Getting rich means meeting the needs of animals. It’s not about keeping the dog busy or tiring it out, but more about encouraging, facilitating, and empowering it to engage in species-specific behaviors. It keeps dogs emotionally, mentally, and physically healthy, and helps reduce and prevent behavioral problems.
Rich activities actually have a positive, observable, and measurable impact on behavior change. Let’s say your dog is crazy about deliveries. But on those days he has a push-up before that it only barked for one minute instead of three. Or on the mornings you feed your baby breakfast, he’ll be much calmer and lie down instead of commuting when you go to work. Let’s explore three easy dog enrichment ideas that will make a positive impact on your dog.
Dog enrichment idea 1: Scattered feeding
Mealtimes are a must, so why not make them richer? Scattered feeding is an extremely easy way to exploit a dog’s innate desire to forage. It works best with kibble, but you can substitute other low-calorie dry foods like Cheerios to mix it up.
- Measure out your dog’s meal and take it out.
- Small start. Sprinkle the food in a 2-foot-wide area, encouraging your dog to forage in the surrounding area.
- Increase sprinkling space gradually to cover as wide an area as possible.
If you feed for free, then distributed feeding may not be as effective. Just one more reason no free food your dog!
You can also do this indoors using rugs, blankets, even newspaper if your dog doesn’t eat inedibles.
And don’t worry, Scattered feeding doesn’t mean your dog will eat everything he finds outside.
Dog Enrichment Idea 2: Sniffaris
Dog’ nose their super power. A short walk, aka sniffari, can do wonders for your dog’s mental state. Breathing releases dopamine, the “feel-good” chemical in the brain that promotes calm. Walk around wherever your dog directs you, even if it means investigating the same spot for a few minutes. Use one long lead so your dog can freely explore. And change it: Walk the dog in different places, take different paths, and encourage outstanding experience where there are many new smells.
Dog enrichment idea 3: Digging
Yes, you should encourage your dog to dig! Digging is a species-specific behavior that we unfortunately tend to punish rather than encourage. And by providing the right places for him to dig, he’ll be less likely to disrupt your garden!
- Build or buy a sandbox and place it in a shaded place. Children’s pools also make great sandboxes.
- Most dogs don’t need much encouragement to start raking soft sand, but you can always bury treats or a favorite toy to get things moving.
- Tick/click as your dog digs.
- If it tries to dig somewhere else in the yard, use a positive interrupt (such as “oopsie!” or “sorry” or “too bad”) and gently lure it to your sandbox with a gift.
- You may have to repeat this several times, especially if your dog has torn the grass.
Getting rich must also be sustainable in the long run for people. Figuring out what’s beneficial for your dog can take some time, but once you’ve got a series of activities that benefit each of your dogs, you can easily provide at least a few. quick opportunities each day to support both your schedule and your dog’s needs.
