Poor Fido must be wondering why we’ve been cutting down on walks. But Fido doesn’t care if there’s haze; it just wants to play! Even with the haze, it shouldn’t let it dampen your mood and deprive your pets of necessary stimulation. Try some of these indoor activities for pets; it’s a great way to build a strong bond between you and your pets.
Hide and Seek
Not only suitable during this period, but it’s also a great way to expend energy for dogs with too much energy and for us who have too little.
How to play this game:
- Throw a treat on the floor and issue the command ‘Find it!’ simultaneously. Do this a few times and let Fido have fun picking up the treats.
- Have Fido sit or stay while you allow it to observe you hide a treat where it can see and reach. Go back to your dog and encourage it to find the treat. Also, repeat this several times.
- Finally, have Fido stay stationary while you hide treats in places varying in difficulty. Have your dog work as hard as possible, and don’t be too eager to help when they can’t find the treats. Show them only when they seem to lose interest.
Teach new tricks
You have no excuses this time. Using the usual time used for walks, reinforce basic commands or teach them tricks you’ve seen Jack Russel perform on YouTube.
Toys and games
How can anyone miss this? Simple, and everybody has fun. Even watching them play is an absolute joy on its own. It’s tiring to keep throwing and throwing toys for them to fetch (I may seem perpetually tired, but another reason to keep fetching games short is that the sudden stopping action when they pick up the toys causes stress on their joints.)
If you have more than one dog, why not make them play tug-o-war? Or if you have some cash to spare, get them some new toys into which you can stuff treats. Not only is it stimulating and can be hours of fun, but it’s also able to distract them and mitigate symptoms of separation anxiety that cause them to bark/whine excessively and lick/scratch themselves.
Shiatsu
Yup, massage. This a great skill to learn that’ll help dogs relax and improve their well-being. It’s also a great activity to soothe a fearful dog during a thunderstorm.
Grooming, spa treatments
Not because I’m a pet groomer, but because you have the time, why not spend it grooming your pet? Not only does grooming keep your pet clean and healthy, but it’s also a time for bonding and getting your pet accustomed to the grooming process. Besides that, you can also prepare some DIY spa treatments to pamper your pet and, at the same time, treat skin ailments.
If you find any of the suggestions interesting, the internet is a great resource to find more information and solutions for your pet. But above all, stay safe, and it won’t hurt to stay indoors and keep your activities minimal for a week (hopefully just a week). Sometimes less is indeed more.