Summer is a worrisome time for pet owners, especially in Arizona. Unlike humans, pets can’t self-regulate their temperatures because they don’t sweat. This puts them at risk for heatstroke and possibly death. Animals who are left in hot cars, chained outside, or left inside without air conditioning, are especially at risk for heatstroke, not to mention the hot asphalt in Phoenix, which can heat up to more than 100 degrees and possibly burn a pet’s paws.

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The Arizona Animal Welfare League, Arizona’s oldest and largest no-kill shelter, wants to provide local pet owners with simple, DIY activities to keep their furry friends active during the summer. Mental stimulation can be fantastic for pets and is a great alternative to physical exercise! Here are five summer activities for pets to help keep your bored fur babies occupied during those hot months.

DIY Puzzles

There are plenty of puzzles for pets available for purchase on sites such as Amazon. However, they can be costly. Pet puzzles can be made at home using household objects such as Tupperware. Simply place a treat under Tupperware of various sizes and the pet will have to learn how to access it. This activity is great for cats or dogs and can keep them active for a while.

Teach Them New Tricks

Tricks force an animal to pay attention and to use their brain power and are a great source of summer activities for pets. This could include shaking ‘hands,’ and other commands like stay, wait, come, or how to twirl. A treat reward will help when you are first teaching your pet a new trick.

Treasure Hunts

A fun game for pets to do is to hide treats in a room then let them inside to find them. This treasure hunt will force a dog or cat to use their sense of smell and requires brain power that can tire them out.

If a pet becomes skilled at this game over time, try harder to access places to hide the treats. Just don’t forget where they’re hidden.

Shaping Games

Shaping is a training method for dogs that breaks down a command into sections. For example, if you were going to teach a dog to roll over, you’d first teach them to lie down. For this, a pet owner needs to plan ahead of time what they want to teach their pet. Shaping is great because the pet starts to anticipate what will come next, making it a good mental exercise. Use an empty box to make this activity into a game and reward a dog with a treat anytime they place a paw or two in the box, then go from there.

Shell Game

Use three cups pressed to a table with treats under one. You can move the cups around then have the pet guess under which cup the reward is. This requires thinking skills and helps train a pet to focus.

These simple activities can all be done at home in the safety of a pet owner’s air conditioning. Most importantly, it’s a great way to ensure that your pets aren’t under the dangerous Arizona sun for too long.

The Arizona Animal Welfare League provides programs and resources for local pet owners. To learn more about AAWL, please visit, https://aawl.org/.

 

Alessandra Navidad is president and CEO of the Arizona Animal Welfare League.