Last Updated on September 23, 2026 by Shannon
Rainy days can make life with a dog a little more interesting, especially when your dog is used to getting outside for walks, sniffing, and playtime.
And rain isn’t the only problem. Snow, bitter cold, extreme heat, or just generally miserable weather can leave you spending more time inside than usual.
The good news is that entertaining your dog indoors doesn’t have to involve setting up an elaborate obstacle course or buying a pile of new enrichment toys.
Sometimes you just need a few easy activities you can start in five minutes with things you already have.
Here are 10 low-prep rainy day activities for dogs that work just as well on snowy days, cold days, or anytime you’re stuck inside.
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1. Hide Treats for Your Dog to Find
This is one of my favorite easy ways to give a dog something to do because all you need is a handful of treats or kibble.
Have your dog wait in another room, in their kennel, or with another person while you hide several treats around one room.
For your dog’s first few searches, keep the hiding spots easy. Put treats next to a chair leg, along the edge of a rug, or somewhere else your dog can find without too much trouble.
Then tell your dog to “find it” and let their nose do the work.
As your dog figures out the game, you can gradually use trickier hiding spots.
You don’t have to hide treats all over the house to make this fun. One room and a few minutes of setup are plenty.
When your dog is finished, check that they found everything. Finding a forgotten dog treat wedged next to the couch a week later isn’t quite the enrichment activity anyone was going for.
2. Play the Which Hand Game
All you need for this game is some treats and your hands.
Start by showing your dog a treat. Put your hands behind your back, hide the treat in one hand, and then bring both closed fists in front of your dog.
Let your dog choose a hand.
Your dog might sniff, paw, lick, or otherwise make it very clear which hand they think has the treat. If they choose correctly, open your hand and give them the treat.
If they choose the empty hand, show them it’s empty and try again.
When you’re first teaching this game, small, smelly treats can make it easier for your dog to figure out what they’re supposed to do.
Every dog will approach this one a little differently. Luna likes to lick the hand she thinks is hiding the treat.
Want to make the game more challenging? Check out my Which Hand Game for Dogs for more ways to play.
3. Ask Your Dog to Find a Toy
You can also play “find it” with one of your dog’s favorite toys.
Start easy. Show your dog the toy and then hide it somewhere obvious, such as behind your back or partially underneath a pillow.
Tell your dog to “find it,” and praise them when they locate the toy.
Once they understand the game, make the hiding spots a little harder.
If you have another person available, they can hide the toy while you stay with your dog. If not, there’s no need to make this complicated. You can hide the toy nearby while your dog waits.
This is an especially easy game to play from the couch, which is a definite bonus on a gloomy day.
4. Play Tug of War
Tug is a classic for a reason.
Grab a tug toy, have your dog take one end, and play.
That’s it.
You don’t need much room; there’s almost no setup, and many dogs love it.
I like using a DIY T-shirt tug toy, but there’s no need to make something new just for a rainy day. If your dog already has a tug toy they like, use that.
Let your dog do plenty of the pulling instead of jerking the toy back and forth, and give them opportunities to win.
If tug is new to your dog, I have a separate guide on how to teach your dog to play tug.
5. Play Hide and Seek
If you have another person at home, try a quick game of hide and seek.
Have one person stay with your dog while the other hides somewhere your dog can safely reach. Behind an open door, in another room, or beside a piece of furniture can all work.
Then tell your dog to find the hidden person.
When you’re first playing, the person hiding may need to call your dog’s name to help them figure out the game.
Once your dog finds them, celebrate with praise, attention, or a small treat.
This can be especially fun when kids are stuck inside too. You get an activity for the dog and the kids at the same time, which isn’t a bad deal on a rainy afternoon.
6. Do a Few Puppy Pushups
Despite the name, your dog doesn’t have to be a puppy for this one.
Puppy pushups are simply a quick training game using “sit” and “down.”
Ask your dog to sit, then lie down, then sit again. That’s one puppy pushup.
You can reward your dog after each one while they’re learning and eventually start rewarding randomly.
If your dog knows “stand,” you can mix that in too so they can’t simply predict the same pattern every time.
My kids used to love doing puppy pushups with Morgan. She did so many when she was young that sit-down-sit became her go-to whenever she wanted us to share our food.
A few minutes is plenty. This is supposed to be a quick rainy day activity, not doggy boot camp.
7. Teach One Tiny Trick
Being stuck inside can be a good excuse to work on a trick, but don’t feel like you need to spend the afternoon training.
Pick one small thing and work on it for about five minutes.
Depending on what your dog already knows, you might practice:
- Shake
- High five
- Wave
- Spin
- Touch
- Take a bow
- Back up
- Roll over
If your dog is still learning basics such as sit, down, stay, or come, you can practice one of those instead.
Keep the session short and end on something your dog can do successfully. You can always come back to it later.
8. Make a Treat Towel
A treat towel is an easy DIY sniffing activity that doesn’t require making or buying a special toy.
Lay an old towel flat and sprinkle some treats or kibble across it. Then loosely roll or fold the towel so your dog has to sniff around and move the fabric to find the food.
For a dog that’s never done this before, keep it really easy. A loose roll is enough.
If your dog understands the game and needs more of a challenge, you can experiment with different folds.
Supervise while your dog plays, especially if they’re likely to chew or eat the towel instead of searching for the treats.
And if your dog looks at your carefully rolled towel and decides they’re not interested? That’s okay too.
9. Make a Cardboard Box Treat Search
Before you recycle that empty delivery box, you can turn it into a quick enrichment activity.
Put a few treats or pieces of kibble in an open cardboard box. For an easy version, that’s all you need.
To make the search a little more interesting, add a few pieces of loosely crumpled paper and scatter the treats among them.
Let your dog sniff around and figure out how to get the food.
Keep the box open and the activity easy at first. You want your dog investigating and sniffing, not getting frustrated.
Supervise this one too, particularly if your dog thinks cardboard is a snack. If they start eating the box or paper instead of searching for treats, choose a different activity.
10. Have a Lazy-Day Hangout
Not every bad-weather day needs an entertainment schedule.
After a little play, sniffing, or training, your dog may be perfectly content to settle down with you.
Give them a favorite chew or toy, turn on a movie, read a book, or just hang out together.
Some dogs want to curl up right beside you. Others would rather snooze nearby with a little more personal space.
Let your dog decide what works for them.
Rainy days don’t have to become a mission to keep your dog occupied every minute. Sometimes a little activity followed by a good nap is a perfectly nice way to spend the day.
What If My Dog Needs More to Do?
These ideas are intentionally simple. They’re for the days when you want to give your dog something fun to do without spending half an hour setting it up first.
But sometimes you have a dog with more energy, more time to fill, or you just want more options.
That’s where my complete list of indoor activities for dogs comes in. It includes more indoor games, training activities, enrichment toys, exercise ideas, and other ways to keep your dog busy when you’re spending the day inside.
And if you’d rather have a big collection of ideas you can keep handy, I also put together my 100 Dog Enrichment Activities printable. It includes scent games, food puzzles, training activities, DIY ideas, games to play together, and plenty of other options you can rotate through when you need something new.
Final Thoughts
Rain, snow, cold, and other bad weather can change your plans, but you don’t need an elaborate backup plan to give your dog something to do.
A few treats, a favorite toy, an old towel, or five minutes of training may be all you need.
Pick one or two ideas that sound like a good fit for your dog and see what they think. If they love it, you’ve got another easy activity to pull out the next time the weather keeps you inside.
And if they’re not impressed?
Try another one.
Do what works for your dog.
