10 Tricks To Exercise Your Dog When You Can’t Go For A Walk

There are a variety of reasons why you might not be able to get your dog out for a walk every day. The weather might be bad (too hot or too rainy), maybe you have an injury or cold, or maybe your pup is super reactive while on walks. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of ways to keep your dog happy and exercised within your own home. One of the best ways to engage your dog both physically and mentally is by teaching them tricks. Below are 10 tricks to exercise your dog when you can’t go for a walk. They are listed in categories from easy to difficult with step by step instructions to match your dog’s skill level.

A note about treats:
Before we get started, let’s talk turkey (or salmon, or chicken, or beef!) There are a lot of different treats on the market and each has their best uses. It’s always important to use a highly motivating treat, especially when you are first teaching your dog a new behavior. Here we’re using Farm To Fluffy’s Jerky treats. We love these for training because they’re soft and chewy and highly rewarding, but also easily broken into multiple sizes. We love the versatility to use different size treats depending on what trick we’re teaching. And, the dogs love them!

Grab your favorite, and let’s get started!

Easy

Bow

1. Start with your dog standing square, facing you. Hold a treat level with your dog’s nose, with your palm facing away from them and your thumb covering the treat.
2. Gradually press the treat into your dog’s nose and towards the ground so they have to round their back to follow it. Imagine drawing a line with the treat from your dog’s nose to the ground right below their chest.
3. If your dog tries to back up rather than bow, try an alternate stance of standing beside them to lure their nose down so that you can encourage them to stay in one place.
   At first, reward your dog for following your hand down to the ground with their nose. When they do this, release the treat and say “Yes” (or click if you use a clicker for training. You can also say “Good Bow” to reinforce the verbal cue they have completed.
4. Once your dog is successfully completing the above step, increase the ask by not rewarding the behavior until their elbows touch the floor. You can now also start introducing the verbal cue – “Bow” and hand signal.

Tips and Troubleshooting

1. This trick is all about timing. You want to make sure to release the treat before your dog’s hind legs go down so they don’t think you are asking for a “lie down”. I also like to back up a bit after releasing the treat so my dog stands instead of lying down after they hit the bow. (insert pic of bow w/person stepping away)
2. Practice this 5-10 times a day gradually using less pressure with your hand and the treat until your pup can get the trick with just the verbal cue or hand sign.
3. As with all tricks, it is best to cue the trick physically with treats first and only use the verbal cue and hand signal when praising after they have hit the trick. Once they are familiar with the behavior you are asking for, you can start attaching the word and hand signal to the beginning of the behavior rather than the end, so that they learn to do the behavior they know, now on cue!

Sit Pretty/Stand

1. Position your dog in a Sit facing you. Hold a treat in your hand right at your dog’s nose.
2. Bring your hand up and above their head to lure them off the ground. If they need encouragement, you can allow them to nibble on the treat as you lure them. Once they have both front paws off the ground and are sitting on their hind quarter, say “Yes” and release the treat.
3. This can be an unnatural position and many dogs will struggle to hold the position. Be sure to reward the dog as soon as they approximate the behavior the first few times. Say “Good Sit Pretty” as you reward them. You can also use “Good Beg” or whatever verbal cue you would like to use.
4. As your dog’s balance gets better, gradually move your hand away to encourage your dog to stay in position without having the treat to nibble on or using your hands for balance help. Be sure to reinforce your verbal cue here. This is also the time to start introducing the hand signal for this trick. As a reminder, make sure to reward your dog with the treat before they break the position.
5. Once your dog has mastered the sit pretty trying building on this trick by getting them to stand on their hind legs by lifting the treat above their nose from the sit pretty position and saying “up”. This can also lead to an up with a spin to the right or left once your dog has also mastered their right/left twirls.

 

Right/Left – Twirl

1. I like to teach this trick as right spin and left spin with the dog seated or standing on my right side for right spin and on my left (heal) side for left spin.
2. For right spin, position your dog on your right side. With a treat in your right hand facing your dogs nose but covered by your thumb. If your dog is seated lure them to a stand with the treat and then slowing lure them clockwise/to the right with the treat. Go slow so the dog will follow the treat and then reward once you have completed the circle. If they move a bit in front of you take a step forward on your right foot so their end position is right back at your side. Say “Good Right” or “Good Around” depending on the verbal cue you want to use.
3. As your dog gets better diminish your hand signal until it is just a flick of your wrist with the verbal cue.
4. Work the other side with your dog starting on your left in heal and use the verbal commands “Left” or “Spin” so you are using different words for the different directions.
5. This trick can also be performed with your dog facing you if you prefer.

 

Figure 8’s/Standing through

1. Have your dog stand facing you with treats in both your hands. Then side lunge to the right and lure your dog through your legs with a treat in your right hand positioned behind and between your legs. Release the treat in your right hand after your dog goes all the way through your legs and is positioned slightly ahead of your right side until they are almost facing you again.
2. Then lunge to your left and lure your dog through your legs with your left hand. This time the dog will weave and turn around your left leg. You will again release the treat in your left hand as your dog completes the circle around your left leg and is back at the starting position in front of you. Reward with lots of praise and then repeat.
3. As your dog improves increase the number of times in a row you ask for this so they are going through your legs a total of three times on each leg. I would not ask for more than three full figure 8’s in a row as it can lead to boredom and your dog not wanting to do the trick any more. It’s always best to stop while your dog is still excited and engaged.
4. Finally, once your dog really has this trick down try asking for the trick using verbal or hand cues with your legs completely straight.

 

Intermediate

Roll over

1. Start with your dog in a down. Kneel down in front of them and, with a treat, lure them into a settle by moving the treat from their nose to their shoulder blade. This will encourage your dog to roll towards his side. Release the treat once your dog is on his side and offer lots of praise. As you are doing this you can start introducing the word “roll over.”
2. Once your dog is fully comfortable lying on their side and getting treats, continue the roll over luring their nose further around in the circle. You do this by keeping your hand with the treat next to their nose and continuing the circle to the right or left while also pushing it back slightly towards their belly allowing your dog to nibble on the treat as they go. It is also okay to allow your dog to place their paws on your hand with the treat. This will help to keep their nose and head down and going in the direction you want. Continue to introduce the verbal cue of roll over. If you lift your hand too high or keep it in front or over their heads it could encourage them to pop up out of their down.
3. Release the treat as your dog completes the circle and lands on their opposite side. Say “Good roll over” and give lots of praise.
4. As your dog gets better with this trick use more subtle hand gestures and then start trying with your dog in a down and you standing.

 

Crawl

1. It is best to work this trick on a non-slip surface such as grass or carpet. Start with your dog in a down facing you. Kneel in front of them and show them the treat in your hand by placing your palm just in front of their nose.
2. Slowly slide the treat away from your dog as you say “crawl”. Allow your dog to get the treat after they move their two front feet towards you with their backside still in a down.
3. Once your dog does this a couple of times slowly move the treat further away before giving it to them so they have to use their back legs to get to you and the treat. Reward after the first two back legs steps making sure their hind end stays down. If your dog stands up to get the treat you are likely moving too fast or holding the treat a little too high.

 

Find it around the house

1. Start with your dog in a stay. Place a treat out of their reach on the ground where they can see it. Then release your dog by saying ok “find treat” (insert pic of dog in sit/stay wit person a little ways off with treat on ground in between dog and person or person bending over to place treat on floor)
2. Praise them after they eat the treat.
3. Gradually move the treat away further making sure to keep your dog in stay until you release them to go “find treat”
4. Now start hiding the treat. First let them watch you hide it in a very easy place. Return to their side and cue, “Find treat!” When they find it give lots of praise or click if using a clicker. (insert pic of person hiding treat while dog is watching in sit stay)
5. Gradually hide objects in harder and harder places, and eventually hide them when your dog isn’t watching and then ask them to find them.

 

Hard

Leave it with line of treats, then have the dog come to you and “touch” your hand and then go find the treats

1. This trick is really all about your dog choosing you over the instant gratification of a treat. It is great for improving your dog’s listening, connection, and impulse control. Prerequisite for this trick is “touch” and “find treats”
2. Start with your dog is a sit/stay in front of you and place a treat on the ground with your foot positioned over the treat to cover it if needed.
3. Hold your hand at your side with palm facing your dog with a treat in it and ask your dog to touch.
4. If your dog tries to go for the treat on the ground before “touching” your hand cover the treat with your foot and say “leave it” so they cannot get it and ask for “touch” again. Once they have touched your hand then release the treat in your hand and say “find treats” and lift your foot to allow your dog to get the treat on the ground too.
5. Repeat this a couple of times until your dog is consistently touching your hand and bi-passing the treat on the ground until you tell them to “find treats.”
6. Once they have mastered this gradually start adding treats in a line on the ground. Go slowly just adding one extra at a time. It is also helpful to have multiple treats in the your hand that you are asking your dog to touch so your dog can see they will get more treats is they come to You can also replace the treats on the ground with just kibble and save your high value treat for the touch reward.
7. The final step is to have your dog bi-pass a line of 6 or 7 treats to touch your hand without rewarding with a treat. Then to say “find treats” and once your dog has cleaned up the line of treats to then offer a high value reward for completing the trick.

 

Hoop jump over the back

1. It is important to use a large hoop for this trick so your dog has enough room to get through. It is also really helpful to have already trained your dog to jump through hoops. If you have not done that yet you will want to work on hoop jumping for a week before moving on.
2. To introduce your dog to jumping through hoops you will want to start with your hoop on the ground. Kneel down holding your hoop with the hand that is closest to your dog. Hold a treat in your far hand and lead your dog through the hoop. Use the verbal cue “jump” or “hoop.”
3. Gradually stand and raise the height of your hoop while continuing to lure your dog through with a treat and using your verbal cue.
4. When you get to the point where your dog will need to jump to get through, say your verbal cue and then toss the treat as your dog enters the hoop.

5. Once your dog has mastered the hoop jump it is time to start incorporating your body into the obstacle. Start by kneeling on the ground with the hoop and encircling the hoop with your arm that is closest to your dog.
6. Gradually encroach your head and shoulders into the hoop as your dog jumps through.
7. Next place the hoop around your waist and kneel on the ground with the bottom of the hoop pressed against your stomach. Turn your head back to look at your dog and ask them to “jump, hoop, or hup.”
8. Once your dog is comfortably doing this you will then gradually rise up with one foot on the ground and your hands spread wider on the hoop.
9. The final step is to rise to full standing and bend over with the hoop around your waist and pointing up. Your dog may step on your back to get through the hoop in this position so make sure you are prepared for that.

 

Weaving/dancing through legs

1. The cues for this trick are very similar to figure 8’s except you will want to start with your dog at your side (not in front of you).
2. Grab a couple of treats in each hand. Then, with your dog at a heal on your left, you will start by taking a big step with your right foot and drop your right hand down on the outside of your right leg in between your two legs. As your dog crosses between your legs, reward them with a treat from your right hand.
3. Next take a big step with your left foot and drop your left hand down while giving the verbal cue. Reward with at treat from your left hand.
   Repeat the steps.
4. As your dog gets better at this you can have them do two or three weaves in a row before treating them.
5. Keep practicing until your dog can weave through your legs without any hand cues.

 

We hope you enjoy working on these tricks with your dog! We are sure they will have a blast especially if they are getting a delicious treat as a reward! As mentioned, we used Farm To Fluffy’s Salmon, Chicken, and Beef flavored treats for training our dogs and they LOVED them. Farm to Fluffy is a woman-founded, planet-friendly pet product brand that has launched with three flavors of a jerky-style dog treat. The treats are made in the USA, protein-forward, and air-dried to lock in nutrients and flavor. Farm to Fluffy is a fun, new brand that prioritizes creating products that are both good for your pup and the planet—honoring their love for all creatures! If you would like to try out Farm to Fluffy with your pup click on the link below for a 15% discount.

Happy training!