Hi
My dog has hurt his leg and the vet wants me to just take him on short controlled walks for now....he is only young and has been so used to playing games and having lots of lovely walks off lead, he is now sulking and looks fed up as he is now just spending a lot of time not doing a great deal.....  I was wondering if there are any activities we could do which kept him occupied and stimulated his mind, without being having too much impact on his legs?  all ideas welcome!!

Ask your vet if he can swim. A good session at a hydrotherapy pool will help with the lask of physical exercise. I would train him tricks that didn't invlove leg work (hide his face, wave, give paw, balance and catch a treat on his nose etc.) and play games that are quiet like hiding thing. Hide a toy in another room and he finds it, the shell game with dog treats and plastic cups. Anything mentally challenging will help. Hope he's better soon.

Forgot a couple of favorites. Fill a cardboard box with balled up newspaper and some treats. Then let him rip, you'll have a mess but he'll have a lot of fun. Mine also likes treats in the middle of newspaper balls. He shreds them with delight to find the treats.

great, I love the sound of the newspaper game....do you put seleotape on the newspaper balls or just scrumple the balls up? and  can you tell me how the shell game works? I havent heard of that one before... 
Many thanks for those ideas, one little boy will be a  lot happier now I think. 
I've been looking into the hydrotherapy so I think we will give that a go.

I think a lot of it isn't that the dogs are sad but that we feel sorry that they have to be caged for a number of weeks.  One of my girls badly injured a leg and I cage rested her for 6 weeks.  This was a dog with a brain who was extremely active.  It didn't bother her at all and she was back to her usual self after the 6 weeks were up and luckily didn't need any medical intervention.

I just scrunch the paper up in tight balls. The shell game is my version of the one people play (con-man street game). You put a treat under one cup (upside-down), then put another couple of cups upside down. I make him wait, show him which cup has the treat then release him with "find the cookie". He usually goes to the right cup but he has to pay attention and remember which one has it. I started off with them together but you can change the game so the cups are in different corners of the room, leave the room before the dog comes back, anything to make them use their memory (and to occupy a precious few minutes more).

The swimming has been great. Not only was he completely physically worn out but he is a strong and confident swimmer now in both rivers and the beach.

I'd go for swimming in a hydrotherapy pool and what about a big juicy bone?