7 easy enrichment ideas for your dog

Rachel Williams Author

Keeping your dog’s brain busy is a great way of preventing unwanted behaviours, such as chewing shoes, scratching furniture and excessive barking, while meeting their need to 'act dog'. Enrichment can easily be made part of your dog's daily routine and doesn't need to be costly.

What does enrichment mean? 

Enrichment is just a fancy word used to describe an activity or object that allows your dog to 'act more dog' by using their cognitive ability and five senses to display a natural dog behaviour, such as sniffing, chewing, digging, seeking and eating. 

1. Puzzle feeders 

These are great replacements to the original bowl at any mealtime. It keeps your dog from gulping their meal too quickly as the food is dispensed slower and requires them to use their brain to work out how to get the food out. A few of my favourites are the Kong Wobbler, the Buster Mat and Nina Ottosson’s puzzles. 

2. Stuffable food dispensers 

The beloved Kong is great for this, kibble, wet food and chopped up treats can all be stuffed into these gadgets. You can even freeze them ahead of time to make it more challenging and take longer to eat. There are other stuffable toys out there, such as West Paw and I have even seen similar items in The Range. One of my favourites is to mix kibble and a tin of tuna (along with the spring water) together and freeze. Meg LOVES it when she gets these. If you do freeze your Kong’s just remember to put a metal straw through the holes to prevent your dog’s tongue getting stuck via the suction. To keep things interesting, follow @whatsinmykong on Instagram for some great recipe ideas. 

3. Snuffle mat / licki mat 

Similar to puzzle feeders, these mats can be used instead of the bowl at mealtimes. Snuffle mats are made up of strips of fleece tide to a rubber mat and acts like long grass to hide food in. These can be bought online or independent pet shops or you can make them yourself. This is great for encouraging your dog to use their nose to find the food and put their foraging skills to good use. Unsurprisingly, licki mats encourage dogs to lick! They come in different shapes and textures based on whether you're putting something smooth (peanut butter, pate, Primula etc.) or more chunky (wet food) on it. Licking is a self soothing behaviour for dogs and so can help alleviate stress as well as keep them busy for longer.

4. Long lasting chews 

For those of you who have a dog who loves to chew; antlers, coffee wood and yak milks are great to try. They last a few days; help relax your dog and can be used as a distraction around guests. There are so many chews out there and I have not tested them all, however I do not recommend rawhide in any shape or form. They contain harmful chemicals and can cause digestive blockages. *Some dogs may need to be supervised during their chew time so make sure to remove the chew when you’re not around. Sticks found in the park are not recommended for chewing as they can get stuck in a dog's throat or injure their mouths.

5. Hide and seek / Go find 

I play this with Meg almost every day! It’s so easy to do and this really lets you be imaginative. It is as simple and it sounds, you hide food for your dog to find. Start in one room and let your dog see where you are putting the food to make it easy. I mainly use Meg’s mealtime for this now with a handful of tasty treats hidden in the most concealed places to encourage her to keep going if she gets stuck. Things you can use to stuff with food are: toilet rolls folded at each end, rolled up old towels, delivery boxes, empty cereal boxes, ball pits. You can even vary the height, just under the sofa, on the sofa, on the stairs. You really can be so creative with this one and use your empty containers / cardboard before you recycle them. Once your dog starts to get the game, move it into the garden and scatter in the grass. This is also a very useful trick to use to distract dogs when on walks and to keep them busy whilst waiting for people or other dogs to pass. 

6. Sniffy walks 

Most dogs love their walkies and it can be frustrating when they stop every five steps to sniff. However, sniffing is a great way to tire your dog out. If you’re in a rush and just need your dog to toilet then a few seconds sniffing here and there won’t take up much time and will benefit your dog. On walks where you have more time, and if it is safe to do so, let your dog off lead or use a long line to give your dog the opportunity to follow their nose. It’s fascinating to watch them go back and forth, follow a scent and become totally mesmerised in something we cannot smell! You don’t have to walk for miles and miles following your dog, a safe enclosed area can provide enough enrichment. Remember, not all walks require tons of physical exercise, mental stimulation can be just as tiring to our dogs.

7. Training 

I couldn't write this blog and not recommend training! A training doesn’t have to last a long time, in fact, one on my favourite ways to teach new tricks or solidify known cues is to do ‘kettle training’. This simply means, however long it takes the kettle to boil is how long you train for, so no more than 5 minutes! Done a few times a day soon adds up and you’ll see the benefits to this additional training time shining through. Easy ones to try can be bow, touch, peek a boo, weaving etc.

Categories: : enrichment