Dog Entertainment (Without Buying Anything New)

Dogs love (and need) mental engagement. Mental health matters for our pets, too, and we, as their caretakers, can help them live a mentally enriched life.

If you have spare income to buy toys made for this, you can, and there are some incredible options out there.

If you don't or want to use things you already have in your home, here are some options that your dog and your budget will love:

Hide a Treat Game

Create a routine in which you hide a treat in a room, and then let your dog find that treat. Make sure the game is structured, ideally around the same time each day. Create a word or phrase for it, so your dog knows fun is ahead. You also don't want your dog hunting for treats frantically throughout the day, leading to frustration and finding and eating things they shouldn't have. This game is especially great for dogs with a strong sense of smell.

Free Dog TV

Yes. free. You read that correctly. Go over to YouTube.com, and search free dog TV. You'll find hours upon hours of free entertainment created for dogs, from nature sounds to animals meandering through the forest. If you have a Smart TV, you can likely install or navigate to the YouTube.com application, and play it on your TV screen for your dogs.

Teach Them Tricks

Maverick sitting pretty at a holiday event

Dogs want to make us happy. And every time they learn a new trick, they are finding one more way to make us happy as well as to earn treats that they enjoy. Start with simple, foundational tricks, such as sit and stay, and then move on to the ones that challenge you and your dogs. There are exceptions to this; sometimes, we'll teach more complex tricks first if it means building on a behavior or motion a dog is already prone to doing. Have fun! And remember, trick training sessions shouldn't be very long, usually no more than 15 minutes at a time.

Make Treats with Your Dog

Making treats with your dog is a fun and delightfully chaotic activity. It won’t be the tidiest process, but you likely already have everything you need in your kitchen to whip up some healthy (-ish), delicious dog treats. Here are a some ingredients to inspire creative and tasty combinations:

• Raspberries (in moderation)

• Strawberries

• Blueberries

• Cauliflower

• Broccoli

• Oat flour

• Wheat flour

• Oats

• Bacon (plain, baked only)

• Unseasoned chicken

• Unseasoned ground beef

• Unseasoned boneless pork ribs

• Spinach

• Eggs

• Banana

• Peanut butter (with peanuts as the only ingredient)

• Apples (careful not to include the seeds, stem or leaves)

• Applesauce (with apples as the only ingredient)

• Sweet potato

• Pineapple

• Mango

• Carrots

• Peaches

• Pumpkin (no added ingredients)

• Honey (not raw and not wild flower)

• Pure maple syrup (in moderation)

We would caution against doing this activity with dogs that are prone to resource-guarding or have a history of reactivity and against doing this activity with multiple dogs, as this can lead to competitiveness for high-value resources. All suggested activities are proceed at your own risk.