With shorter walks and less time outside, dogs can get stir crazy during the winter -- and boredom can lead to overeating, stress and destructive behavior.

But you can keep your dog's brain busy with these fun, easy boredom-busting games (also check out our fun ways to exercise your dog indoors):

Cup game (a.k.a. shell game): Place three upside-down cups in front of your dog. Let her see you put a treat under one of them, then let her tip the cup over to get to the snack. Repeat. Once she's got the hang of it, put the treat under the cup in a way that's hidden from your dog's view, so she has to sniff it out. (Watch It's Me or the Dog's Victoria Stilwell play this game.)

After the jump: Four more fun games!

Senior pets, like people, can suffer mental decline that is not considered a normal part of aging. Last time we wrote about how cognitive dysfunction syndrome, or CDS, is diagnosed. This week we're looking at how using environmental enrichment can prevent or delay it. (Read all our CDS posts.)

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of enriching pets' environments. Games that make your pets think can help with all kinds of behavior issues. (Read about my tub wars with Toby to find out why.)

And there's another benefit to keeping your pet's mind active: Studies show that it can prevent or delay cognitive dysfunction syndrome.

This article is the latest in our series on environmental enrichment for pets, offering easy ways to keep your pet's mind and body active.

If living with, volunteering with and working with cats has taught me anything, it's this: Cats hate change -- except when it comes to toys.

In my house, we always have a few toys out, but the majority are hidden away. Here are just a few reasons why rotating your cat's or dog's toys can be a good thing:

This article is the latest in our series on environmental enrichment for pets, offering easy ways to keep your pet's mind and body active.

Cats love to hide, climb, and pounce -- and you don't need to buy expensive cat furniture to help them satisfy those instincts. I built the cat playhouse in the video above with readily available items and in just a few minutes -- and as you can see, my cats love it.

What you need:
A sharp knife
Two extra-large cardboard boxes (appliance boxes are perfect, but smaller ones that are big enough to hold your cat may work just as well)
Packing tape

This article is the latest in our series on environmental enrichment, offering easy ways to keep your pet's mind and body active.

Many of you made New Year's resolutions to get active with your pet -- but that can be tough when it's too cold to spend much time outside.

Tough, but not impossible! Here are some easy ways you and your dog can have fun and get moving ... indoors.

Are your pets going stir crazy this winter? Are they often home alone? Introducing our new series on environmental enrichment, featuring easy things you can do to make your pet's space more interesting and keep his mind and body active. Check back each week for a new post.

Bored cat? There's an app for that: The New York Times recently listed popular iPhone and iPad apps for cats.

While I'm always looking for way to keep my cats busy (Toby the Terrible attacks my other cats and poops in inappropriate places when he's bored), several of the free iPhone apps I downloaded were ignored by my own furry brood. However, I did find three that they liked.

Below are three popular free iPhone apps for cats (and two that are designed for people but appeal to cats), rated on a scale of one to five paws. Plus, after the jump: some tips for getting your cat interested in iPad or iPhone games.

Pocket Pond (also available for the iPad)
Rating: five paws
Ironically, the app my cats like best was made for people. It offers chirping birds, moving fish that react to your touch, buzzing dragonflies and lifelike water ripples and sounds whenever you touch the screen. Toby and our new adoptee, Wes, even prefer it to my real-life fish tanks!

Cat Toy
Rating: four paws
Cat Toy offers your cat's choice of a moving spider, butterfly, mouse or laser pointer-type light, and includes sounds that react to his paw on the screen. The boy cats loved this one -- Toby and Wes even enjoyed a game of Cat Toy together and cuteness was shared by all.

Cat Game
Rating: three paws
Shown in the video above, this app features a bright light moving around your choice of backgrounds. When your cat taps the screen where the light appears, it vanishes. Although Toby loves laser pointers, this app didn't engage him as much as some of the others, though he did enjoy watching as the light moved around the screen.

Cat Squeaky Toy
Rating: two paws
Maybe because I spend too much time watching cute cat videos on Youtube, but my cats are totally uninterested in weird sounds, and this app features only those: You shake your phone and it emits squeaky-toy sounds, the jingle of a ball, bird chirps, etc. Still, some less-jaded cats could have fun with this app.

Cat Piano Jr. (also available for the iPad)
Rating: one paw
Basically a keyboard that delivers different cat meows when the keys are pressed, this is not specifically made for cats. However, it's featured in several YouTube videos with cats reacting positively, so I decided to try it out. Unfortunately, the app wouldn't play sound after I downloaded it and my cats just walked away.

After the jump: tips for getting your cat interested in iPad or iPhone games.