Bored dog, empty wallet? Raid the recycling bin.

Bored dogs redecorate. The fix is free: a job for the nose and the brain, made from your kitchen and recycling bin. Below: 15 free games, plus a plan for workdays, rainy days and leaving the house. Want store-bought? Our puzzle toy picks are the ones worth buying.

The bored-dog checklist

• Morning: A sniff-heavy walk before your first call. Sniffing tires the brain.
• Quiet time: A frozen lick mat or stuffed toy, handed over right before you need the quiet.
• Afternoon: One free game from the list below.
• Rainy day: One game for the legs, one for the nose, then a chew.
• Leaving the house: Only toys your dog has already used safely while you watched.

One rule covers all of them: you're in the room. Shredding cardboard is the fun part; swallowing it isn't. Bin anything once it's chewed up.

From the kitchen

• The muffin tin game: Put a treat or a few kibbles in some cups of a muffin tin, then cover every cup with a tennis ball. Your dog has to move the balls to find the food. Easy at first: leave a few cups uncovered.
• Scatter breakfast: Toss the morning kibble across a clean floor or the lawn instead of using a bowl. Same food, a lot more sniffing.
• Frozen treat cubes: Freeze bits of kibble in water in an ice tray. If you use broth, make it plain and unsalted, with no onion or garlic: the ASPCA lists onion, garlic and salty foods as risky for pets. Serve on an easy-to-clean floor.
• The towel roll-up: Lay a towel flat, scatter kibble across it, roll it up loosely and let your dog unroll it. Tie a loose knot in it once they get good.

From the recycling bin

• The cardboard box ransack: Fill a box with crumpled paper and hide a few treats inside. Remove tape and staples first.
• Paper roll pods: Put a treat in a toilet-paper roll and fold the ends in. Beginners get the ends left open.
• The paper bag surprise: A paper bag with a treat inside, top folded over. No plastic bags, ever.
• The box-in-a-box: For dogs who've mastered the cardboard box ransack. Put a small box with a treat inside a bigger box with crumpled paper. Two layers of problem solving.

From the linen closet

A homemade snuffle mat: Tie strips of old fleece through the holes of a rubber sink mat until it's thick and shaggy. Sprinkle kibble in and let the nose go to work. Fleece doesn't fray much, which makes it the safer fabric.

• The blanket hide: Bunch an old blanket into folds and hide treats in the folds. Easy to set up, surprisingly hard to finish.
• The cup shell game: Three plastic cups, one treat. Let your dog watch you hide it, then slide the cups around slowly. They point with a nose or paw, you lift the cup.

Next to no supplies

• Find it: Show a treat, toss it a short distance, say "find it". Then hide it out of sight while your dog waits in another room.
• A scent trail: Drag a smelly treat along the floor through a couple of rooms and leave it at the end. Your dog follows the trail by nose.
• Five-minute trick school: Teach one new trick: spin, touch, or "go to your bed". Learning is a workout.
• The sock knot: Drop a treat into an old sock and tie a loose knot. Your dog works it open. Supervise this one closely, and bin the sock once it has holes: socks are a classic swallowing hazard.

Working from home: a plan that fits around meetings

1. Before your first call: a sniff-heavy walk or ten minutes of fetch in the yard.
2. First big meeting block: a lick mat smeared with wet food, plain yogurt or xylitol-free peanut butter. Freeze it the night before and it lasts longer.

1. Lunch: Ten minutes outside, or scatter a handful of the day's kibble in the yard.
2. Afternoon slump: A frozen stuffed toy or a puzzle at the right level. Start easy: a dog who can't crack it goes looking for something else to chew.
3. After you log off: the real walk. Your dog has waited for it all day.

Spreads for the mat are in our lick mat roundup.

Rainy day: tire them out without a yard

1. Warm up: 5 minutes of hide and seek. Ask for a sit-stay, hide behind a door, call once.
2. Burn energy: 5 minutes of tug on a rug, or hallway fetch with a soft ball rolled low. Ask for "drop it" every few pulls.
3. Cool down with the nose: a treat hunt or a puzzle.
4. Settle: A chew or a lick mat on their bed.

No running games on slick floors, and no stair workouts for puppies, seniors or dogs with sore joints. More soft balls are in our indoor fetch toys roundup.

Home alone: what's safe to leave out

• Leave: A stuffed rubber toy with no small parts, a frozen lick mat, a solid ball too big to swallow.
• Pick up: Rope toys, small balls, stuffed or squeaky toys, rawhide and anything your dog shreds.
• Mix up when the best toy appears, so it doesn't turn into a "you're leaving" signal.
• Long day? A dog walker or a midday visit does more than any toy.

Howling, accidents or chewing at the door only when you're gone points to separation anxiety, not boredom. Our separation anxiety guide shows how to tell.

Match the game to your dog

• Beginners and puppies: scatter breakfast, the towel roll-up, paper roll pods with open ends, and find it.
• Dogs who shred everything: stick to the no-supplies games and the muffin tin, and supervise closely.
• Seniors and dogs with sore joints: the muffin tin game, the homemade snuffle mat, the cup shell game and slow sniff walks outside. Low effort for the body, real work for the brain.
• Puzzle pros: the box-in-a-box, the blanket hide and the scent trail, then step up to a harder bought puzzle. Our puzzle toys and snuffle mats guide sorts them by level.

Common mistakes

Safety, in one list