• While welcoming a new puppy into your home, you quickly discover his never-ending levels of energy. New puppy owners also discover that puppies learn easily when teaching becomes part of their regular care routine. Part of caring for a puppy includes playing with him and teaching him what he needs to know as part of his new family. Playing games with a puppy helps care for him and exposes him to new skills.
  
  

Hiding Games

• Puppies have a naturally curious instinct. If left unattended, this inquisitiveness may get them into trouble. Hiding games take the puppy's instinct and use it to nurture and care for his needs. For instance, "Hide and Seek" teaches the puppy several skills, including reinforcing the command "wait" while he waits for you to find a place to hide.
  
  Hiding dog treats in several places around a room and then inviting the puppy in to find the goodies uses his energy to locate each one with his vision and sense of smell. The puppy enjoys his human's applause as he locates each prize and enjoys his reward.
  
  

Exercise Games

• Hill's, experts in pet nutrition, suggest playing games with your puppy that involve physical exercise. These games help prevent obesity and promote health. Additionally, choosing games to exercise the puppy helps use up much of his boundless energy, which humans may appreciate at night when they want to relax. Hill's also warns pet owners that part of puppy care includes using puppy-safe toys in games.
  
  Fetch games using balls or Frisbees encourage the puppy to run and chase the toy. It sharpens his concentration as he learns to focus on these targets flying his way.
  
  ClickerTraining.com says that dog agility games teach dogs to navigate obstacles and to recognize cues given by his owner. Starting a puppy on basic agility skills, such as steering through polls or jumping or walking over small hurdles can help create a bond between him and his caregiver.
  
  

Play Dates

• According to PuppyEducation.com, exposing your puppy to other dogs, animals and people teaches him the social skills he needs to function throughout life. Puppies enjoy playing games natural to them with other dogs. During this important playtime, they learn from older dogs about manners and acceptable verses unacceptable behaviors.
  
  A puppy also benefits by seeing new people and new environments. This presents an opportunity during this game time to teach him good manners, such as not jumping on people when greeting them.
  
  Prior to setting up play dates with other dogs, puppies should have had all of the appropriate vaccinations. This should usually happen by the time the puppy reaches 16 weeks of age.