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Playing with your puppy is one of the best parts of adopting a young dog. But did you know that play is more than just fun for your pup? Experts say that playing is a crucial part of your dog’s development, setting them up for success later in life. Puppy games a great way to get in some extra training time, to challenge their growing minds, and to expend some of that seemingly unstoppable puppy energy.
To learn more about how play benefits your puppy and the best games, we enlisted the advice of two certified dog trainers, Annie Grossman and Alexandra Bassett, and a licensed veterinarian, Dr. Kathryn Dench. Together, they offered a number of suggestions to help you and your puppy enjoy playtime with a purpose.
Training Games
Training games are one of the best ways to set your dog up for success.
For advanced puppies who sail through basic training, games might focus on tricks. Easy tricks to teach your puppy include taking a bow, waving hello and goodbye, giving a high five, and playing dead—all of which are friendly to dogs with limited fine motor skills.
But for other puppies, especially younger ones, early trick training can feel prohibitively difficult. That’s where basic training games come in—they’re meant to be fun no matter where a pup is with their other skills.
Hot & cold
If you’re looking for a way to increase your puppy’s listening skills, the hot & cold game is a fun one that also teaches your dog to recognize voice tones. Here’s how it works:
Hide a treat when your puppy isn’t looking.
When your dog moves away from the hidden treat, use a calm tone of voice.
As your dog gets closer to the hidden treat, increase the excitement in your voice.
This game will help your pup to learn what tone to associate with rewards and increase your understanding of each other.
Treat diving
Alexandra Bassett, lead dog trainer and behavior consultant at Dog Savvy in Los Angeles, likes treat diving for young puppies. It’s especially handy in prepping your dog for an eventual release cue—the word you say to let your dog out of a “stay” or other position that requires duration.
Say the cue (like “Search!”) and toss a handful of treats on the floor.
As soon as your puppy turns their attention back to you, repeat. You can do this 5-10 times to reinforce the behavior.
Call once & collar grab
This game, also recommended by Alexandra Bassett, helps a puppy learn their name and normalizes a human hand reaching for them—especially helpful if your pup tries to chew your hand when you grab their collar.
Hold treats in one hand, say your puppy’s name, and grab their collar with the other hand.
Still holding on, give them a treat.
Let go and repeat 5-10 times.
It might not sound like much, but normalizing a collar grab can be life-saving. Imagine your puppy is about to run onto a bike path. If your dog isn’t used to a collar grab, they might shy away from your hand—and right into trouble. If, however, they’re used to a quick human-hand grab, you can pull them back and avoid an accident.
Games for Exercise and Fitness
Sometimes the best way to set your puppy up for success—whether that’s a night in the crate or a training exercise in a few hours—is to tire them out. A pup who’s getting enough physical exercise is a lot easier to train (and live with) than one who isn’t. Walks are good, but so are games. These are some of our favorites.
Tug of war
Tug of war has gotten a bad reputation in recent years. While it’s true that tug games aren’t a good choice of play for dogs with possessive aggression issues, they can be a good option for other dogs—and can even help your dog develop impulse control and skills for safe play.
For younger puppies, Alexandra Bassett recommends using plush toys that pups can easily grip with their young teeth. As they get older, they can graduate to rope toys that are harder to hold onto. How you play is important too: to protect your pup’s delicate neck, move the toy side to side rather than up and down.
And don’t be afraid to let your puppy win—as long as they’re playing well. Winning is a reward in itself, and it builds confidence.
Flirt poles
A flirt pole is a long stick with a string or rope attached at one end. A toy dangles from the end of the rope. While this style of toy is more commonly associated with cats, they’re great for dogs too. Annie Grossman, owner and co-founder of School For The Dogs in New York City, says that flirt poles allow you to play tug with your dog without getting your hands too close to their mouth.
“One of the downsides of playing fetch with a dog who doesn’t like to bring the ball back is you end up chasing after the ball,” she says. “With flirt poles, everything is self-contained and attached. It’s a good way to get crazies out of their system.”
You can also use flirt poles to assist to teach your puppy a couple of basic commands. Here’s how:
Practice “Drop it.” Say it loudly, then drop a lot of treats. Dogs tend to pick up on this game quickly. They associate the words “drop it” with something yummy.
Practice “Take it.” Tell your puppy to take the toy again.
You can buy flirt poles for your pup—or you can DIY your own flirt pole with some PVC pipe and rope, Annie suggests.
Fetch
When it comes to wearing a puppy out, there’s nothing like a classic game of fetch. The challenge with some dogs, as Grossman noted, is teaching them to bring back the toy or ball—and let it go—after they’ve retrieved it. Alexandra Bassett says that this behavior is completely normal, explaining that “dogs are natural resource guarders and will instinctively hold on to something they value.”
She suggests training your puppy to release one ball with another ball. Starting in a small, enclosed space (Bassett recommends a bathroom) where your puppy has little room to run, give your puppy a ball, hiding a “bait ball” behind your back. Once the puppy has the first ball, bring out the second. Encourage your puppy’s interest in the bait ball by bouncing or rolling it. When they drop the first ball, give them the second as a reward.
As your pup gets better about releasing the ball to you, you can move to a bigger space—and soon you shouldn’t need a second ball at all. Eventually, they’ll learn to return the fetched ball to you for another throw.
Agility courses
Agility courses, with their tunnels and ramps, offer an all-around workout for the body and mind. All of the running, jumping, and crawling will have your puppy (and you) worn out in no time. But these courses also build confidence for dogs in a wide variety of situations while training them to follow the commands and leadership of their human.
Very young puppies should start slow, with low-impact obstacles that won’t strain their developing muscles and joints. You can even set up a small course at home to get them started. As your puppy grows, you can increase the speed, the height, and the complexity of the course, even visiting a dedicated dog gym, to continue challenging their brain and body.
Brain Games for Mental Enrichment
Mental enrichment plays a huge role in joyfully tiring a puppy out—and it also lays an excellent foundation for future training.
Hide & seek
Hide & seek, a recall game recommended by trainer Alexandra Bassett, gets progressively harder as your puppy catches on: “At first, a pet parent should make it obvious where they are hiding by calling the puppy by name and only hiding from view once the puppy has looked in their direction. Once the puppy successfully finds their guardian this way, they can progress to hiding first and then calling the puppy by name to increase the challenge.”
Here’s how to play:
Pick a hiding spot close to your puppy.
Call your puppy’s name and then hide. If they haven’t yet mastered stay and come, you can have someone hold them until you’ve hidden.
Let the puppy find you—and reward them with a treat.
Do the same thing over again, hiding in the same spot, but not calling them until after you’ve hidden.
If your puppy is having trouble finding you, Bassett says you can help them out “by making a ‘smoochy sound.’” She recommends that you don’t call their name again, though. Once your pup starts finding you every time, you can increase the distance of your hiding spot, even going in another room.
Puzzle toys
Puzzle toys are a fun way to help improve memory and focus on tasks for longer periods of time. Here are just a few that will challenge your dog in different ways:
The name game
If you’ve ever thought that some dogs understand English, you might be right. The average dog can learn more than 150 words. For super smart dogs, that number could be well over 200. That gives you a lot of room to play beyond sit and stay.
One way to expand your dog’s vocabulary is by naming their toys. Start by associating the name with the toy every time you or your dog interact with it. Then put the toy with others and use its name to ask your puppy to retrieve it. Once they have the first toy down, you can move on to naming other toys, activities, and even people.
DIY Games
Sometimes you need to entertain your puppy, but you don’t have any of your usual gear—what can you do with just a pocket full of treats and what’s on hand?
Which hand?
One of the simplest DIY dog games requires no equipment at all—just a few treats and your two hands! Simply put a treat in one of your hands and present both closed fists to your dog. Using their sense of smell, they should focus on the hand with the treat in it. When they do, you can offer them the treat, then repeat.
Hidden treats
As your pup grows, you can increase the challenge of sniffing out treats by hiding them around a room while the dog isn’t looking. Then release the dog into the room and let them sniff out the treats. This game can also be played at mealtime with dry kibble. Spreading the kibble throughout the room makes dinner much more interactive and fun than eating straight from a bowl.
Muffin tin and ball puzzle toy
Most homes have at least one muffin tin around. If you also have several tennis balls or similar-shaped toys, you can use them to hide treats in the muffin tin. Just place one ball in each muffin slot with a treat underneath. Your dog will have to move the balls around to get to the treats, learning to follow their nose and to problem solve at the same time.
Treats in a bottle
A plastic soda bottle makes a fantastic DIY treat dispenser for your pup. Just clean and dry an empty plastic bottle, then fill it with a handful of your dog’s favorite small treats or kibble. To get the treats out, your pup will have to roll the bottle around on the floor.
It’s a good idea to keep a close eye on play, though, since you don’t want your puppy’s sharp chompers to shred the bottle into sharp plastic shards.
Why You Should Play Games With Your Puppy
Dr. Kathryn Dench is a holistic and integrative veterinarian and Chief Veterinary Advisor at Paw Origins. She says, “Playing with puppies, when done correctly, lays the foundation for a happy, healthy, and well-adjusted dog.”
Dr. Dench notes that structured play can help to reduce behavioral issues in dogs, sometimes by as much as 50%.”Playing games with puppies isn’t just for fun—it’s a pivotal part of their development,” she explains. “It aids in bonding, teaching discipline, and improving their physical health.”
In fact, play is so important that Alexandra Bassett has built her entire training practice around it. “It’s been scientifically proven that dogs learn faster when they are having fun,” she explains. “It’s the anticipation of pleasure (not the reward itself) that releases dopamine into a dog’s bloodstream and promotes that they feel fulfilled.”
Through play, Bassett says that dogs quickly learn the behaviors most valued by their humans, teaches them self-control, helps them understand how good choices will be rewarded, and boosts their confidence for other tasks.
What’s the difference between training and playing games?
“The line between training and playing is fuzzy,” says dog trainer Annie Grossman. “If you’re trying to teach your dog something specific, you might call that training. But if you’re training something that’s fun for your dog and fun for you, I would call that play.”
How To Pick the Best Games for Your Pup
“Each puppy is unique, and their preferences can guide pet parents toward the most suitable games,” says Dr. Dench. “For example, a puppy showing a keen interest in chasing balls would likely enjoy fetch more than a puzzle game.”
Because young dogs are still growing, pet parents should avoid games that put too much stress on the body. Dr. Dench recommends that high-impact games like frisbee, which often require a lot of jumping, should be saved for when your dog is a little older. She also says that games requiring intense concentration might not be right for young pups, and it’s essential to watch your pup during play.
“Puppy parents should monitor for signs of overstimulation or exhaustion, ensuring playtime doesn’t become overwhelming,” Dr. Dench warns. “It’s also crucial to discourage biting or overly aggressive play to prevent these behaviors from becoming habits.”
Choosing the right environment is just as important as the right game, says Alexandra Bassett. “Some environments are too stimulating or overwhelming for a puppy to successfully perform a behavior when asked,” she explains. In those cases, it’s best to save the play for a time and place that allows your puppy to focus. Building their skills in a low-distraction environment can help the puppy to be successful when a “competing value” (as Bassett calls it) is present.
Is there a time or age limit for training or playing?
“There’s no such thing as too much playing,” says Annie Grossman.
She explains that 8- to 12-weeks is a crucial learning period in a puppy’s life, when they are most quickly learning about the world. But the opportunity doesn’t stop there: “Dogs are learning all the time whether training or playing. Their learning brain is always going. Try and use that to your advantage.”
If you adopted a young adult or even a senior dog, don’t buy into the adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Adult dogs are still good at learning. Annie explains that older dogs have a lifetime of experiences of living in a human world to draw upon—and a dog is never too old for play.
Further Reading
