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Mental Enrichment

Adequate mental stimulation is a critical part of your dog’s emotional and psychological well-being. Think of your dog’s energy as a reservoir that needs to drain daily. If you plug up too many outlets (no digging in the flower bed, no chewing on sticks, no stealing socks, no sniffing poop on walks), the reservoir will overflow in other undesirable ways, like destructive chewing or barking. Your best bet for avoiding these destructive boredom behaviors is to provide sanctioned outlets for your dog’s canine needs. The following are some ideas for stimulating your dog’s natural instincts.

 

Training

Every kibble is a training opportunity. Use your dog’s daily rations as rewards in short and sweet training sessions throughout the day.

Tricks: In addition to basic manners training, teach your dog fun tricks like shake, sit pretty, play bow, crawl, play dead, roll over, spin, weave through your legs, jump through a hoop, put away her toys, and more.

Desensitization: Use your dog’s food to help create a positive association with things they would otherwise find scary or uncomfortable, such as body handling (handling of ears, paws, mouth, etc.), grooming, vacuums, loud action movies, and other strange new things. Just make sure the food always comes after the thing your dog is unsure about. Order matters!

Eating

“Dogs in the wild face puzzles every day. They have to find food, water and a safe place to sleep. Our dogs have all this provided: they get their food in a dish, their water is always available and their cozy basket sits in the corner. Dogs need to use their brains to keep occupied, happy and well-balanced.” – Sarah Whitehead, Mind Games for Dogs

Puzzle toys: Aside from rubber Kongs (see “Chewing” section), you can put your dog’s kibble in puzzle toys so they can work for their meals. A few of my favorites below, but you can also explore DIY options such as scattering your dog’s kibble in the lawn for him to eat one kibble at a time, hiding kibble in a twisted towel, or make your own slow feed bowl by placing some big river rocks in your dog’s food bowl (they must be large enough that your dog won’t try to eat it; supervise them the first time you try this). If you are strapped for time and really must feed your dog out of a bowl, choose a slow feeder bowl so she can’t just gulp it down in 30 seconds with little to no effort. Dogs were meant to work for their food — a study from Sweden shows that dogs prefer to earn their food.

Snoop

Toppl

Brick Puzzle

Slow Feeder

Kong Wobbler

Snufflemat

Chewing

Natural chews: There are many natural chews on the market, and the ones I like are bully sticks, Himalayan chews, Wholesome Hide rolls, tendon, beef esophagus, cow ears, and Gorilla chews (java wood). I try to avoid bleached bones with no tissue attached (too hard, and can crack a dog’s molar), dried bones with tissue attached (can harbor salmonella), antlers (too hard), and bleached rawhides. Always supervise your dog when they are working on edible chews, and take it away (trade them some tasty treats) when it’s small enough that they might try to swallow it.

Kongs: Feeding your dog with stuffable food toys (e.g., Kong, Squirrel Dude) is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to satisfy your canine’s need to chew. These toys repackage the food your dog is going to eat anyway, but make them work for it. 

How to introduce a Kong

Move onto the next step when dog gets efficient at getting the food out.

  1. Stuff Kongs with dry kibble and leave in puppy playpen.
  2. Soak kibble in some water or broth and loosely stuff into Kong
  3. Put a treat at the top of the Kong and then pack densely with soaked kibble
  4. Same as Step 3, but freeze it (do not freeze prematurely or you’ll risk making it too difficult; your dog may choose to give up instead of enjoying a good challenge)
  5. Time to get creative! Pack layers of yogurt, peanut butter, cream cheese, canned food, stick a carrot in the center, then freeze it to make an exciting puppy popsicle

Dissecting

Busy box: Place a yummy chew, like a retriever roll, inside an empty cardboard box and reseal the box with packing tape. Give your dog a “destroy” cue so she doesn’t attack all boxes. If she pounces on the box before you give the cue, the box gets taken away for a few seconds/minutes. A few warnings: 1) always supervise your dog to make sure she doesn’t try to ingest cardboard or tape, 2) supervise your dog while they are working on the chew, taking it away when it gets small enough that she may try to swallow it, and 3) there will be pieces of cardboard and tape everywhere after your dog finishes dissecting the box. 

Variations: wrap the prize in packing paper and tape that up; nest differently-sized cardboard boxes together with a few lower-value treats in each level, and the grand prize in the innermost box.

Old socks, t-shirts, and other rags: Wrap a chew in layers of old clothing you’re planning to discard anyway. The more knots you tie, the longer it will take for your dog to reach the chew. If it’s your dog’s first time, keep it to one layer to avoid frustration–this should be slightly challenging, but still fun!

Sniffing

Sniff walks: Make one walk per day a sniff walk! Instead of trying to cover a certain distance on your walk, decide how long you want to spend on the walk and just go home when the time is up. On the walk, you’ll allow your dog to sniff anything they’re interested in, for as long as they want. The only rules are 1) the thing they’re sniffing is safe, 2) they don’t try to eat it, and 3) they got there on a loose leash. You may only get a block or two away from your house before you have to turn around– but that’s okay! Often this tires the dogs out more than a longer, more strenuous jog, during which they don’t get an opportunity to sniff or exercise their brains.

Find it: Start by placing a treat on the ground and say “find it.” Praise your dog when they eat it. Once they understand “find it” means locate the treat on the ground, place your dog in another room while you hide three treats. Hide them in conspicuous places the first few times you play, such as in front of a table leg, next to their water bowl, on the ground in the middle of the room. (I would caution against “hiding” treats on coffee tables, or else your dog may learn to swipe things off the coffee table.) Release your dog from the other room and tell him “find it!” and watch him find all the treats. If he looks at you and there are still treats left, tell him “find another.” When he finds the last treat, praise your dog and say “all done.” In subsequent repetitions, increase the difficulty of the hiding places so that the treats are no longer visible, and your dog has to use his nose to sniff them out.

Breadcrumbs: Take your dog’s dinner into the backyard and lay down a trail of kibbles for her to follow and eat one at a time. Extra points if you have a lawn and she has to sniff out each kibble.

Trail to treat: Sprinkle a trail of dried herbs in a trail that leads to a prize at the end (prizes can be a yummy treat, a stuffed Kong, a bully stick, cow’s ear, etc.)

Playing

Tug: Contrary to a popular myth, playing tug with your dog does not make them more aggressive. Tugging is a cooperative, relationship-building game that gives your domestic dog a rare opportunity to satisfy their instinct to grab, bite, hold, and shake. Due to the nature of the game, there is potential for harm if the dog gets too excited, so follow these rules of the game:

  1. Teeth on human skin ends the game (at least for a few seconds/minutes)
  2. No grabbing the toy unless you say the cue “get it”
  3. If you ask for “drop,” dog must drop. If dog doesn’t drop, make the toy go dead (pin it to the ground) until dog lets go.
  4. Reward a successful drop by giving the toy back immediately, giving the “get it” cue.
  5. Never end the game by asking for a drop. (That would be punishing your dog for dropping it!)
  6. If dog loses the toy (without you asking for a drop), she’s not allowed to retake until you say “get it.” Ask her for a behavior (e.g., sit, down, spin, sit pretty, touch, etc.) before rewarding her with “get it.” For a beginner dog, just ask her to wait before you release her to “get it.”
  7. Let the dog win ~50% of the time. Let her almost pull you over with her impressive strength, tell her how strong she is, and praise her for winning the game.
  8. Do not chase the dog around when she wins! She can prance around proudly with the toy in her mouth, but if she wants to resume the game, she will have to bring it back to you.

Fetch: The retrieve is a perfect training opportunity for dogs who love to chase and fetch. Ask your dog for behaviors they know before throwing the ball or toy. Ask your dog to wait before you release them to fetch.

Flirt pole: Use a flirt pole to simulate a small prey animal for your dog to catch. Flirt poles are basically just oversized cat wand toys and are available at pet stores, or you can easily make your own with a PVC tube, some cord, and a fleece tug toy.

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