Although the cold weather is making potty training a breeze, it isn't doing much for her love of outdoors. We do have a doggy coat for her, and I make it a point to have a great outdoor play day on warmer days (20's or 30's this time of year).

I am wondering some alternatives to outdoor fun on those bitter days that neither of us particularly care to be outdoors.

We do play fetch, but how far she can run is very limited. We also do some hide and seek (toy, me, treat).

Any other great ideas I haven't thought of? I was thinking of attempting to teach her her toys by name. Lining them up and telling her to get her ____ and throwing a party when she gets and brings the right one. I think this will activate her mind for sure.

Teach her to wait for a retrieve.
Begin teaching directional commands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM8ySAOngnM

This is a snapshot of his DVD.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I live in Michigan also.  I'm located in the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior.  People refer to this area as "God's Country" for a number of reasons.  It really is beautiful here, but "God's Country" is subjective term, based on how much you enjoy a long winter and outdoor activities.  One thing for sure is we get our share of winter weather here, starting in October and not ending until May.  My GSP is exercised three times a day, regardless of the weather.  She wouldn't have it any other way.  I jokingly tried to explain the wind-chill factor to her a few times when she was demanding her time outside to play, but regardless of the the zero temps, she doesn't care.  I had to purchase a coat for her and it offers her some protection.  She still shivers, but is determined to run and play and chase her throw-toy.  I do limit the time we spend outside on those type of days, but it has never kept us from out daily routine of morning, early afternoon and evening play time.  And I wouldn't have it any other way, because her need for exercise gets me out of the house when all I want to do is sit and be lazy.  I estimate that I walk between 10-14 miles a week because of my dog and her need to be active, so it's a big plus.  Weather isn't going to stop us. 

-27C (-16F) here today blargh. Hate to be that typical Canadian complaining about the cold, but to be honest, we've actually have been blessed by a very mild winter (usually -1 to 10C / 30-50F) until just today.

Games we try:
- I throw kibble down the stairs or down the hallways, they need to run back up to get the next piece of kibble
- hiding kibble in the couch, under their dog beds, under the rug, for them to find
- proofing "here", I have them sit, then use a number of other words other than "here"
- like pixie bee suggested, I try working directional commands also. I start with "here" and the hand signal, then to make it harder, I omit the word here and just the hand signal. Or we work on whistle commands.

I might give the wait to retrieve a try later!

-16 Farenheit would keep me inside with the dog also.  Never had to deal with it getting that cold since I got Sadie.  We're good to go down to about zero and then I have to think twice before walking her too much.  Also, for those of you that don't know this, there is a Facebook page that was just started only for GSP owners.  I just posted a bunch of pictures there (real easy to do). 

I never met a dog yet that likes the rain !

Same weather here today.  1 degree F with 20-30 mph winds making for -15 wind chill.  Dog bugged me and bugged me all morning to go out (usual routine that she is used to).  So, I gave her toy to her and sent her outside for  few minutes and watched through the window (usually I go with her).   She was back in the garage in a minute or two.  We did spend an hour outside later, with three five minute warm-up periods in the house during that time.  She just doesn't care how cold it is, she just wants to run and play.  I was dressed warm and she had her coat on but it wasn't enough.  Was worried she would get too cold.  Oh, well.  Winter is winter.

Just laughing at you guys talking about them hating the rain. The only time Kintra didnt pull on the lead was when it was raining, due to a lack of enthusiasm! Keely appears to be the same so maybe i should being taking advantage of our foul scottish weather to train heel and loose leash instead of waiting for the rain to stop before going for a walk

The rain certainly has a bad affect on her toilet training though - she does ask to go outside to pee when it's raining but unfortunately insists on venturing no further than the doormat and peeing on it, then people wipe their feet on it before coming into the house and walking her pee all over the place - so glad i've got wipable floors

My friend's GSP is obsessed with the laser pointer. So she thought, I'll point it outside, and sure enough her GSP ran right out. Only problem is now she sits at the door whining for the light. (The GSP, not my friend " align="absMiddle" src="/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/blue/emoticons/biggrin.gif" />)