It has snowed almost every day for a long time now. The novelty of playing in the snow has worn off for my pup. House games and house training are getting old. The 20 toys on the living room floor are boring for him now. Long walks outside are now confined to the plowed streets because of deep snow. Only eight hours of daylight is getting tough. I'm glad that I have him. He makes the long winter bearable. Just thinking of stuff to keep him occupied makes the brain function. Can't wait for SPRING!!

I SO hear you. We're having a warm-spell, so the three feet of snow we just had is now mud and ice. Before this we had three feet of snow and temps just barely above 0 F. My dog and I are feeling a bit 'caged'. I signed up for an obedience class just to get out, socialize, train indoors and try to stave-off some of the boredom....it really helps! Spring will get here eventually .

I'll second that.

No snow here but lots of rain and mud, coupled with the nuttiness of the holidays, and my overall exhaustion, has left my 18 month old stir crazy and acting disobedient. Poor guy's schedule has been completely upended these last few weeks.

An obedience class sounds like a great idea!

My dogs and I don't have an issue with snow and cold. I throw on the cold weather gear and go out and train. The issue I have in Chicago is that we had about 6 inches of snow on the ground last week. Then it gradually warmed up to 60 DEGREES! In Chicago! In January!!! Everything is wet, dirty, and a mud pit. Thank God our club's field was still frozen on Saturday and we got some work in then. My female is not an issue as she is just as content to lay around the house as she is to fly around a field. But my male is bouncing off the walls after three days with virtually no real exercise. We tried to take them both for a walk on Sunday, and had to give them both a bath when we got home because their legs and stomachs were black. This really sucks. I wish it would freeze up and stay frozen until spring.

We have the same problems here with the thaw, everything is muck and not very nice for exercising in. Today we're having a major wind storm and with all the trees around it's not really safe to venture outside so we're playing tug and fetch inside.

This is what I do when its a muddy mess and just for fun sometimes. The local Tennis courts are not busy when its cold and rainy- so i take my dog there and play , run , throw the ball etc.. No muddy mess and it helps keep the nails down. It is also fenced in so no escape. I just always make sure we leave everything tidy before we leave. I get alot of left over used tennis balls too !

Wow, John, 60 degrees. I don't think we've seen that temp. since September. Spring breakup in a bummer here too. We had 10 inches of snow just last night and more coming today. I train in the garage, driveway, street and house. Schutzhund on Saturday is hit or miss this time of the year.

January? Is it really January? It was 75 here yesterday :-P Not to rub it in or anything, rofl. I'm still used to what you all are dealing with, coming from ND. It's supposed to be somewhere around -20 right now. I have to constantly remind myself that it's January, my internal calendar is all confused :-P

So..... back on topic......

Do you have a stretch of hallway or connected rooms where you can practice retrieve, or even heel, or "behind me"?

Short training sessions are good at exercising that lil brain. (The dog's.... )

Long walks at midday are good for us, with shorter ones at dusk. I also find that just going outside, period, breaks up the dogs' day. I keep a big old bath towel to spread by the door on the trip back in (to absorb muddy paw prints).

Tennis courts ----- that sounds brilliant!

Also, having 20 ( i do hope thats an exagerration...lol) available to your dog at all times is not good.
Put most of them away and have only 1 or 2 around. Actually the toys really shouldn't be left out at all but if you must leave some out only give him/her a couple. After a day or two switch the 2 toys with a couple of the ones you've put away and keep rotating them. That way the dog won't get bored of them because they won't be at his disposable all the time and will seem "new" to him. But really the toys should only be out if your playing.
Have you tried putting your dog in a stay and taking a toy and hiding it in another room then releasing him to go find it? Don't make it too difficult at first otherwise he may get discouraged. The first few times make it pretty easy then progressively put the toy in a more difficult spot for him to find.
Hide & seek is also fun.
And of course the ever popular Obedience Training. Nothing tires out a dog like having him use his brain.
Or maybe teach him a few new tricks for fun?
I taught Tucker the following for fun when i was sick for a week and couldn't get out to exercise him the way he was used to.
Crawl
Turn left or right.
Weave through my legs as im walking
Sit up.
And he can now hold a treat on his nose then flip it off when i tell him to.
There are all kinds of things you can do to ease the cabin fever for you and your pooch. Although nothing beats a nice long walk & play sessions outside just try to be a bit creative inside and remember that making a dog think and putting him through his paces can sometimes be just as good.