We love to involve our four-legged friends in seasonal holidays! Easter is always a fun one as we celebrate the arrival of Spring – longer days for sunny afternoon dog walks plus warmer weather for playing games in the garden feels so refreshing after months of cold, dark Winter days. Whether you need ways to keep your dog entertained as you navigate the school holidays with little ones, or you’d just like to involve your four-legged friends in the festivities this year, here are some of our favourite Easter activities for your dog:
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Easter egg hunt
Starting with one of our favourite ways to celebrate Easter with dogs – a traditional Easter egg hunt! Years ago we bought a set of hollow, plastic eggs that can be filled with treats, and we love to hide them around the house or garden each year for our four-legged friends to find. Simply fill the eggs with your dog’s favourite treats (or jump to our Easter gifts section below for our Easter treat recommendations!) then hide the eggs for your dogs to sniff out. It’s so much fun to watch dogs hunting for the eggs! See how Norfolk Terrier Cody did when we made him an Easter egg hunt in the garden:
Spring walkies
There’s nothing like the arrival of Spring to inspire you to get out and explore with your dogs. Warm Spring sunshine, endless countryside footpaths finally drying up after months of Winter mud, and the scent of wild bluebells carpeting woodlands all across the UK – we love to find new and exciting places to explore while we pet sit our way from county to county. We’ve mapped out our favourite walking routes from our travels on our Walks page, where you’ll find downloadable route maps, photos from each walk, and information about taking your dogs with you. You may just find your new favourite walking route in your area!
For the most impressive floral displays and perfect backdrops for Spring portraits of our pooches, we head to National Trust properties to admire the manicured beds bursting with pastel colours, and neat formal gardens with seasonal tulips, wisteria and hyacinths. We’ve curated a list of our favourite places here: Enchanting National Trust places to visit this Spring.
Bake Easter treats
With the aroma of roast dinner and chocolate Easter eggs floating through the house, your dog’s nose is sure to be twitching! While it can be tempting to feed your dogs little bits from the dinner table at Easter, it’s always safer to give them dog-friendly food only. Baking homemade Easter treats is an opportunity to give your dog something special for the occasion, and involve them in the process too!
This list of Easter dog treat recipes from The Kennel Club is full of creative ideas for cute Easter treats, from Easter pupcakes to Happy Easter crunchies, all packed with yummy dog-friendly ingredients that your pup will love to lick from the bowl while the treats are baking. We particularly love this set of mini cookie cutters to make small-sized Easter-themed biscuits for dogs, so you can keep the portion sizes in check.
Easter enrichment games
Another fun way to keep dogs entertained is with an engaging enrichment game. We’ve previously posted at length about our love of introducing enrichment toys as a way to let dogs burn off energy, use their noses and get rewarded with their favourite snacks, and there’s no better time than when you’re having a busy Easter weekend and need to keep your dogs occupied for a while.
The number one toy we recommend to all our clients for their dogs is a snuffle ball – a rubber ball ‘cage’ with fabric strips inside. Simply roll up treats into the fabric strips of the ball and let your dog have fun digging them out. We’ve used these at multiple dog sits over the years and they are guaranteed to keep dogs busy for long periods.
For Easter enrichment, however, our favourite way to give dogs a mental workout with a cute seasonal theme is with fillable Easter eggs. If you don’t have time to hide the eggs for an Easter egg hunt, just pop your dog’s favourite treats inside, snap the egg shut, and let your dog work on opening them up for the yummy reward inside. It’s a great way to entertain multiple dogs at once, and as the set up is so quick you can easily repeat the game to keep pups busy for as long as you need. Check out our video of Rocco, Violet and Raffles opening their enrichment Easter eggs:
If you’re in need of a game with soft toys, for dogs that have less teeth or are prone to chewing up plastic, this sweet carrot game is another fantastic way to give your dogs a brain work out with a Spring twist. The treats are placed in the holes and carrots ‘planted’ on top, for your dog to pull out with their teeth or dig out with their paws to find the goodies underneath. Each carrot has a squeaker inside for extra entertainment, and the fabric cover can be unzipped from the foam base for easy washing! This toy makes for particularly adorable games as you watch your pups digging up each carrot and working out how to get to the treats.
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Easter gifts for dogs
As we’ve been full time pet sitters since 2018, when it comes to gifts, toys and treats for dogs we’ve seen them all! Here are our top picks for gifts that involve your dog in the Easter fun:
- Easter treats. We love these seasonal ‘chocolate’ mini eggs from Rosewood. As they’re small, they’re great for treating your dog at Easter without overindulging, and they’re the perfect size to fit inside…
- Fillable eggs. As we’ve mentioned, one of our favourite ways to celebrate Easter with dogs is by making them an Easter egg hunt, or using the eggs as enrichment toys! Simple open them up, fill with your pup’s favourite treats and hide them around your home or garden for a cute Easter egg hunt!
- Easter eggs. Even your dog deserves to have an Easter egg of their own! This pack of four dog-safe eggs is perfect if you have more than one pooch in the family. We also love this adorable ‘chocolate’ bunny that can be broken up into pieces for easy sharing amongst multiple dogs.
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- Dress up outfits. We LOVE this full bunny dress up set! The ears and bandana are so sweet together, and the set also comes with a rope carrot toy for your dog to play with! Perfect for an Easter pawtrait photoshoot. If you’re worried about sizing or you struggle to get your dog to wear a headband, these cute bandanas are the perfect Easter accessory for any size dog.
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- Easter toys. This colourful Easter egg-shaped toy is sure to be a hit with dogs that love soft toys. For dogs that love to chew, this carrot toy is super tough and features a squeaker inside. For something that’s cute all year round, we also love this set of rope toys that are great for sharing in a multi-dog household.
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