Clicker train a trick:  If you’ve done lessons with me, you know where my sympathies lie. . . I love clicker training!  Mostly because it makes dogs think!  If your dog knows a clicker or marker word, teach them a new trick or work on some obedience.  Need some inspiration?  Check out this fun game that I play with my dogs all the time: http://www.clickertraining.com/node/167.

Hide & Seek:  A great way to practice your obedience and have some fun!  Put your dog in a stay in a room where he can’t see you (If your dog’s stay is not so good, have another family member hold him) while you hide somewhere in the house.  Then call your dog to find you and praise or play a game when the dog gets to you.  The possibilities are only limited to your creativity. . . so try under the covers of your bed, in the closet, or anywhere else that your dog may not suspect.

Track the Treat:  This one is Uluru’s favorite!  Teach your dog a little bit of scent work by hiding treats around the house so they can find them.  Put your dog on a sit stay in a room of the house where he can’t see what you are doing (or if your dog is too excited to stay, close them in a room while you do the next step).  While your dog is on a stay or in a room away from the action, hide small bits of treats around the house, then release your dog to find them.  At first, make it very obvious by hiding them in very easy places like in the middle of the floor or around the edge of the room and helping them find the treats.  But as your dog gets better at this game, you can hide them in tougher places like on baseboards, on chairs, in  your shoes, or behind barriers.

Pupsicles:  When I worked at the animal shelter, I had a core group of volunteers who would help me with this, and the dogs absolutely loved it!  We would make Pupsicles for the dogs to give them a little relief from the heat and kennel stress.  In disposable dixie cups, we would pour canned chicken or beef vegetable soup and freeze them overnight until they were rock solid.  About halfway through, we would stick a rawhide stick into the pupsicle so that it looked like an actual doggie pupsicle and continue to freeze it.  No time to make a dog pupsicle?  Go to the grocery store and buy some frozen soup bones (beef only!) and give the dog the whole frozen bone.  That will keep him cool and busy for a while!

Pet Store Trip:  Itching to get out of the house?  Petco has air conditioning!  Take a trip to a dog friendly store to pick up a treat or a bag of food and take your pup with you.  My dogs are always tired, even after a quick trip to the pet store, because there is so much to see and smell there.  Don’t forget to incorporate a bit of obedience into your trip. . . make your dog sit as other customers oooohhh and ahhhh over how cute he is.  Or make your dog stay while you read the labels on their favorite treat.  And don’t forget the ‘leave it’ command for walking by the parrot cages!