With excitement building ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games, why not set up your own Pet Olympics with your four-legged friends? Not only will you and your pet have heaps of fun, but you can also provide them with a good dose of exercise.
From opening ceremonies to athletic events, archery competitions and sailing tournaments, we have a wealth of ideas to get you and your four-legged friends active and excited.
Follow this guide to hosting a Pet Olympics
Before you begin:
As a pet parent, safety is always at the forefront of your mind. When selecting materials for your Pet Olympic games, ensure they are pet-friendly, undamaged and have no sharp edges. Ensure your pet has full supervision for each event and avoid trying to force them to do things they don’t want to do. This is all about creating a safe and fun environment for your pet!
Starting with an opening ceremony…
Every significant event needs a grand ceremony to begin proceedings. Get into the spirit of the games by playing your pet’s favourite songs while they parade around the room, getting excited about the games to come. They could carry a flag or toy torch and wear bandanas with the Australian flag.
Gymnastics
Create a low balance beam from a sturdy plank of wood. Guide your pet to walk along the beam, stand on their hind legs, and engage in other poses such as sitting or bowing. Use a sturdy box and cushions to create a “pet vault.” Encourage your pet to jump onto the box and land on the soft cushion.
Lay out yoga mats or foam squares and get your pet to have fun with a floor routine. This could include spins, rolls, and jumps; you could even include props such as rings for them to jump through or ribbons to interact with.
Or, like Olympic gymnasts combined with world-class runners, see if your pet can beat the world record that this dog holds:
Check out Sweet Pea, a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd cross who ran 100 meters in 2 minutes and 55 seconds while balancing a can on her head!
Hurdles
Purchase a set of agility hurdles, or get creative and make your own. You could use crates or boxes with poles threaded through or make mini hurdles from PVC pipes or pool noodles. For small dogs and cats, start around 6 inches so that the jump is manageable for your pet. For larger dogs, try hurdles around 12 inches; you can always adjust the height based on your pet’s size and agility.
Set out a course; this could be a straight line, a “track” (circle), or a zigzag pattern. Ensure that there is enough space between each hurdle. Start easy to build your pet’s confidence, and you can increase the height as they gain confidence.
You can also continue your hurdles into an obstacle course with simple household items such as cones, cardboard boxes, blankets, and collapsible tunnels. Create zigzag courses, jumps, and tunnel runs. You can change the course around to make it fun and engaging for your pet and get creative with your own ideas!
High jump
Create a high jump with a pole or broomstick and encourage your pet to leap over it. Gradually increase the height to see how high your pet can reach. You can also stack toilet rolls across a corridor, increasing the height one toilet roll at a time until your pet knocks them over.
For those who want their pet to be the next Olympic superstar, Amazon have a range of various agility courses and fitness equipment for dogs!
Pentathlon
Host your own pet pentathlon, or ‘Doglympics’ by completing five tricks across five categories: hoops, balls, balance beam, fetch, and torch relay, and maybe walk away with the gold medal.
Still, it’s not only dogs who get to compete in the pentathlon – you can create your own event for cats and smaller pets. There are plenty of activities that smaller pets will be able to try, including:
- Come when called
- Jump through a hoop
- Give you a high-five
- Shake hands/paws with you
- Give you a kiss
- Stand on hind legs
- Speak on command
- Stay
- Roll over
- Spin or complete a figure of eight by following your guidance
- Walk on a leash
- Climb something safe and size-appropriate like a cat or rabbit climbing tower
- Ring a bell
- Guess the cup or hand (that’s holding something)
Shot Put
Think of shot put like a reverse game of fetch where the aim is for your pet to place an item – like a ball, toy, or frisbee – onto a chosen target. You could incorporate this with an archery-style event and create a large target with more points awarded as they get closer to the centre.
Boxing
Hang a ball or soft toy and encourage your pet to “box” it by hitting it with their paw. It’s easy to create a mini boxing gym for your pet using PVC pipes or a cutout cardboard box, string, and toys. Include a variety of toys in different colours and textures, plus some that make noises when you bat them. This will add enrichment and keep your pet motivated to explore the toys.
You can also swing the toys to create moving obstacles, which helps your pet develop hand-eye coordination.
Football
See how many goals your pet can score in the Pet Olympics. Don’t worry if you haven’t got a goal; use a large box or two posts or craft your own using wood or PVC pipes. Take it in turns to let your pet be the striker and the goalkeeper and see which position they are best suited to!
If you have a garden or outdoor area, encourage your pet to dribble the ball before aiming at the target. This is a great way to get fresh air and bond with your pet while keeping them active and healthy.
Table tennis
Set up a game of paw pong with a lightweight ball that you bat backwards and forwards with your pet.
If you have a larger dog, they may be able to hold the paddle in their mouth and hit the ball back to you. But this will be far too tricky for cats and smaller dogs; instead, sit opposite your pet and bounce a ping pong ball across the floor to them. Encourage them to hit the ball with their paws – extra points if they hit it back to you!
Sailing
Place a small boat into a shallow tray of water and train your pet to use their paw to push it from one end to the other. You could also include other water sports in your event with toys to retrieve (such as plastic fish), items to catch (like moving boats or other wind-up toys) or even swimming (probably not one for the cats!)
And finally, the closing ceremony of your pet olympics
Reward your pet(s) for completing the 2024 Pet Olympics with a closing ceremony. Play a slideshow with any videos and highlights you have captured while praising them for being a good boy or girl.
Create a podium out of cardboard boxes and award each pet with a medal, certificate or treat. You could even have a special (pet-friendly) buffet of their favourite food to round out the tournament.
And most importantly, post pics of your pet olympics and tag @madpawsau so we can see too!
