If it is too hot to walk your dog, you do not need to panic, feel guilty, or start planning a full indoor entertainment schedule like you are running a doggy Butlin’s.
Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is skip the walk, keep your dog cool, and give them something calm and useful to do at home instead.
This is not a list of things you must complete. Think of it as a menu. Pick one idea, try a few, or save this for the next hot day when your dog looks at you like, “Excuse me, where is my adventure?”
If your dog is showing signs of overheating or heatstroke, that is a medical emergency. I have a separate guide on heatstroke in dogs, and the RSPCA also has helpful heatstroke advice. This article is more about what to do instead of walking when it is simply too hot to head out safely.
Too Hot to Walk Your Dog? Try These 10 Simple Ideas Instead
These ideas are designed to be simple, low-impact, and suitable for most dogs. You do not need fancy skills. Your dog does not need to be perfectly trained. You just need a few minutes, some food or toys, and somewhere cool and safe indoors.
1. Build the Ultimate Frozen Toppl
A frozen Toppl is one of my favourite hot-weather enrichment ideas because it turns a normal meal into something slower, calmer, and much more interesting.
You can keep it simple with wet food, or make it more exciting by layering different textures and flavours.
- Easy: wet food or soaked kibble.
- More interesting: wet food mixed with a splash of bone broth.
- Extra tasty: add a few sprats or small training treats.
- Longer lasting: fill it, freeze it, and serve it during the hottest part of the day.
For more ideas, have a look at my full guide to Toppl enrichment recipes for dogs.
2. Teach a Chin Rest
A chin rest is one of those simple behaviours that looks cute but is secretly incredibly useful.
Your dog learns to gently rest their chin on your hand, lap, towel, cushion, or another surface. This can help with future vet visits, grooming, handling, ear checks, eye drops, harness fitting, and general cooperative care.
It is also perfect for hot days because your dog can practise it while lying down. Calm, useful, low effort. Lovely stuff.
Follow the step-by-step guide here: Dog Chin Rest Training for Vet Visits.
3. Improve Your Dog’s Name Response
Most owners say their dog’s name hundreds of times, but very few dogs are taught that their name means, “look at me because something good is about to happen.”
Hot days are a great time to practise this indoors.
- Say your dog’s name once.
- When they look towards you, mark and reward.
- Practise in different rooms.
- Keep sessions short and fun.
This is a brilliant foundation for recall, lead walking, focus around distractions, and general day-to-day communication.
Here is the full guide: Dog Name Response: Train It First Time.
4. Teach Your Dog to Catch Treats
This one is light-hearted, funny, and surprisingly useful.
Teaching your dog to catch treats can improve coordination, focus, confidence, and treat delivery skills. It is also very entertaining if your dog has the catching ability of a sleepy potato.
Keep it close, soft, and easy. Start with treats that are safe and easy to catch. No dramatic throws across the kitchen. We are not training for Crufts, we are surviving a hot afternoon.
Use this guide: How to Teach Your Dog to Catch Treats.
5. Start the 1-2-3 Pattern Game
Pattern games are simple, predictable games that can help dogs focus, settle, and feel more confident.
One of the easiest ones to start with is the 1-2-3 game. You count “one, two, three”, then reward on three. Over time, the pattern itself becomes familiar and reassuring.
This is especially useful because you can later use it outside when your dog needs help moving past distractions, smells, or exciting things in the environment.
I explain how I use the 1-2-3 pattern game inside my article on how to stop dogs rolling in fox poo. That article is obviously about a very specific, very fragrant problem, but the training game itself can be practised at home without needing fox poo anywhere near your life. Thankfully.
6. Teach a Stand
Most dogs are taught to sit. Far fewer are taught to stand, even though it is one of the most useful behaviours you can teach.
A stand can help with grooming, drying, checking paws, fitting harnesses, vet checks, and handling. It is especially helpful for puppies because it teaches body awareness without asking them to bounce around the house.
Try it here: Teach Your Dog to Stand Instead of Sit.
7. Teach Your Dog to Take Treats Gently
If your dog takes food like a tiny crocodile, hot days are a good time to slow things down and practise calmer treat taking.
This is useful for every dog, but especially helpful for puppies, children, visitors, and enthusiastic Labradors who believe fingers are part of the snack.
Keep the session short. Calm delivery, calm mouth, reward the gentle behaviour you want more of.
Read the guide here: How to Teach Your Dog to Take Treats Gently.
8. Practise Place Training
Place training is one of the best indoor skills you can work on during hot weather.
Your dog learns to settle on a mat, bed, towel, or platform. This can help with visitors, mealtimes, deliveries, cafés, pubs, busy homes, and those moments when you just need your dog to understand that relaxing is also a job.
This is not about forcing your dog to stay still. It is about teaching them that their place is safe, rewarding, and worth choosing.
Start here: Place Training for Dogs: Teach Settle.
9. Give Your Dog a Chew Project
Chewing can help dogs relax, decompress, and stay occupied without needing lots of physical movement.
The key is choosing something suitable for your dog’s age, chewing style, size, and experience. Always supervise chew time, and avoid anything that is too hard, too small, or likely to splinter.
Some options to consider include Paddywack, tripe sticks, rabbit ears, or the wider dog chews section.
For extra guidance on choosing appropriate options, read my Ultimate Guide to Dog Chewing.
10. Turn Meals Into Enrichment
If your dog normally eats from a bowl, hot weather is a great time to make meals last longer.
Instead of one quick bowl that disappears in 20 seconds, try using a slow feeder, lick mat, puzzle feeder, Kong or Toppl.
This can help your dog slow down, use their brain, and stay occupied while you avoid the hottest parts of the day.
Useful guides include:
- Slow Feeders & Dog Enrichment Toys
- Why Licking Calms Dogs: LickiMat Ideas
- Killer Kong: Frozen Kong Recipe for Dogs
- Frozen Enrichment for Dogs: Yoggie Pot Ideas
Bonus: Help Your Dog Stay Cool
Alongside enrichment and rest, a few simple cooling products can make hot days easier and safer for your dog.
These are not a replacement for common sense. Your dog still needs shade, fresh water, rest, and to avoid exercise during the hottest parts of the day. But they can be useful as part of a sensible hot-weather setup.
- Cooling Mat for giving your dog a cooler surface to rest on indoors.
- Cooling Bandana for gentle cooling support during warm weather.
- Travel Water Bottle for keeping fresh water available when you do need to leave the house.
Got a Puppy?
If you have a puppy, hot days can feel difficult because puppies often have a lot of energy and very little common sense. A suspiciously powerful combination.
But a heatwave can actually be a brilliant opportunity to work on the foundations that matter most.
- Name response
- Taking treats gently
- Short handling sessions
- Chin rest
- Place training
- Learning to relax indoors
- Chewing, licking and sniffing activities
These are the sorts of skills that make life easier long after the hot weather has passed. You do not need to walk miles to help a puppy learn. In fact, many puppies need more calm, more sleep, and more gentle guidance rather than more exercise.
If you are in the early stages, you may also find What To Focus On With A New Puppy helpful.
Don’t Forget About Sleep
You do not need to fill every hour of your dog’s day.
If your dog has a frozen Toppl, a short training session, a chew, some sniffing, and then sleeps in the coolest room of the house, that is not a wasted day. That is a very sensible hot-weather plan.
Rest is not laziness. Sleep affects behaviour, recovery, learning, and emotional regulation. If your dog is doing less during hot weather, that can be completely appropriate.
You can read more here: How Much Sleep Does My Dog Need?
Need More Help?
If hot weather has highlighted that your dog struggles to settle, gets frustrated indoors, bites, barks, steals things, or cannot relax without constant activity, that is something we can help with.
At Heath’s Personal Dog Training, we focus on practical, force-free training that helps dogs and owners understand each other better.
- For tailored support, start with a 1:1 dog training consultation or a 1:1 puppy training consultation.
- For flexible training at home, explore our force-free online dog training courses.
- For puppies, our puppy classes focused on calm socialisation are designed to build confidence, not chaos.
FAQ
Is it okay to skip my dog’s walk when it is hot?
Yes. If it is too hot to walk safely, skipping the walk is the sensible choice. A bored dog can recover from missing a walk, but heatstroke can become dangerous very quickly.
What can I do with my dog when it is too hot to walk?
Try calm indoor activities such as frozen enrichment, slow feeders, LickiMats, chin rest training, name response games, place training, scent work, gentle trick training, and supervised chew time.
Do dogs need a walk every single day?
Dogs need appropriate physical exercise, mental stimulation, rest, and opportunities to use natural behaviours. On very hot days, it is completely reasonable to replace a walk with calm enrichment, training and sleep.
Are frozen Toppls and frozen Kongs good for hot weather?
They can be excellent hot-weather enrichment when used safely. They help meals last longer, encourage licking and problem solving, and give your dog something calm to do indoors.
What should I do if my dog seems too hot?
Move them somewhere cool, offer water, stop activity, and seek veterinary advice if you are worried. If you suspect heatstroke, treat it as an emergency and contact your vet immediately.
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