7 Ways You’re Boring Your Dog Without Realizing It

We all know how to entertain our human friends: good gossip, long brunches, and adventurous outings all tend to do the trick. But have you ever looked over at your dog during a walk — the same walk you always take — and wondered if they spend their days longing for more?

I’m a creature of habit, and I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes, I worry that my dogs are internally rolling their eyes at our well-defined routine. As we round the same corner every morning, and I stop them from peeing on the sunflowers so as not to upset the neighbors, I wonder if I’m stifling their ancient instincts. And as I pour the same food into their bowls each night, I’m haunted by the thought that they consider me a lazy, unimaginative chef.

After speaking with experts, I’ve learned that many of us pet parents do tend to bore our dogs — and not always in the ways we’d expect. If you’re looking to protect your dog from a deep sense of ennui, here are a few habits to avoid.

Do dogs get “bored”? 

Strictly speaking, dogs don’t experience boredom the way humans do. That said, they can be understimulated, leading to unwanted behaviors. At the same time, don’t go overboard trying to pack their schedule with enrichment. Our pups can become overstimulated, too, and that can be just as troublesome.

Both experts I spoke with — Dr. Anamarie Johnson, certified behaviorist and founder of Access to Behavior Consulting, and Fairview Behavior Associates founder and certified behaviorist Dr. Jessica Lockhart — cautioned against pushing your dog too much.

“I’ll get a lot of people that will send messages saying, ‘We’re going out for four hours a day, and we play in the backyard, and we have all these chew toys, and he’s still crazy,’” Johnson says. “And I’m like, ‘Well, have you let him sleep?’”

Dogs usually sleep for roughly 18 hours per day, so we don’t need to fill every waking hour of their time with activities. In fact, doing so can do more harm than good. But for those times when they are awake and nudging for engagement, it’s crucial to give them some real, focused attention. Avoid the things on this list, and you’re headed in the right direction.

Seven ways we bore our dogs

If you want your dog to lead a fulfilling life, avoid these parenting faux paws. (Sorry — I had to!)

Skimping on active time

A lot of us underestimate how much exercise our dogs need  — especially if we’re leaving them at home alone for eight hours while we trek to the office. 

“Taking your dog out for a maybe mile walk around the block or your neighborhood is really, actually, not probably getting the physical exercise side of things out for most dogs,” Johnson says, “particularly large-breed dogs.”

Especially if you work an office job, make sure your dog is getting enough activity during the day, either with you or a walker or at daycare.

Feeding them in a boring, old food bowl

Our dogs are natural-born predators, which means they’re wired by nature to spend a lot of their time in pursuit of food. When we serve it up to them in a bowl, we rob them of one of their favorite pursuits.

“For a dog, if you put them out on their own, they spend about 80 to 95 percent of their day engaged in some form of behavior around food,” Lockhart says. “Whether it’s following scent trails, whether it's looking for food, it's chasing, capturing, consuming, hiding, whatever it is — a lot of their brain power is developed specifically around these consummatory behaviors.”

You don’t need to set small mammals loose in your backyard to simulate the thrill of the hunt. (Thank God.) A simple food puzzle or snuffle mat will do the trick. 

“That can go a really long way,” Lockhart says, “because the mental activity required for that can tire them out for the rest of the day, especially if you build in a training session around it.” 

Not playing (creatively) enough

Depending on your dog’s age, breed, and other factors, they might want a different kind of play — different energy levels, different activities. As Lockhart puts it, “You’ve got to meet them where they’re at.” 

Some dogs might just want to lie with you on the lawn for 20 minutes, and that’s OK. But others will want more than some mindless game of fetch. One way to satisfy this need for mental stimulation? Fold 10- to 15-minute training sessions into your playtime.

“That can be really nice to do,” Johnson says. “Because again, we’re looking at the idea of mental exercise and tiring out the brain.” 

Interrupting their “sniffari”

One thing to ask yourself before you go outside for a walk with your dog: Who is this outing for — you or them? If the walk is for them, we need to let them move at their pace, at least some of the time.

Dogs are wired differently from us, Lockhart says. They walk faster than we do and have longer endurance. They also love to stop and sniff.

“Following that scent trail [releases] dopamine for them,” Lockhart says. “That is fun. That is nature, telling them they’re doing the right thing. And when they're in the middle following that scent trail, and then I see an owner pop the leash, like, ‘No, we gotta go,’ I’m like, ‘Oh, man, that poor dog. He was having a good time, and you stopped it!’”

None of us want to stop every three inches for our dog to sniff every weed growing by the sidewalk (in this case, they may be boring you). But there is a happy medium to be found. Lockhart suggests adding a cue on walks with well-trained dogs like “sniff” or “free” or “your time” to relax the leash and give them free reign to smell the flowers. Once it’s time to go, you can add another cue like “party’s over” or “time to walk.” 

Another option: Grab a handful of kibble, throw it around a tree, and let your dog go to town. According to Lockhart, “It’s just like a piñata on their walk.”

Taking the same walking route over and over

Some dogs don’t mind this at all. In fact, nervous dogs probably prefer a predictable route. But more confident dogs might demand a little more variety. 

“Let’s say you have something like a Border Collie,” Lockhart says, “where mental stimulation is vital to keeping them mentally healthy. That’s going to be helpful.”

On the other hand, she adds, “If you have something like a German Shepherd, where they’re a little more prone to being neurotic, follow that same route … You don’t have to add butterflies and rainbows for the German Shepherd. They won’t understand it.” 

Leaving them alone for hours (even with toys)

It’s easy to assume that if we leave our dogs in a room with all their favorite toys, they’ll be able to entertain themselves. But dogs are social creatures, and they typically prefer a human playmate — even with toys. 

Another dog won’t cut it, either. According to Johnson, a lot of dogs will sit in a room without playing if left to their own devices. “Going for a walk and providing a Petco room full of toys and then leaving for eight hours and thinking ‘Oh, the dog’s going to be playing when I’m gone,’ it’s like, no,” she says. 

Leaving the same toys out all the time

Your dog might love his toys, but even the best of those playthings will lose their novelty if they’re all left out all the time. To keep things fresh, Lockhart recommends maintaining a steady rotation.

“If you flip the toys over probably about once a month — kind of have two or three different buckets, bring out one bucket one month, put it away, bring out the next bucket — you will increase engagement with the toys,” she says. “For sure.”

You know what they say. Variety is the spice of life — and because our dogs typically eat fairly bland diets, we’ve got to pepper in the fun wherever we can.