It has been bitterly cold in Southwestern Ontario for the last few winters, making it difficult to take our dog for long enough walks. For our Labrador Retriever, anything colder than -15º Celsius (with windchill) is too cold, especially since she is 14 years old. Much to her horror, some very cold days, she doesn’t get a walk at all. On these days, we still have to make sure she is getting enough exercise, both physically and mentally.

Ball that dispenses treats or food as the dog rolls it around.

1. If you have a long hallway, you have a perfect place for your dog to run to get their food.  Throw small amounts back and forth along the hallway so that your dog will have to run from one end of the hall to the other for their meal. This is similar to suggestion 7 but there is less smelling and more running.

2. Use a special toy that dispenses food. We had an orange ball that our dog rolled around to get the food to randomly spill out. This was a great way to feed her slowly, especially outdoors, since the ball invariably got saliva on it. Our dog became an expert at using this ball. She looked like she was playing soccer.

3. Buy some toys that will either encourage your pet to chew, squeak, or make them work at unraveling it. Think about what types of activities and what types of toys your pet enjoys when buying something new. Is your pet a hard chewer? Is it a soft mouthed animal? Do they enjoy squeaking? Are they food motivated? For example, our dog is soft mouthed, loves to squeak, won’t often fetch unless we are at a beach and is very food motivated.

Soft mouthed dogs love stuffed animals with squeakers in them.

One of many dog toy puzzles available from Kyjen. Click image to see this toy and others at Amazon.ca.

4. Buy dog puzzles which will exercise your poch mentally by making her use natural instincts to solve spatial puzzles and her nose to find food. We have a variety of dog food puzzles at our home since our dog is so good at figuring them out. We pull them out on really cold days or days her injury has flared up and we want to exercise her without running around. The puzzles are great for training too. Practice ‘sit’, ‘down’, ‘wait’, ‘find’ while the dog is using the puzzle. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t leave your dog unsupervised while using these puzzles. Kyjen makes a variety of puzzles that vary in skill and difficulty levels.

5. Play fetch or tug of war not only to spend some quality time with your pet, but to work their muscles, their mind, and their hearts. Pets need their exercise, big or small, young or old. Incorporate some chase play, too. We’ve even done some ‘monkey in the middle’, or maybe I should call it ‘puppy in the middle’.

6. Play a game of hide and seek. Pick a special toy, a treat, or the dog’s favourite person, to hide somewhere in the house and then send your pet off to find it or them. Make it fun and use praise or treats or whatever works for your dog as rewards.

Pick their favourite toy to play an active game.

7. Playing hide and seek with the dog’s full meal is fun and really good exercise too. You can just scatter food throughout the whole house in one or multiple passes and have your dog run around and “hoover” it up. Alternatively, if you really want them to work for it, hide the food in different locations which will force the dog to find the food using their nose.

8. A variation for feeding and exercising younger and healthy dogs involves stairs. It is best if the stairs are carpeted since that will make them less slippery and easier on the joints. You can feed them their food or play fetch by having them go up and down the stairs for the food or toy. Excellent exercise for them and it will definitely tire them out.

9. Sign your dog up for training classes that are held indoors. It could be puppy training, agility, socialization or obedience classes. Not only will this keep them active but they will learn new and valuable skills. Let’s not forget that you’ll be getting out of the house too!

Agility classes are a great way to keep your dog active and engaged.

10. If you live in a larger city, or a very progressive one, you might be able to find Doggie Gyms that offer swimming, Flyball and even Doga (yoga for dogs – I’m not kidding). You aren’t the only person trying to exercise their dog during the cold. Check it out. If enough people are interested, you could try to orchestrate an indoor play area for dogs in your community.

It may be too cold for them to be outside, but dogs still need to exercise their minds and bodies to work off boredom, anxiety, and energy. Using their senses and instincts works their brains which is also vital when trying to keep your dog from getting bored , leading to barking and potentially destructive behaviour. A tired dog is a happy pet with a happy owner.

A tired dog…

… is a happy dog.

See our dog, Maya, enjoying her favourite ‘UFO’ toy and her two new Kong toys during a very cold winter day.