Keeping Your Dog Active During Cold Weather: Indoor Exercise Ideas

German shepherds are very active dogs that need lots of exercise. They love to train, run, and play outdoors and enjoy the fresh air.  Providing them with an outlet for all their energy is not an option in winter, so what do you do when the weather won’t cooperate?

Wind, rain, snow, and sleet can easily put a damper on your German shepherd’s need for physical and mental stimulation. On those days when it’s too cold and miserable to spend much time outdoors, you’ll have to come up with some alternative activities.

The next time the weather won’t cooperate and your German shepherd is going stir-crazy, try out some of these fun indoor activities:

Brush up on training

Just because you’re stuck inside doesn’t mean your dog has to be bored. You can brush up on some of their obedience skills and use your house to kick up the training challenge a notch. For example, you can practice your sit/stay with your dog in one room while you leave to go into another room. Or, you can practice their place command by asking your dog to place on an unusual location, like a chair.  With some imagination, you can transform the layout of your house into a mini-training facility, just remember to keep it fun.

Indoor fetch/catch

If safe to do so, try playing a game of indoor fetch. If you don’t have a safe space for your German shepherd to run indoors, no worries. You can simply play catch instead of fetch and work on their drop it and leave it commands to add a layer of excitement and interest to the game.

Find it

German shepherds love a challenge and are skilled at sniffing out problems. To play this game, hide their favorite toys around the house and ask them to find them. As soon as they understand the game, they will have lots of fun finding their toys, and rewarding them will just add to the fun. To begin, hide a few toys in easy locations and make the game more difficult as they master it.

Scent games

Similar to hiding their toys, you can hide their favorite treats and of course finding the treat is their reward. If your dog enjoys scent work, there are scent kits and training books on how to teach them to detect and find odors, which can be a very satisfying challenge.

Puzzles

Let’s face it, there are times when you just need something simple to occupy the time. Enter puzzle games. There are countless treat puzzles on the market as well as many DIY puzzle games that you can make for your dog. Games provide mental stimulation, are rewarding, and can also be relaxing for busy dogs.

Hide and seek

This game combines your dog’s ability to stay and release while you go hide somewhere in the house. This is a fun interactive game to play with your pet and fun for both of you. Have your stay in one room while you go hide. Once you’re hidden, release them to come find you.

Trick training

Teaching your dog how to do tricks is a great way to burn up some of their physical and mental energy. The key is to keep the training upbeat so that it's enjoyable for you both. While they learn new tricks, they will be using their body and their mind, which is a great way to help wear them out until the weather improves.

Obstacle/agility course

If you live somewhere where bad weather is the norm, you might want to invest in some agility equipment that you can use indoors. But it’s not necessary. You can make a fun course from dining room chairs, pillows, cardboard boxes, hula hoops, a hose, and much more. You’re only limited by your imagination, the layout of your home, and what you can find around the house.

Go for a drive

If the weather is not too terrible to drive in, sometimes an outing is just what you need to break up the monotony on a cold, dreary day. A car ride is a great way to stay warm while taking in some new sights and smells. While it may not provide physical exercise, it does provide mental stimulation and can help relieve boredom.  Especially, if you can drive through somewhere and get a tasty treat for you and your dog.

Massage

After you get back from your drive, there is no better way to help your dog relax than by giving them a doggy massage. There are many forms of canine massage that you can learn. Massage not only will help your dog relax, but it increases circulation, soothes sore muscles, and helps your dog learn to be relaxed while being handled.

Tug games

Dogs love to play tug and it can be useful to help burn off some of their pent-up energy. Tug is perfect for small spaces and doesn’t require your dog to run through the house and potentially slip on hard floors.  Tug also teaches impulse control and reinforces some of their training. Tug truly is a useful indoor game and you should always have one in your stash.

Help with chores

Have you ever wished your dog would clean up after themselves? A snowy day is the perfect time to teach them how. Get a basket and teach your dog how to pick up their toys and put them inside.

Exercises

Get in some exercise by having your dog sit/stand and stand/drop quickly one after another. You can also have them run to their place and then release them to run back to you over and over. You can rush through the house and have them do their push-ups, sit, and drop on command as fast as they can.

Under, over, through

If you have any furniture that you can teach your dog to crawl under, over, and through, this is a fun game that helps build confidence. If your dog is too big to fit through or under what you have handy, you can teach them to go around and on top of a piece of furniture, a chair for instance. You can reverse the challenge and add more as they gain confidence and master the challenge.

We hope you found these ideas helpful and that they work for you the next time you and your German shepherds are stuck indoors. Please feel free to share with your friends.

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