Training & Behavior

Is Your Dog Bored Right Now? Here’s How to Help Them.

There are many simple steps you can take to make your dog’s life more interesting.

By The Farmer's Dog | January 29, 2025

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Imagine your dog wakes up one morning and—instead of climbing out of their (or your) comfortable bed and running into a well-appointed kitchen where a person drops a tasty, delicious breakfast into a stainless steel bowl for them—finds themselves in the forest.

They could face many dangers: Lack of food. Harsh weather. Predators. But one opponent they’d be unlikely to encounter is boredom.

Dr. Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, has studied dogs inside and outside of humans’ homes. “You never get the feeling in the field,” he says, “that these animals are bored.” He’s quick to say that this doesn’t mean they don’t get bored—no one can read dogs’ minds—but feral dogs know what their concerns are, and if they’re curious about something they can explore it.

Homed dogs, on the other hand—for all the ways they benefit from living with people—might spend long stretches without much company or anything to do. Left alone with no new sounds, smells, or friends, they may feel the way you might have as a child waiting for hours in an uncomfortable department-store chair while a parent tried on one sport jacket after another. This can result in behavioral issues—nuisance barking, shredded furniture, and raided trash cans, for example—and, more importantly, it’s unpleasant for the dogs in question.

Dogs are intelligent animals who need their lives to be interesting—and, fortunately, there are many simple steps you can take to make their safer, homed existence a bit more exciting.

A dog sniffs grass outside.

Give your dog choices

Dr. Ellen Furlong, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Transylvania University in Kentucky, says that one question she often asks her students to consider is whether their dogs are happy. “If we think about our own lives,” she says, “we have a lot of variety; we have a lot of control and choice over our lives, and dogs really don’t.” This puts the onus on us to give dogs variety and choice—because we control their environments.

Dr. Daniel Mills is a Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at the University of Lincoln in England, and a co-author of a study about dogs’ neophilia—or fondness for new things. He says that “the brain default when all is well is to learn, so variety is just one way of tapping into this,” and the trick to giving dogs the right kind of variety is to “Make them feel secure and safe, then give them things to investigate that are safe.”

When you give your dogs choices, think about how they can exercise senses that matter to them; first and foremost among these is smell. Walks shouldn’t always be about getting from point A to point B. When you have time, let your dog decide where to walk, and give them a long time to sniff anything that they find interesting (and, keeping Dr. Mills’ caveat in mind, that won’t hurt them).

Choices that can be easy to give your dog include:

• Where to walk
• When to get pets and how to be petted
• Whether they want to hang out with you or have some alone time
• When to do a training session
• Which toy to play with

If you want to play fetch, but your dog seems to prefer tug, it’s a good idea to let them play tug. If you want to go for a run, but your dog would rather spend some time sniffing the flowers, give them a chance to do that. Basically, look at your dog as an individual like yourself, with their own tastes and preferences.

Every night, Dr. Furlong’s dog, Olive, ponders an important choice: Which chew does she want? Dr. Furlong pulls out two chews from her treat cabinet and asks, “Which one do you want?” Olive takes this decision seriously. “She’ll sniff one,” Dr. Furlong says. “She’ll sniff the other. She’ll pick one up and she’ll drop it like she’s changed her mind, then take the other one and frantically run away” so the cat doesn’t get it. 

Dr. Furlong isn’t sure what’s going on in Olive’s head while she chooses chews, but she knows that she’s not bored during these deliberations. “It’s really interesting,” she says, “because from my perspective the stakes are so low… [the chews] are almost exactly the same thing.” But the subtle differences in smell, flavor, and texture matter to Olive. This, to Dr. Furlong, shows the power of choice.

“Letting [your dog] decide what they’re going to do,” Dr. Furlong says, “within the bounds of safety, can really lead to a better quality of life for dogs—more fulfillment, and therefore less boredom.”

Dogs do tend to like variety, and should have options. But every dog is different—so if yours likes to stick to reliable standbys, don’t worry about it as long as it’s their choice to do so. Dr. Bekoff remembers one of his dogs being “neophobic,” or not a fan of new things. “She didn’t get bored,” he says, “but new things could unsettle her.” Sometimes an unfamiliar toy could result in a tucked tail, or she’d simply ignore it. He didn’t force her to engage with these novel things—he let her stay with what she knew and liked.

A sad-looking dog rests on a chair.

Keep your dog company

When you leave the house, you have plenty to do. Some of it may be relaxing, like a night at the movies, and some of it may be stressful, like a harried commute and a day at the office. Whatever you’re doing, you’ll have stimulation. But you may be your dog’s whole world. So, first of all, if you have to be out for more than a couple of hours, give them someone to hang out with. A trusted dog walker or dog sitter who comes by to bring them outside and play with them can go a long way toward their happiness.

And, when you are home, spend quality time with your dog during which you’re really engaged. Put the computer and phone away and play with them. Give them eye contact and tell them they’re a good dog. This will probably make their day.

When we spoke to Dr. Ian Dunbar about canine cognition, he talked about the science of why it feels so good for both of you when you praise your dog. “When you say ‘good boy, you’re a good dog,’” Dr. Dunbar explained, “[your dog’s] tail wags, his butt waggles, and he gets a blast of dopamine and oxytocin. When you see your dog’s butt waggle, you get a blast of oxytocin and dopamine.”

During moments when you can’t give your dog the attention they want—after all, you’re an adult person with other responsibilities—make it easier for them to pass the time. Give them a food puzzle, for example, or a chew stuffed with something tasty and healthy. If they’re focused on this task, with a nice, loose tail wag, you can rest assured that they’re not bored.

A happy-looking terrier sits in front of a food puzzle.

Pay attention to your dog

Dr. Bekoff says that one reason some dogs end up bored is that people don’t understand their dogs’ individual preferences. Like every person, every dog is different. His simple advice: “find out what they like.”

Part of understanding this is reading your dog’s body language. Do they have a loose, happy wag around something? Are they voluntarily moving toward it? They might like it. Are they moving away, tucking their tail, or turning rigid? Those are signs that they could dislike something. If your dog seems not to be into something, don’t force them toward it. Let them decide that it’s not for them.

Your dog’s preferences might change. Maybe you went through a phase where you were devoted to sudoku puzzles, then got into playing piano, then threw yourself into CrossFit classes. If your dog finds themselves compelled by something different than usual, and it won’t hurt them, give them a chance to do it.

Novelty can also help with a dog’s appetite. If your dog is eating the correct portions of complete and balanced food, they may not have a particular need for you to mix it up. But if you find that they’re less into their food than usual, you can try a different recipe, or drop a small piece of a healthy treat into their bowl (just remember that treats and other “extras” should make up no more than 10% of their daily calories). 

Sometimes, if you pay attention, you’ll stumble onto an enrichment opportunity you didn’t see coming. “I think in the acknowledgements to my Ph.D. thesis decades ago,” Dr. Bekoff says, “I thanked my dog Moses—because whenever I would come home, he would sniff me, sometimes for minutes on end. Because I was coming in with odors from all different dogs, and some rescued wolves and coyotes. I used to always say, ‘Could you please tell me what’s going on in your canine brain?’ But I also think it was enriching.”

Give your dog a job

Money is presumably one motivation for the work you do every day—but, if you’re lucky, it’s not the only one. And, like people, dogs work for reasons other than survival.

Many dogs have been bred for generations to excel at certain tasks. And even mixed-breed dogs have those genes. If your dog seems to be trying to herd, is enthusiastic about retrieving objects, loves to dig, or determinedly stalks squirrels in the park, remember that in some ways these things may be what they were born to do. And if they show those affinities, find constructive outlets for them. Some dogs who like to dig may be eligible for the American Kennel Club’s Earthdog. Dogs who are interested in sniffing around for prey may excel at barn hunt. Many sports incorporate retrieving. And agility can be a great way to give dogs a physical and mental workout.

Your dog’s “job” doesn’t have to be an organized activity, either. When we talked to Dr. Bekoff about how to make dogs happy, he discussed a concept called “contrafreeloading.” Sometimes, given the choice between having food handed to them and working for it, dogs will prefer the more challenging path. So if your dog needs extra stimulation, consider scattering food around for them to “hunt,” letting them find it in a food puzzle, or making it part of a game. The people who run the Puppy Kindergarten at Duke University have some simple, fun suggestions that can solidify your bond with your dog.

Tailor enrichment to your dog’s needs

Even if your dog can’t run and jump, there should be something that can keep them engaged and add excitement to their life. 

Dr. Furlong names snuffle mats, lick mats, and food puzzles as tools that can add to a dog’s quality of life even if they’re not especially mobile, and that don’t take a Herculean effort from humans.

These seemingly small interventions can make significant impacts on dogs. “Sometimes,” says Dr. Furlong, “[the dogs] don’t seem quite as on edge. They’re a little bit more relaxed about dinner time.” In other words, a dog who’s obsessed with mealtime, barking at you a half-hour early every time, might become less so if they have other notable events during their day.

Dogs with disabilities, too, can and should still be trained and get exercise and enrichment appropriate to their own needs. Our guides to caring for deaf dogs, blind dogs, and tripod dogs may be good places to start if you need ideas. While not every tripod will be an agility champion like Rascal, any dog can benefit from love, attention, and a challenge.

If you follow these steps, you may find that your dog can enjoy an engaging, rewarding day-to-day life—without having to hunt for their own dinner.

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