Fun Brain Games For Dogs

Looking for some fun ways to entertain your dog, boost their confidence and stimulate their mind? If so start playing some brain games with your dog.

Brain games are activities that challenge your dog’s mind, and they’re a great way to keep your dog entertained. Dogs thrive when they’re given plenty of mental and physical exercise. So in addition to physical exercise try adding in a few brain games to your dogs routine.

Mental stimulation, such as brain games, enriches our dogs lives by giving them something meaningful to do. And because these activities alleviate boredom they can decrease the likelihood of our dogs developing behavioral issues such as excessive chewing or barking.

If you’re looking for some easy ways to stimulate your dog’s mind (and keep them out of trouble) here’s 10 fun brain games for dogs.

Find the Treats

One easy way to challenge your dog’s mind is to play a simple nose work game called find the treats. Find the treats is easy to play, and it’s a fun way for dogs to use some of their natural sniffing and scavenging abilities.

How to play find the treats with your dog:

  1. Grab some treats and have your dog sit in a stay position
  2. While your dog is in the stay position put a few treats on the ground around them
  3. Give your dog a release command and tell them to “find the treats”
  4. Encourage them as they start picking up the treats
  5. Practice a few times until your dog understands what “find the treats” means
  6. Start placing the treats further away and repeat steps 3 & 4
  7. Start placing the treats in more challenging places that are out of sight such as under a rug or on a chair and repeat steps 3 & 4

Keep in mind that although dog’s have an excellent sense of smell that doesn’t mean they’ll automatically use it right away when playing this game. If they’re not used to sniffing things out it’ll take a little practice. That’s why gradually increasing the difficulty of where you hide the treats is important.

You’re teaching them to start utilizing their scent to find the treats rather than just relying on sight. Finding the treats themselves is rewarding for your dog, and the addition of your encouragement during the game can keep it exciting.

After your dog has a good concept of what “find the treats” means you can keep upping the game to make it more of a challenge for them. Since Laika’s been playing this game for years she’s gotten pretty good at it. She’ll hunt out those treats wherever I hide them — under rugs, on furniture, or on the window sill behind a curtain. All of those various hiding spots keep it exciting for her, and it’s a really simple way to keep her entertained.

Food Dispensing Toys

Another fun brain game for dogs is using food dispensing toys. A food dispensing toy is any toy that contains food and requires your dog to work to figure out how to obtain the food. To use a food dispensing toy you simply fill it up with treats and encourage your dog to engage with it. As your dog starts moving the toy around it’ll start dispensing treats.

Food dispensing toys are a great way to give your dog some extra mental stimulation. And as with other food related games they give your dog a chance to use their natural scavenging abilities in a fun and challenging way. In the wild our dogs spent a lot of time hunting and searching for food, so they’re pretty receptive to the idea of having to work for their food. Food dispensing toys are an easy way to emulate those natural instincts.

Dog Puzzles

One of my favorite brain games for dogs is using puzzles. They come in a wide variety, but they all have one thing in common — your dog has to figure out how to get the reward (treat). Like other food related games they provide your dog with plenty of mental stimulation and help relieve boredom.

Dog puzzles come in many shapes and sizes, and they’re available at most pet supply stores. Some of them are quite challenging, and others are pretty basic. Some will keep Laika busy for a few minutes, but others take a few seconds.

The Which Hand Game

The which hand game is an easy way to stimulate your dog’s brain — and the only thing you need to get started is some treats.

How to play the which hand game with your dog:

  1. Grab some treats and have your dog stay in the sit position
  2. Allow your dog to watch as you place a treat in one of your hands
  3. Close your hands into a downward facing fist and extend them out to your dog and ask “which hand?”
  4. Once your dog touches or signals the correct hand praise them and give them the treat

If your dog doesn’t catch on right away don’t worry. Some dogs get super pumped up by treats and will start pawing at both of your hands due to excitement. By only rewarding them when they touch the correct hand they’ll start to catch on.

Stuffed Kong

One of my favorite ways to keep my dog busy and mentally stimulated is by using a stuffed Kong. You can put some treats in there to give your dog something to work for, or if you’re looking for something more challenging try freezing it overnight.\.

Stuffed Kongs are fun and mentally stimulating for dogs. Kongs are great because they’re dishwasher safe (easy to clean) and pretty tough. We’ve had ours for years and my dog hasn’t been able to put a dent in it. If you’re not a fan of Kongs check out the West Paw Tux toy — it’s my favorite alternative (they are much smaller).

Using a stuffed Kong is also a great way to keep your dog busy while you’re at work. Put your stuffed Kong in the freezer overnight and give it to your dog in the morning as you’re leaving. A frozen Kong will last 30+ minutes for most dogs — much longer if it’s filled completely.

If you’re looking for a way to keep your dog busy and mentally stimulated with minimal effort you can’t go wrong with using a stuffed Kong.

The Shell Game

The shell game is a simple brain game game for dogs. You’ve probably seen it before — it’s the game where a treat is hidden under one cup (or shell) and then shuffled around. The shell game will give your plenty of mental stimulation by giving them a chance to work on their problem solving skills.

How to play the shell game with your dog:

  1. Grab 3 cups and some treats
  2. Have your dog watch as you place a treat under one of the three cups
  3. Shuffle the cups around
  4. Encourage your dog to find the cup with the treat underneath
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