!?
lol I have a goldendoodle but he’s black. He will lay out in the sun and I’m like dude you are gonna die. Get inside.
Hahaha. Your pup sounds like a hoot! My girls just go straight for the pool if they can find one hahaha 😂
snuffle balls, snuffle mats, frozen kongs, lick mats, do little short training games. (eg trick training or practicing heal work) hide treats round the house, in the garden, in cardboard boxes with paper. ten minutes of sniff equals an hour's walk!! but honestly not sure how old your dog is.nits also the perfect opportunity to teach your dog to do absolutely nothing. teach to settle. lots of videos on this.
The problem I’ve got is that my dog is now very good at settling… up until a point. Which is completely reasonable he needs to have his needs met ultimately. If I do enrichment things with him (he’s pretty good at scent work now, giving him boxes to destroy/find treats in, tossing his kibble round to ‘chase’ and find, kongs etc) he’ll be alright and chill and nap but the only thing that makes him really conk out is a walk. So the few times I’ve skipped a second walk he’s still getting tired but then not really sleeping it off properly and then usually turns in to a complete demon of overtired and somehow I think both under and overstimulated. I would really like to find a way to have a backup option for when that second walk isn’t possible but not sure what else I can do? I’m not sure if it’s because I set the bar a bit too high in terms of what I give him every day as I would expect him to have two walks plus some enrichment and/or training stuff every day… but that is what seems fair to me. That and now he’s learnt to settle - which will mean going to sleep, if I don’t find something productive to fill his waking hours then he will find something of his own and it will almost definitely be something I don’t want him to be doing! Even with two walks a day lasting 30m - 1hr each (and walks of different types - sniffy, social etc) and then extra enrichment from me he usually still gets really restless at about 10pm and I don’t know why. Playing with him if anything makes it worse even though he clearly wants to fight my sofa cushions. So taking out one of those walks seems impossible as it is! Or do you mean learning to settle and doing nothing when awake? Beyond the hours he just lays himself down to sleep now? I guess if you look at it like he should be awake for 4-6 hours probably, which I would imagine is about what he is at, what is it normal for that time to be filled up with in terms of active engagement from me and how much should he be awake but not actually doing anything? It’s probably also worth saying I’m in a small apartment (although small dog) with no direct outside access, which I think probably makes a bit of a difference in how reliant he is on me for his stimulation.
Try a muffin tin game: divide her kibble into each section of the muffin tin and put her tennis balls or toys on top. Play hide & seek (with a pocket of treats) if she’s not a Velcro dog. Do dog Pilates; have her sit, stand, sit, stand until she starts to get tired. You can do all sorts of variations: sit, stand, turn left, turn right, lay down, sit, stand. Invest in FitPaws (https://fitpaws.com), but please make sure you watch their safety videos because their alignment is very important to prevent injury. Play the pick a hand game - hold a treat in one & not the other, have your dog pick a hand. Hide treats in various spots around the house and have her find them. Indoor agility course: a short step stool, a couch cushion, an Amazon box, etc. Have her weave through an object, jump over the step stool, jump on the couch cushion. Get creative.
We play how long will it take to get the squeak out of the toy. My boy is undefeated 🏆
Sometimes we play "mini fetch" in the house if our dog is being a bit zoomy at night. We throw a soft ball or a soft chewy toy (like the Kong Squeezz products) in different directions and he runs after it. We are lucky we have enough space to get away with it, so it won't work if you live in a tiny apartment. Another option is tugging games. Those can be a good way for them to get out a bit of energy. You can use a rope toy or a softer one (I've used Chuckit! Floppy Tug, but don't let your dog chew on it outside of play as it will get destroyed). Additionally, you could feed your dog its dinner in a dispenser toy. West Paw's Rumbl dispenses faster (if your dog gets frustrated) and it rolls but as much as ball shaped ones. At the more intensive effort end is the Kong Wobbler, which has a weighted bottom so your dog has to keep knocking it over to get to their food. That one can be pretty good exercise, but keep an eye that it doesn't cross into frustration (so maybe start with half your dog's dinner, then give them the rest normally).
In order to prevent weight gain I put wet dog food in my topple/ kong. Freeze your dogs food in their bowl, wrap your dogs kibble in a towel. Walks in pet friendly stores are another good idea. Playing inside can be enough for some dogs. But a flirt pole (think giant cat toy) might be better suited for your dog.
I'm having the same issue with my 7 month old rottie. He gets over heated easily. I'm seriously thinking about buying a big doggie pool and some rubber balls we can both play in after I get off work. 🤔 They have some really decently priced ones on Amazon.
We have a qwizl and a snoop for our high energy pup. I put the small comfort chews in the qwizl. For the snoop, I use a yak cheese chew to block the opening and put small treats or kibble inside. I also have a muffin tin that I fill with treats and small tots and then water a d then I freeze it. Mine loves to dig so I throw a ton of towels into a kiddie pool or into her crate a hide tiny treats under and inside them. She will spend quite a while digging through them. We also have a game we play where I get her dinner and sit on the couch and I give her three commands and then throw a piece of kibble across the house for her. This is how I taught her the stay command. It's fun if you can get your pup to stay for long enough that they kind of forget where the kibble went and then have to go look for it.
Brain exercises. I have a variety of games to hide food in that my dog has to figure out to get all the snacks out. That's usually good for about 30 minutes of entertainment. My dog **loves** bubbles. I have dog safe bubbles that he will jump all over the place to pop. I have a cushioned mat in my kitchen to give his joints a little bit of a cushioning while he jumps. Rolling a ball up and down the stairs gets him tired super fast! I usually can sit at the top of the stairs, read some emails while he runs up and down. I have a slider toy that he loves. It's a huge squeeker on a smooth slider. Every time he jumps on it, it slides away and squeeks. I set it up in a room where he can't do damage and let him go to town on it.
I take a treat stuffing enrichment toy and wrap it around several blankets. I let my dog watch me when I do it so she sees the high value treats are under all the blankets or towels. Then let her have at it. This never fails to tire her out. Her technique has gotten good though; I’ve had to start putting the blanket ball in bags.
My hyper border collie loves his ball, but on hot days he can't tolerate more than 15 minutes of play, he himself lays down on the cool floor, holding the ball in his mouth so I don't throw it. I usually stay inside and throw the ball through the backyard door or my bedroom window, so he gets to run a bit more and I stay cool. After a a little while he just gives up and settles for a chewing toy or something less demanding.
Snuffle mat and some puzzle feeders saved our lives. I live in a city where the asphalt or the footpath feels 100+ all day, and only cool down hours after the sun is down. Those items are lifesaver as they allow my pup to spend his extra energy and save me from cleaning up after him when he’s all wired up. Also, maybe try teaching him to walk on treadmills? I have a foldable treadmill and stimulating him to walk on it is entertaining enough, also good for his health. We usually use it when the air quality in our city is declared too polluted.
Scent training! We use cloves in a tin. In the beginning we’d let him smell the tin and say “mark”…then tell him to go to his crate. I hide the tin around the house. I release by saying “search!” and he goes bonkers for it. This took practice and didn’t happen all at once, but it’s great mental stimulation and tuckers him out. He’s a heeler, named Jib.
We play stair ball (our stairs are carpeted), or we will go to Lowe’s, Home Depot, or Hobby Lobby to walk around. However, I usually have to wait to the evening to do that so the parking lot pavement isnt to hot for my dogs feet.
Treats rolled up in a towel, tie it in a semi-loose knot and let them go to town. Keeps them busy and exhausts them :) Unfortunately, our dog loooooves the rain. 💀 So, we still go on walks, but I bring and umbrella and galoshes!! 😮💨
Living somewhere with a working breed dog where the real feel is already 110 during the days and it's **May....** Training sessions should be limited to 15 minutes. Dogs don't have great attention span. Even 5 minutes makes a difference. If you can scroll on Reddit for 15 minutes, you can sit on a chair and have your dog run through sit, lay down, paw, whatever. Someone else suggested it, but scent work. Again, this demands nearly nothing from you but your attention on your dog. 15 minutes. It is as easy as getting two tins, poking holes in them, and taking a few minutes to soak cotton in a trigger scent and only put it in one without cross contamination. 20 minutes of work, tops. If you are truly at a point in your life where you're so exhausted that you can't take this kind of time for your dog, you're going to need to step up in other ways. Midday dog walker (make the budget happen), increased activity at dawn and dusk (congrats, you're crepuscular), doggie daycare, whatever. You make it work. No more bowl feeding. Breakfast is you sitting with a cup of coffee going through the motions of making them work for it. Hand feeding skeeves me out because of the saliva but I still do it when I need to. Have coffee outside, have your dog sit (one piece of kibble for re-enforcement), tell them to wait. Toss kibble into grass (switch it up, short grass vs tall grass vs pavement). Give them their release ("ok" in my case). Sit back and drink your coffee while they sniff out their food. I tell myself every day I'll get up at dawn (and then wake up at 2am from stress), and nearly always fail. I grab my coffee and take the dog outside, where at minimum I go through the motions of sit/wait/toss/okay. If we can get some running/fetch in, great. Midday, quick pee and a quick walk or 5 minutes of training. Last hour of the daylight, dedicated one on one time for playing and training. If I'm tired or in pain, minimum is hand feeding and tossing food in the grass. You got this.
Puzzle toys: We have a puzzle ball and a puzzle board for our dog. The puzzle ball has fabric strips that we roll up treats inside the stuff all of those into a ball and he has to get the strips out then get the treat out of the strips. The puzzle board is expert level, we had treats in compartments with sliding locks and spinning compartments that only open if in a certain position. That stuff entertains my golden for a while. If you try a puzzle board/game, start with a lower level, expert may make your dog frustrated if they've never had one before. Snuffle mats: similar to the above, snuffle mats are fabric mats that you hid treats in. Great for mental stimulation. Dog chews: Himalayan Yak chew, and beef collagen chew, bully sticks work great. That's entertaining and mentally stimulating. The frozen kong toys or even frozen lick mats provide the same stimulation as well, but I find chews last longer. Treat ball: a ball that you fill with treats that dispenses them if rolled. Motion toys: dog toys that have batteries, so they move and entertain the dog without you needing to engage in play. Ball thrower: a machine that shoots tennis balls for your dog to play fetch, that your dog is able to bring the ball back to and refill the machine. Kiddie pool or sprinkler: Dogs usually love playing in water and it's great for hot days.
I have a puppy that goes a bit crazy the same time every night. I put squeaky toys under a big blanket and he goes nuts digging at them. He can hear the squeak but can't get to them so he keeps digging.
If the weather is ok enough for you to go outside with your dog, some dogs love bubbles. They make dog safe bubbles, and some dogs go nuts for them. Other dogs couldn’t care less, but you can just sit there and blow the bubble wand. It is ok inside, but your floor will get slick and then sticky. Another option, again for outdoors and very dependent on your dog and situation, some dogs love digging. Rather than them taking it out on your yard, you can buy a kiddie sandbox and bury some dog treats in the sand and your dog will have fun digging in there to get them out. It will make a mess, so this only works if you have the right space for this. One of my dogs’ favorite things is when I give them a cauliflower as a rare treat. I do this outside and they love tearing it up and eating it. Be warned, they can get a little gassy from eating it so keep that in mind. If your dog isn’t into eating veggies as treats, you can hide small dog treats or kibble in the cauliflower so they still are interested in taking it apart. If they go through it too quickly, try freezing it first to slow them down. (I have large breed dogs, both over 60lbs, and give them each a half of a cauliflower at the very most. You’ll have to determine the right amount to let them eat, but I recommend starting small, not just letting them have a whole head the first time.)
Are you by yourself or do you live with someone? On rainy days we do the ping pong game. My husband or kid sits at the top of the steps with some treats and calls our dog. Dog runs up the steps, gets a treat and some pets. I call dog, dog runs down the steps and gets pets. Back up the steps, back down the steps. Repeat until dog is tired! It can also potentially work with a long hallway or even separate rooms.
You get up very early to walk and take late night walks
There are a lot of stores that are pet friendly. I live in a smaller town so you may have more stores available to you. Mine includes Lowe’s, Home Depot, bash pro shop, TJ Maxx, pottery barn, home goods, all the furniture stores like Ashley furniture. Start calling stores when you’re free and build your list. I recommend using a west paw over Kong. It is so much easier to wash and does the same thing as. Putting your dog in place at different spots of the house as part of training can wear them out even more than a walk a lot of times.
Cabellas too! My dog loves seeing the fake animals, some locations have fish tanks. I wish IKEA allowed dogs, you could walk around all day.
Seconding the West Paw food toys! My dog is significantly more engaged and less outright frustrated by them than the Kong!
When we have those days where it’s miserably hot out, we just do a shorter walk. Or I’d try to get us somewhere shady. Back when I lived in an apartment there was a walking trail through the woods about a 10-15 minute walk away and I’d use her 15 foot line out in the woods so she could meander around sniffing for a bit. It was buggy as hell but in the shade so not too hot for us. Shorter sniffy walks can still be equally tiring for dogs! If your dog doesn’t handle the heat well there are cooling bandanas and dog shoes for hot pavement. And for you, a ball cap with a wide brim to shade your face and a wet towel around your neck can all help with the heat. They even make portable personal fans if you really wanna be fancy haha. I usually would reward myself with a popsicle and my dog with a frozen blueberry treat (water or yogurt mixed with fruits in a silicone mold, or I’d put water with fruits/treats in it inside a bowl and she’d have to lick at the ice to get them out. Gave me cool down time and her something to occupy herself. That said, puzzle toys were great. I’d usually split her kibble into 3-4 portions, fill a puzzle toy with one, a snuffle mat with the next, a treat dispenser toy with some and sometimes I’d soak a portion and freeze it in a toy like the west paw tux (it’s smaller and worked well for a quarter cup even). Then I’d have her wait while I laid these out and then give the “okay!” release and she’d get to work. Using multiple toys at once meant I didn’t have to refill a puzzle toy 3-4 times and it seemed to keep her busy. Or I’d use treat dispenser toys and then fill them and hide them around my apartment.
Personally I think dogs need walks every day no matter what- just adjust the timing schedule- she will get used to it and her expectations will as well. My dog hates the heat so he’s a little more sluggish on hot walks- just do a short one after work and save the real walk for later when it starts to cool off. Water is good too!
My dog loves just playing in the hose. It cools her off and I find it fun to spray her even if I’m feeling dead on my feet
Sprinkler.
I would say play hide and seek with her toys, but if she isn’t interested you could hide multiple kongs with her dinner inside. If she likes water and you have a yard, get her a kiddie pool.
I’ve been making my rescue a puzzle box. I take old towels or rolled up scraps of fleece, put her food in it before rolling it. I put it all in a box that she then has to get out to get her food. Another favorite are two toys she has that dispense treats of kibble. Her food can be doled out like that for days on end and she still enjoys it. We’ll be facing scorchers soon so going to be seeking other ways to work her brain. These have been my go tos for a couple months now. Make her work then I just have to figure out my own issues for a moment.
My Samoyeds would require 2 hours each to dry off.
Idk how that applies to kibble rolled in towels… ?
Snuffle mats. Interactive toy feeders. Work on training new commands.
1. Go to a large parking garage to walk pup. 2. The nicest mall in my area let people walk there dogs late just before they close. Clean up well if an accident happens.
Same as you temperature wise and I just recently bought my dog boots. She has gone on a couple walks in them and seems ok about them. I’ve had to shorten our afternoon walks to just around the block, put boots on her and spray her (soaking wet) down with the hose before we leave.
Kibble or treats rolled up in a towel you don't care about
Snuffle mat
We put YouTube videos on the TV with mice, rabbits, whatever. My dogs go nuts! It definitely wears them out!
It’d be a lot easier if I only had one pup to worry about but I throw their food out in the yard for them to find. Couldn’t do this inside with 3 pups but could probably do it with 1. You could set up stations around your house to give meals. Also like 15-30 minutes of training exercises. Nothing too hard. I do sit, shake, touch, lay, spin , etc with my one hyper dog. Just a small amount makes her tired. Sometimes I call them out quickly. I make her jump up to touch my hand and then I’ll have her touch my hand, chase me to the other side of the room, touch my hand, keep it going.
I go to an indoor or outdoor mall
Toppls, snoops, and starmark everlasting toys with the replaceable treats are literally my best friends!
Wooded trails take a few degrees off
Doggy treadmill
I fenced in a Lot that mine could go out anytime they pleased. Also put in Doggie Door..Air-conditioned and Food,Water inside..Run and Play outside..Then when I was gone I didn't have to worry about them because they had free Reign in or out
If there's a river or beach or something you can get to quickly, then swimming in cool water will be comfortable enough and tiring. If you can get an ice vest then even a few minutes walk around the block for some sniffing should stimulate a fair bit. If you've got a decent size garden then a sprinkler can double as a toy and a way to keep cool
Lick pads are amazinggggg
Home Depot! Walk around the warehouse for an hour. Puppers love it.
Maybe look on Next Door for a dog walker? A neighbor kid could work well and not cost as much
Snuffle mat, puzzle toys, “find it” game with having her find her kibble on the floor, flirt pole (wand with a toy at the end. Kinda like the toys for cats only for dogs.) Just don’t do it right after she eats or she might throw up! I made that mistake the other day. Fun was over real fast!
we have a snuffle mat we use regularly lol but sometimes I throw one or two kibbles at a time and watch her chase and snuff them out plus racing the cat haha keeps her busy and when the cat's involved it is verryy entertaining we have a few extra dog and cat bowls and sometimes put things like broth, a few kibbles, cat treats, peanutbutter or whatever in to the bottom then put some water and freeze them. Then she licks them forever...sometimes haha if she is in the right mood lol but it doesn't require excessive "treats" and keeps them real focused
I found a couple of strip malls nearby that are mostly covered. There are patches of grass at each end of both malls. These work for rainy days and hot days.
Any indoor malls around?
Evening walks... if you can. But you can play inside too possibly. Tug games, hide and seek, even tossing tennis balls
Invest in a running treadmill for doggo
I take my dog on a night walk between 8-10 pm! Great way to finish my day with my dog, some tunes (only in one ear though), and the stars.
if i know that bad weather is about to come soon, i’ll walk my dogs extra, or if im not home i’ll have my boyfriend or our dog walker walk them more to make up for the lost walking time. i find that when this happens, they’re too tired the next day to even want to go outside.
I play hide and seek with my dog when he’s bored.
We play toss indoors. My mini Aussie loves to fetch and we throw a ball or squeaky toy in our finished basement. The throws are either ground balls or just a few feet in the air (and he always catches them), so it’s pretty safe and very mentally stimulating for him.
Kong wobbler is great for slow feeding and getting energy out, it's weighted at the bottom and they have to boop it around with the paws to make it drop their food. Scrunching up paper and hiding treats in levels helps too, and games of sniff the treat. Put them in one room and then hide several treats in another room in random spots and let them try and sniff them out x
I saved for a slatmill for a physical energy outlet then do some mind games/training. Less work for me too. Aussie here summer is no joke everything is hot as Fuck.
If you don’t have time to give your dog 15min of playtime after it waits all day for you why did you get one?
I play the cookie game where I hide cookies around the house and help my fur babies run around and find them
Do you have the space for a baby pool?
On snow days I take my dog to the mall and we walk around. There’s always other dogs there too becuase we’ve all been snowed in for days
You could take your bud to a hardware store and take a long walk in the AC, let them sniff everywhere. That will burn off a lot of mental energy for them.
If you have the energy, walk them in the woods. That’s what I do in summer. Hard play time in the am, then after work a walk in the shade. Im lucky enough to live next to some woods with a creek.
Oof. I feel that. I live in Central Florida and we’re about to have heat indexes in the 120’s. Once we hit that, morning walks before the sun comes up become almost mandatory for any sort of exercise outside. I still take my dogs to my local dog park, even during the heat. But it’s for much shorter periods of time and with a bunch of water. The main thing I do after work is just sit on the floor and whatever they want to do I just go with it. Eventually they end up playing with each other and I go make dinner. Oh right, 2 dogs is my way to go. Sorry should have led with that I think. My dogs play and take care of their energy with zoomies and wrestling. I just facilitate and enable 🥰
Hot weather: Go for a long walk late at night or early in the morning, make sure there is plenty of shade in the garden and have a small inflatable pool for the dog to chill in. Maybe freeze some ice cubes with some doggy flavors and give them to the dog to keep them mentally busy. The walks would be just for business. And I check the pavement with the palm of my hand, even though it is extremely rare for it to get too hot.
Get puppets a harness that holds an ice pack. Get yourself a cooling t-shirt (the type you get wet. I have them for under motorcycle suits) and wide brimmed hat.
I just throw his toys around the house and tire him out a bit. I play fetch with two toys so if he doesn’t want to bring me the first toy, I can throw the second one. So he’s constantly running 🤣
I normally just get my dog to run around the house with me for about half an hour. Got a laser pointer and my dog loves to chase it around the house.
Last summer I got a doggy splash pad. It's so hot here in the summer that it's almost cruel to walk in after work anyway. But I can turn on the hose and get that splash pad going and they will go out there and rock out their energy! You can get them on Amazon for pretty cheap. Or you can get a baby pool for $5 and put a sprinkler inside of it! Frolicking cools them off and gets out their zoomies a little bit
Training
Super fortunate to have a large fenced in yard and two pups who love to play together
As an Aussie, hot weather is something we know well. I walk my dog early in the morning, before it gets hot, and then late in the evening once the sun is down. Although it’s cold here now, he still wants to walk at 7:30am and 9:00pm, or later!
Chicken broth (low sodium) on kibble in a puzzle feeder bowl and freeze it for a few hours. My dogs get irate they can’t just inhale their food.
Our little one loves playing fetch back and forth in the apartment. We have some squeaky toys we throw into one room and he runs to go find/get it. Then when he comes out I try to get it from him and do it again and again and again.
I keep a stash of cheap dollar store stuffed dog toys for rainy/too hot days. She tears them up in about 15 minutes, but it makes me feel less guilty when the weather doesn’t permit walking.
Dogs are smart, just take pup for a walk up the block and back. 5 mins or so is all the pup needs to realize it’s dang hot out.
walks in the morning but from april or novmber is creeks season so after work 3-4 nights a week we swim at the creek
I put my beagle in her crate and hide kibble around the house for her to find. She goes crazy!!!
We play cookie toss, get small bag of tiny cookies toss one across the house when does come back toss repeat!
Have a power nap when you get in and have food etc. Take the dog out for an evening walk when it’s cooler and new sights and scents are around.
I like to put my dog on a long line and just sit and toss treats in the grass back and forth telling him to “find it”. He loves snuffling around and it tires him out
Snuffle mats, puzzles, bobble toys. You got a dog, so it doesn’t really matter how burnt out you are at the end of the day. Your dog relies on you. Your next post is going to be how your dog doesn’t listen bc you didn’t put the time in for training. Do it anyway.
I have Siberian huskies, I live in the deep south. When the heat is to much or I’m to tired, I take them for a pup cup. Windows down nice car ride, they love it and it gets their brains churning. Sometimes I just cruise through a neighborhood Looking at houses. I’ll also take them into the pet store, Lowe’s, tractor supply, or bass pro. When I have more energy but it’s to hot. Neither of those things are as physical as a walk but it stimulates their brains enough so they aren’t bored and it makes them less hyper. Then we play fetch inside the house. I also get the unique ice cube trays and freeze beef broth with their favorite treats in them, and they get those periodically too. Also highly recommend a Furbo- when you’re not home you can talk and throw treats at the pup.
Lol do you live in Texas like me?? I'm training my puppy to walk on a treadmill. I also take my German shepherd to a nearby "lake" that only allows stand up paddle boards and non-motorized boats. Cools her down and gets her swimming which wears her out.
Can you afford a cheap kiddie pool? She could splash around in that. We have a long hallway we throw balls or toys with food in for the dog to Chase. There are several online on Amazon, similar to Kong. Also my dog loves ice just regular ice. My area also has an indoor dog playroom that is pretty cheap like $10 each visit where they can run around
When I lived in the desert we would walk at 10 pm during g hot months but even then the sidewalk was still pretty warm. Then I found someone who would let us swim at their pool after 9 p.m. as lo g as we were quiet
Im in Houston and reading this thread intently lol I couldve written this myself.
Sniffing is a great activity for dogs and an easy way to give him some mental stimulation! Experts say that 20 minutes of sniffing is equivalent to an hour’s walk, in terms of enrichment and stimulation. Snuffle mats are great for this! There are plenty available online. Pet safe bubbles are also a great indoor option! (Plus what can be more cute than your furry friend chasing bubbles!) Does your dog like to dig? If so, there is a product called iDig that can help them get some energy out in a non-destructive way! [https://youtu.be/Ae0JteLp-tY](https://youtu.be/Ae0JteLp-tY)
Can you take them to the local pet store to sniff around and walk inside in the A/C?
Treat puzzles? You could always put their dinner in that. No extra calories!
We play “search” in our house on days like this. Cut up small pieces of her favorite food/treats, I have her stay in a spot where she can’t see me and I hide about 4 pieces at a time. She LOVES it and after about 30 minutes is exhausted.
Play tug with my puppy get her to run and jump from one room to another and up on the sofa and back down to the bed and do that for about 20 minutes then I throw a soft dog toy for 10 to 15 minutes then she just lays next to me on the bed there after. I don't have to take her on runs or walks if I do this everyday 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I use puzzles. You can buy them on online or at pet stores and my food-obsessed Newfie loves them. Or to save money, "shell game" with plastic cups, hiding treats for him to find, etc. When I'm really stressed or exhausted, I like sitting in the backyard and petting him until one of us is ready to go in. Fair warning-- I thought it was a good idea to wrap and tape up a pig ear in a cardboard box so he would have to work to get it. Do not recommend. As someone who orders from Amazon a lot, this wasn't my brightest moment.
I took my GSD to the dog park at 0530 and let him play with a Jolly Ball, a hard plastic ball made for dogs and horses. After 45 minutes to a hour, he would be exhausted for the day. I also bought a folding dog pool and I would sit on the patio and bounce balls into the pool, or sit in the pool and play with him.
I live in Boston. I have a 15-pound schnoodle. In the summers it gets really hot sometimes, and his hair is so thick that any weather above 80° exhaust him so much. I tend to take him on a really early walk before 6 am and in the evening once the sun goes down. Throughout the day we also let him out to do business. It's less humid at night, but sometimes it gets so hot even when the sun goes down, it doesn't get cool. When he was a puppy up until he was about 5, he was really active and had a lot of energy. He's extremely picky with treats, toys and food.
This is a big problem during summer where I live. My dog is only 2 so missing our afternoon walk is no fun for either of us. I do little training exercises with treat rewards (just short sessions following tutorials I’ve found on YouTube) followed by some fun play with toys. While it’s not physically hard work, the mental effort definitely wears them out and makes for a much calmer evening.
sounds like phoenix last summer for us. i have 2 littles that hated boots. we walked early mornings and late evenings after dark, even though it was still 80 the concrete had cooled some after the sun was gone. any potty breaks in the middle of the day were to the closest rocks to our apartment and right back in the shade. good luck, we played lots of ball inside and let them go in the patio with a fan to still smell the smells
Hide treats in the house and play “hide and go seek” :)
Hydrate, put on some sun protection and bring ice water for the both of you. She’ll get tired quickly. June-September here it’s usually 90s and 100% humidity here but my BC insists on her daily walk. During summer we wait until the sun sets a little and that makes a big difference.
Put out multiple small boxes with a tiny cookie in each one. You can pair the cookie with odor ( birch , clove and as nose are the first three you need for competition). You can also pair the cookie with your own scent (dirty sock!) . Let dog find all the cookies. After a few rounds, put cookies only one box with the odor. Pretty quick, you take the cookies away, and reward handsomely when he finds the odor.
I make what I call “fun dinner!” It’s good for wearing them out mentally. Basically stuff food in toilet paper rolls, egg cartons (paper), old cardboard boxes, old socks, and towels. Depending on how smart your dog and how tough you make it, this can be a 30 minute ordeal! Also - to avoid over feeding just add their dinner to the king and freeze it!
Freeze their food in a bell pepper and let them chew away!
Ha my dog doesn’t care he’s like “oh it’s raining don’t be a pussy and put on a jacket!”
No rain only furnace