Indoor Activities for Dogs

Written by

Shell & KatyUpdated 6 September 2026 · 9 Min Read

Shell & Katy are two style-savvy dog mums celebrating the best in pet-friendly living. A pet photographer and dog lifestyle writer, together they share trending pet products, recipes, inspiration and expert tips with discerning dog lovers around the world.

It is raining, the walk is cancelled, and your dog has started doing that thing where they stare at you from the middle of the room. Indoor activities for dogs are not a consolation prize for a missed walk. Done properly, twenty minutes of the right indoor work will settle a dog more thoroughly than forty minutes of trudging around a wet block.

Here are 15 things that genuinely work, grouped by what you actually need them to do: burn physical energy, occupy the nose, tire the brain, or fill an afternoon. Most need nothing you do not already own. Everything below is strictly indoors. For the outdoor and everyday side of the same problem, our ways to mentally stimulate your dog and our dog enrichment ideas pick up where this leaves off.

The most effective indoor activities for dogs are scent games, puzzle feeders and short training sessions, because mental work tires a dog faster than physical play in a confined space. A ten-minute scatter feed or snuffle session is roughly comparable to a moderate walk for most dogs. On a rainy day, aim for the same total activity time you would normally give, split into three or four short bursts rather than one long one.

Rainy Day Games That Burn Physical Energy

Start here if your dog is bouncing off the walls. These are the ones that move a body rather than a brain, and they need the most floor space, so do them first while the room is still tidy.

1. Hallway fetch

A corridor is the ideal indoor fetch lane: your dog runs in a straight line, and the walls do the retrieving for you. Use something soft and light, a rolled sock or a plush toy rather than a hard ball, so nothing gets broken and nothing skids under the sofa. A squeaky toy works well here, since the noise keeps a dog engaged in a space with nothing else going on, and our guide to choosing a dog toy covers what stands up to indoor use. Sit at one end and throw away from you. Ten minutes of this genuinely takes the edge off.

2. A living room agility course

You do not need equipment. Couch cushions become jumps, a broom handle across two laundry baskets becomes a bar, a row of dining chairs under a blanket becomes a tunnel, and empty bottles become weave poles. Lure your dog through slowly with a treat the first few times, then build speed. The thinking involved in learning the route is half the value.

3. Tug of war, with rules

Tug is one of the best indoor energy burners and it has an unfair reputation. Played with rules it builds impulse control rather than eroding it. You start the game, you end the game, and the dog swaps the toy for a treat on a cue like "drop". Keep the tugging horizontal rather than lifting your dog's front feet off the floor, and stop before they are overtired.

4. Stair recall

If you have a staircase and a dog with healthy joints, this is the fastest way to tire a dog indoors. Have someone hold your dog at the bottom while you go to the top and call them, then reward and repeat. It doubles as recall practice. Skip it for puppies, seniors, and long-backed breeds such as Dachshunds, where repeated stair work is not worth the risk.

5. Bubbles

Faintly ridiculous and reliably effective. Most dogs will chase and snap at bubbles for far longer than you expect, and it takes up almost no space. Use a bubble mix sold as pet safe or a plain non-toxic children's mix, and keep it off their eyes. This is the one to reach for when you have run out of energy yourself.

Puzzle and Scent Games for Indoor Enrichment

This is the section that does the heavy lifting. Sniffing and problem solving tire a dog out of proportion to the effort involved, which is exactly what you want when you cannot leave the house.

6. A puzzle feeder instead of a bowl

The single highest-value swap on this list. Feeding a normal meal out of a puzzle feeder turns ninety seconds of eating into twenty or thirty minutes of work, and it costs you nothing extra because it is food your dog was getting anyway. Start on the easiest setting so your dog wins early, then increase difficulty. Our Nina Ottosson puzzle toy review covers which designs suit which dogs, and a slow feeder bowl does a simpler version of the same job.

7. Scatter feeding

Take your dog's kibble and throw it across a rug or a towel rather than putting it in a bowl. That is the whole activity. Your dog has to hunt for every piece, which engages the nose and slows eating. On a rug it works better than a hard floor, since the pieces sit down in the pile and take real searching. Free, instant, and effective.

8. The muffin tin game

Drop treats into the cups of a muffin tin, cover each cup with a tennis ball, and let your dog work out how to get them. It is a proper puzzle that costs nothing, and you can make it harder by covering only some cups so your dog has to check all of them. Supervise, because tennis balls are chewable.

9. Towel rolls and cardboard

Sprinkle treats along an old towel, roll it up loosely, and let your dog unroll it. Or put a treat inside a cardboard box, fold the flaps shut, and hand it over. Dogs who love to shred get a legal outlet, and you are recycling. Clear away the cardboard afterwards so it does not become a habit with your delivery boxes.

Indoor Training Games for a Wet Afternoon

Training is the most underrated rainy day activity. Sessions should be short, five minutes at a time, and should end while your dog is still keen.

10. Teach one genuinely new trick

Pick something with a clear finish: spin, paw, or roll over. Break it into small steps, reward each one, and stop after five minutes. Old dogs learn perfectly well, and the concentration involved is tiring in a way that a walk is not. If your dog knows nothing yet, the basics worth teaching first are the sensible starting point.

11. Name that toy

Dogs can learn the names of individual objects, and it is genuinely absorbing work for them. Start with one favorite toy, say its name every time they touch it, then add a second and ask for one by name. Progress is slow and that is the point. Fifteen minutes of this leaves most dogs ready for a nap.

12. Practice settling on a mat

Teaching a dog to lie on a mat and stay there is a real skill with real payoffs, and it is best taught somewhere boring. Reward your dog for going to the mat, then for staying a little longer each time. On the next wet day you will have somewhere to send them, and on the next dinner party too.

DIY Dog Toys and Treats to Make Indoors

These fill an afternoon for you as well as the dog, which on the fourth consecutive day of rain matters more than you would think.

13. Stuff and freeze a Kong

A stuffed Kong is thirty minutes of quiet, and freezing it doubles that. Pack it with something soft that will hold together, and stand it upright in a mug in the freezer overnight. Our peanut butter bone filling is the recipe we come back to, and if you use shop-bought peanut butter, check the label for xylitol first, since it is toxic to dogs.

14. Make an edible apple Kong

An apple, an apple corer and a filling gives you a completely edible version with no plastic involved. It is a nice one to do with children, and there is nothing to wash up afterwards. Our edible apple Kong tutorial walks through it.

15. Cut up an old t-shirt into a tug toy

Three strips of old cotton jersey, plaited and knotted at both ends, is a tug toy that costs nothing and can go in the washing machine. It takes about ten minutes. Our no sew dog toy tutorial has the method, and the same technique scales up for bigger dogs.

How Much Indoor Activity Replaces a Walk?

Aim for the same total activity time your dog normally gets, split into three or four short sessions rather than one long one. A dog on an hour a day does well with twenty minutes of physical play, twenty of scent or puzzle work, and twenty of training spread across the day.

Scent work punches above its weight. Ten minutes of concentrated sniffing settles most dogs roughly as well as a moderate walk, which is why the puzzle and scent section above is the one to prioritize if you only have the energy for one thing.

Size matters less than drive. A Border Collie or a Malinois needs a real structure on a rainy day, not one puzzle toy, while plenty of large but low-drive dogs are content with a stuffed Kong and a nap. Match the plan to the dog you have. Rotating what is available also helps, since a toy that has been in a cupboard for two weeks is effectively a new toy.

What to Do With Your Dog on a Rainy Day When Nothing Works

Sometimes you do everything above and your dog is still pacing. A few honest things to try when the list has failed.

Consider going out anyway. Most healthy dogs are fine in light rain. A short walk in a coat, followed by a towel and a check of the paws, beats a frustrated afternoon indoors. Skip it for thunder, and for dogs who genuinely hate getting wet.

Check they are not overtired rather than under-exercised. An overstimulated dog looks a lot like a bored one: pacing, whining, unable to settle. If you have already done three sessions, the answer may be a dark quiet room and an enforced nap rather than a fourth activity.

Try the same activity somewhere new. Moving a puzzle feeder from the kitchen to the hallway is enough novelty for a lot of dogs.

Accept a low-effort day. Not every rainy day needs a program. A chew, a cuddle and a film is a legitimate way to spend an afternoon, and dogs need rest days as much as we do. Ours are usually asleep on the sofa by three.

Keep the Boredom at Bay All Year

Indoor days are easier when the groundwork is already done. If you are starting from scratch with a puppy, our new puppy checklist covers what you need before day one, and the brands in our dog toys directory will keep the rotation stocked.