Dachshund Rain has been coming down for three days straight, the backyard is a mud pit, and a certain long-bodied creature is currently staring at you from the hallway with an expression that can only be described as accusatory.
Sound familiar?
Dachshunds were bred to chase badgers through underground tunnels. That kind of drive doesn’t switch off just because the weather turned or because your apartment has no yard.
A bored doxie gets creative. And their creativity usually involves your shoes, your baseboards, or a hole dug straight through the couch cushions.
The good news is that ten minutes of real mental work will tire out a dachshund faster than a half hour of aimless wandering. Their brains are the engine. Give the engine something to do.
Here are ten indoor games that tap into exactly what these dogs were built for.
1. The Muffin Tin Puzzle
Grab a standard muffin tin. Drop a treat into a few of the cups, then cover every single cup with a tennis ball.
Your dachshund has to figure out which balls are hiding something and nose them out of the way.
It’s absurdly simple, costs nothing if you already own a muffin tin, and most dogs will work at it for a solid ten minutes.
Making It Harder
Once your dog solves it in twenty seconds flat, switch to lighter items on top: crumpled paper, small toys, anything that requires a different technique to move.
You can also use a smaller tin with more cups, which forces more searching per reward.
The best puzzle is the one your dog just barely solves. Too easy and they get bored. Too hard and they quit.
2. Hide and Seek (The Human Version)
Put your dachshund in a sit-stay, or have someone hold them gently. Then go hide.
Behind a door. In a closet. Crouched behind the kitchen island like a person with no dignity left.
Call their name once and let them hunt you down.
Dachshunds have genuinely excellent noses, and this game rewards them for using it. Most dogs figure out within a few rounds that scent works better than sight.
The payoff when they find you is enormous. Big praise, a treat, maybe a full-body wiggle from a dog who is very pleased with themselves.
Why Doxies Love This One
Their whole ancestral job was tracking something they couldn’t see into a dark space.
You are the badger now. Congratulations.
3. The Towel Roll
Lay a bath towel flat. Sprinkle kibble or small training treats across it, then roll it up loosely.
Hand it over and let your dog unroll the whole thing.
This one is fantastic for dogs who are new to puzzle work, because the failure mode is basically nonexistent. They’ll get it. It might just take a while.
Roll it tighter as they get better. You can even tie a loose knot in the middle for advanced players.
4. Snuffle Mat Foraging
A snuffle mat is a fabric mat covered in strips of fleece where you can bury food. Dogs sniff through the layers to find every last piece.
You can buy one for around twenty dollars or make one from a rubber sink mat and old fleece scraps.
Here’s the trick most people miss: feed an entire meal in the snuffle mat instead of a bowl. Dinner goes from a ten second event to a fifteen minute enrichment session.
Sniffing is genuinely calming for dogs. It lowers heart rate and burns real mental energy.
A dog who eats every meal from a bowl is missing the single easiest enrichment opportunity of the day.
5. The Shell Game
Three cups, upside down on the floor. One treat under one cup.
Let your dachshund watch you place it, then shuffle the cups around.
Point at all three and let them choose.
Start slow and obvious. Some dogs need a few rounds before they understand the treat still exists once it’s out of sight.
Cheating Is Allowed
Dachshunds will absolutely use their nose instead of their eyes here, and that’s fine. Let them. The problem-solving is the point, not the method.
6. Tug With Rules
Tug gets a bad reputation from people who think it makes dogs aggressive. It doesn’t. What it does is give a determined little dog an outlet for a very natural urge.
The rules are what make it useful.
Teach a solid "drop it" before you start. Play in short bursts, thirty seconds on, then a break. Let your dog win sometimes, because a game they never win stops being a game.
Keep the tug toy low and horizontal rather than lifting it up. Dachshund spines are long and vulnerable, and you don’t want your dog twisting or jumping to hang on.
Never let them dangle. Four paws on the floor, always.
7. Stairs Are Off Limits, So Try the Hallway Sprint
Long-backed dogs and staircases are a bad combination, but a straight hallway with good traction is different.
Stand at one end with your dog, toss a toy toward the other end, and let them run it down.
Add a recall: as they grab the toy, call them back and reward the return trip. Now it’s two exercises in one, and you’ve got a dog sprinting the length of the house without a single jump involved.
Put down a runner or a few bath mats if your floors are slick. Slipping is the actual risk here, not the running.
8. Name That Toy
Pick one toy. Say its name every single time you hand it over, play with it, or put it away.
"Where’s Duck? Get Duck."
After a week or two of consistency, put Duck on the floor next to a different toy and ask for it by name.
Some dogs pick this up shockingly fast. Others need a month. Both are normal.
Building a Vocabulary
Once your dog reliably knows two toys by name, adding the third goes faster. The fourth goes faster still.
This is the single most impressive party trick you can teach, and it costs you nothing but attention to your own word choices.
9. The Box Fort Dig
Dachshunds dig. It is hardwired, it is not a behavior problem, and it will happen whether you provide an outlet or not.
So provide the outlet.
Take a shallow cardboard box or a plastic storage bin, fill it with crumpled newspaper, old towels, or shredded paper, then bury treats and toys throughout.
Let your dog absolutely demolish it.
Yes, it makes a mess. It also protects your garden beds, your carpet edges, and whatever else was previously serving as the designated digging zone.
Redirecting an instinct works. Suppressing one almost never does.
Swap out the filling every few sessions so the smells stay interesting.
10. Obstacle Course, Dachshund Edition
Build a low course through your living room using things you already own.
A broom handle resting on two books becomes a step-over, kept low enough that your dog steps rather than jumps. A cardboard box with both ends cut out becomes a tunnel, which no dachshund on earth can resist. Chairs become weave poles.
Lure your dog through the whole sequence with a treat at first, then start naming each obstacle.
Keep It Flat
The rule for this breed is simple: no height, no twisting, no landings.
Everything stays at ground level. You’re building a thinking course, not an agility trial.
The tunnel alone will justify the whole setup. Watching a dachshund realize there’s a dark enclosed space they’re allowed to run through is genuinely one of the better things you’ll see all week.
Rotate, Don’t Repeat
Ten games sounds like a lot until you realize your dog will get bored of any single one within a week.
Keep three or four in active rotation and stash the rest. Bring an old favorite back after a month and it feels brand new.
Five to fifteen minutes is plenty for most sessions. Stop while your dog still wants more, not after they’ve mentally checked out.
And watch for the signs that you’ve hit the sweet spot: a dachshund who flops over sideways and sighs like they’ve worked a double shift.