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Bored dog? Routine fatigue? Shake things up with one of these less common dog sports.

Activities to suit your dog

Toys to love “furever”

Denyse Schmidt of Denise Schmidt Quilts saw her first Scottie Dog at the Elephant’s Trunk flea market in New Milford, Connecticut many years ago and fell in love. She’s been collecting vintage patchwork Scottie Dogs (and photographing them when her bed got too full) ever since. Just like old patchwork quilts, no two Scottie Dogs are alike—but they all have personality. We’re not sure where the pattern originated, but, due to the proliferation of patchwork Scotties out there, it probably appeared in a very popular women’s magazine in the 1940’s. And now, you can make your own!

Rain, sleet, snow has you reluctant to set foot outdoors? Entertain your dog indoors with these enriching dog toys

Four fun, fast, and funny hallowe’en costumes for your dog

Silence is golden. Make your dog a cool-looking tag silencer.

The 21st century hunt for treasure

One taste of the wild, competitive sport of flyball and you’re hooked. Dogs utterly fascinated with balls race off-leash over a 51-foot course, along the way hurdling four jumps that are 10 feet apart. The size of the shortest dog on the team determines the jump height for that entire team. At the end of the course, the dog uses his or her feet to hit “the box”—a device that fires a tennis ball—then catches the ball and flies back over the jumps to the finish line. As the first runner crosses the line, the second dog in the four-dog team takes off. To make it even more exciting, these dogs are racing alongside another team of ball-hungry athletic canines.

As with so many ground-breaking ideas, necessity proved the mother of invention. As a new mom, Ottosson suddenly found herself with less time to interact meaningfully with her dogs. She knew that consistently challenging her dogs was integral to their development, not to mention her relationship with them, so she created Ottosson's Zoo Active Products, a line of games that ask your dog to combine wits, motor skills, and memory to get a treat. Forget mindless chewing and squeaking‚ these are toys that require your dog to think.