Dogs and Babies: Try These 18 Games To Keep Your Kids and Dogs Safe and Happy at Home

Games can be a great way for toddlers and dogs to build a relationship and practice behaviors around each other that lead to mutual safety and comfort.

Watching your kid enjoy a dog you love dearly is one of the great, simple joys in life. But how do you teach kids to interact with dogs in a safe way? How do you help your child and dog feel comfortable around each other?

My very first priority when it comes to dogs and children is safety. The majority of bite incidents with children happen with known dogs. While you may think “my dog would never,” so did so many of the parents who had to deal with the traumatic aftermath of a bite.

If you have a new baby, my strong recommendation is not to draw extra attention to the dog (and vice versa). You can allow them to peacefully coexist without directly interacting. For the first 6 months of my son’s life, he never interacted with my dogs. He didn’t touch them. I didn’t draw his attention to them. Even with that intention, my son still LOVES my dogs. As he’s gotten older, I’ve focused on creating opportunities for them to interact in controlled ways.

While this may look like my son, Ford, and my dog, Otis are playing beer pong, this is actually a fun food hiding game that you can play with your kid and dog too. Learn more if you keep scrolling to the section about hiding games.

Games can be a great way for toddlers and dogs to build a relationship and practice behaviors around each other that lead to mutual safety and comfort. With that in mind, I’ve written up some games that might be fun for you and your dogs. My recommendation is to make sure you know how the game works first and then teach your dog and your kid the game separately before having them play together (not necessary for all of these, but it’s a good general recommendation). Pick the games that will be most fun for your crew while keeping everyone safe. As a busy mom, games that entertain and enrich the lives of my child and my dogs as well as promoting safety are big winners! (If you don’t have kids, some of these may be games you can play if you find yourself with a visiting child who really wants to interact with your dog.)

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1. Food Tossing Games

2. Toy Tossing Games

3. Hiding Games

4. Trick Training

5. Enrichment Prep

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Fun Food Tossing Games for Your Kid and Dog

A great many dogs enjoy searching for food, and as it turns out, a great many toddlers enjoy throwing food. We can use what they both love and set the game up to be safe for everyone. When picking a version to play, here are some things to consider:

• How likely is your dog to get all up in your toddler’s space while they hold food? If they’re likely to “mug” your kid, I’d pick a version of food tossing with a barrier to start (patterns would also likely help).

• How likely is your child to toss the food without trying to touch your dog? If you think your toddler may try to touch your dog, a game with a barrier can prevent that.

• How comfortable is your toddler with your dog and your dog with your toddler?

Kitchen Tower Food Toss

Have your child stand in their kitchen tower and give them some dog and child safe food. You can either teach them to throw the food when you say “find it” or you can just let them toss the food at their own pace. Have them toss the food down onto the floor for your dog.

The benefit of using the tower is that it keeps your child and dog separated while they play. They get to interact without actual contact. The potential risk here is your kid learns to throw food from their tower, but if your child is anything like mine, they already had that skill down pat lol.

Food Toss from Behind Baby Gate or Fence

If you have an excitable dog or a dog or kid who may not be super comfortable with each other, a gate can be your best friend! I’m going to use the word “gate” for ease of reference, but you can use any sort of barrier (a fence, a pen, etc.). Have your child on one side of the gate and your dog on the other. Give your child some dog and kid approved food. You can either cue the tossing or let them toss when they’re ready – just teach them to toss to the other side of the gate so your dog can go chase the treat down and eat it.

Tip: do this on a non-slip surface so your dog isn’t slipping and sliding.

Food Toss Across Table or Bench

If you have a low-ish table or bench that you can move, you can have your child stand on one side and the dog on the other and have your kid toss across the table or bench. Your child likely needs to be a bit older for this game (this wouldn’t be the one I would pick for my 1.5 year old son).

Like the version above, this also provides a barrier between your child and dog.

1-2-3 Toss Pattern

Teach your child to count to three with you (or just listen while you do) and then toss food on the ground after three. Your dog learns to look for tossed food after they hear three. This is a game you can play without a barrier (though you could use a barrier to start if desired). The pattern can help make the game more predictable for both your child and your dog and may help reduce any behaviors other than tossing and going to find and eat the food.

This is one that I would definitely teach your child and dog separately before you play together. I would also likely have a stash of food that I could toss after three if my child didn’t toss the food to avoid frustrating the dog.

Note: If you use 1-2-3 pattern in real life with your dog (e.g. for reactivity management), you can use numbers is another language or say “A-B-C” to protect the 1-2-3 you use in real life (in case your little one doesn’t deliver as well as you do!).

Up-Down Pattern

This one isn’t quite a toss, but I am putting it here anyway. Teach your child to place food down on the ground in front of their toes after you say “find it” (or whatever cue you want to use – you can pick one you use just for games with your child if you don’t want to risk messing up cues you use). Your dog will stand in front of them and eat the food they place on the ground. After the dog finishes eating and looks back up, you say “find it” again and have your child place another piece of food on the ground in front of their toes. Here is what the game looks like (with an adult).

I would only play this using a known marker cue like “find it” if you have a slightly older child who is going to consistently put food down (ideally in the same general spot) after hearing the cue. I’d also have your own stash of food so you can put food down if your child doesn’t. If your child cannot do this game correctly, it could be quite frustrating for your dog (which is not the experience we want when relationship building). If your child isn’t as consistent, skip using a known marker cue. To be honest, your dog will probably be thrilled if your kid just wants to keep placing food down anywhere on the ground, which may work better for the littler ones.

Make sure you teach this one to your child and dog separately before having them play together. You can send your dog in for clean up after they practice!

Grass Snuffling

The world’s largest and cheapest snuffle mat: grass. A very very easy game to play is to hand your child a container of food and tell them to throw it out into the grass. They can toss whenever and however they like and your dog can keep their head down searching for it all.

Food Tossing Inside Without a Barrier

Some kids and dogs will do just fine without a barrier or a pattern to follow. If that’s the case, you can hand your kid a container with food and let them walk around tossing food for your dog. I would only do this if they are both comfortable around each other and neither is very likely to make actual contact with the other during this game. Here is an example of my son playing this simple game with one of my dogs. (This is not a good game if your child starts teasing your dog.)

Fun With Bowls

Okay, this one isn’t really tossing either, but it’s fun. Line up some bowls (can keep them close or spread them out all over the room). Teach your child to walk to a bowl and put food down in the bowl. Your dog should go eat the food out of the bowl. Then your kid can walk to the next bowl and put food down in it for the dog to eat. Repeat. For what it’s worth, your child is basically teaching your dog loose leash walking skills, but everyone is having fun! This is another one that you want to make sure you kid and dog know how to do separately before playing together. You could play this game inside or outside!

Spice up Your Day With These Toy Tossing Games That Your Kid and Dog Can Play Together

So many toddler and dog toys look the same anyway! Toys can be really exciting for dogs (and something some dogs will behave to maintain possession of), so toy games may not be right for every situation. That being said, there are still plenty of safe ways to play with toys (including options with barriers). The important thing is to think about behaviors you’ve observed from your child and dog around toys when determining whether an activity is appropriate for them. I have described these games in a way that the adult is the one collecting the toy from the dog and then giving it to the child to toss because it’s the safest general recommendation without knowing your situation.

Toss Toys From Behind a Gate

If you have a baby gate you can put in the hallway or a big playpen, you can put your child on one side and dog on the other. You hand your child the ball or stuffy and have them toss the toy to the opposite side for your dog. You can be in charge of collecting the ball from your dog when they are ready to give it up so that your dog and child never come into contact with each other around the toy. You can also play with multiple toys if your dog isn’t always great at the returning portion of fetch. My one big rule is not to steal toys from your dog's mouth – especially with your little one watching you (you do not want them copying that behavior).

Toss Toys Across a Table or Bench

Have your kid on one side of the table and your dog on the other. Have your kid toss (or even slide) the ball/toy across the table for your dog. Depending on your dog’s retrieval skills, they can either drop the ball back on top of the table or in front of you. Or if returning the toy isn’t so much your dog’s jam, you can play with multiple toys. Again, my one big rule is not to steal toys from your dog's mouth – especially with your little one watching you (you do not want them copying that behavior).

Couch Toss

Have your child stand behind the couch (if the back of the couch isn’t against a wall) and toss a toy over the couch. The dog can return the toy to the seat of the couch. As with the others, let it be your job to get the toys your dog offers and give them to your child. Feel free to play with multiple toys if that is easier for everyone! My one big rule is not to steal toys from your dog's mouth – especially with your little one watching you (you do not want them copying that behavior).

You could also have your child sit next to you on the couch and toss toys from a seated position so long as you can position yourself between your child and your dog. If your dog is apt to jump up at your child to grab a toy, you may want more of a barrier than your legs.

Try These Hiding Games With Your Kid and Dog

Treasure Hunt

If your dog likes searching the house or yard for things, this can be a super fun game! It can be played with food or toys (for our sake, I’ll talk about a toy). Have your dog lie down on their bed and wait (or put them in another room). Give your child one of their toys and ask them to go hide it somewhere (go with them). Then walk your child back to where your dog is and together, cue your dog to go find it! Your child can watch with awe as your dog sniffs out the hidden treasure.

Note: This is a game you will need to teach your dog how to play. If you need some help on how to do that, we have a whole tutorial on it in our e-course Challenge 2.0 (the treasure hunt is in Day 9).

Find It Under the Solo Cup

Line up five to ten solo cups (have them upside down on the ground). Give your child one piece of food and ask them to hide it under one of the cups while your dog waits (you could have them lie on their bed or something). Then send your dog to locate the treat. They’ll knock the cup over to get to it, which delights many kids!

Turn Trick Training Into a Fun Family Activity