Dog enrichment is a term you’ll run across a lot while you’re looking for dog trainers… or if you’ve done a Google search to find out if your dog’s weird behaviors are actually normal. There’s a reason you keep hearing about enrichment. It’s an important part of nurturing desirable behavior in your dog and helps keep them mentally fit and stress-free.
What is canine enrichment anyway? Let’s do a deep dive into canine enrichment, why it’s so important, and how you can easily provide enrichment for your dog.
What Is Enrichment?
Dog enrichment means providing your dog with an engaging way to act on their natural instincts. This sort of engagement stimulates your dog’s brain and helps them live a more relaxed daily life.
Behavior experts recognize 5 types of enrichment for dogs.
Social - Socializing your dog to different environments, sounds, textures, animals (including other dogs), objects, experiences, and people is so important. This socialization and exposure helps build their confidence and trust, helping them to interact with the world in a calm manner. In particular, the 3 to 12 week puppyhood phase is a crucial time to get your pup some proper socialization!
Feeding- Feeding enrichment means having your dog use the foraging skills that come naturally. Snuffle mats and puzzle feeders are two ways to provide this. You can also throw food in a box full of papers or scatter pieces throughout your house to simulate foraging.
Cognitive- Mental exercise is just as important to your dog as physical exercise. Cognitive enrichment provides a workout for your dog’s brain so they stay mentally fit. Hide and seek, obstacle courses, and puzzle feeders provide cognitive stimulation for your dog.
Sensory- This relates to activities that require your dog to use their senses. Sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch all need to be actively engaged. This can be done through activities like chasing bubbles or playing with a teaser toy or flirt pole. A game of hide and seek or a sniff walk lets your dog use their nose. Any form of interactive play engages your dog’s senses and provides enrichment.
Physical- This is the easiest form of the bunch. Physical enrichment is simply keeping your dog active. This can be done through walks, hiking, or games like catch and tug of war. The amount of physical activity your dog needs varies by breed, as well as by individual.
What Are The Benefits Of Enrichment?
A dog that is provided with enrichment activities is less likely to engage in destructive behaviors. Dogs get destructive out of boredom, anxiety, or a combination of the two. Dogs that are provided with enrichment activities are basically “too tired” to chew up the couch or your shoes. They are also being allowed to “dog” which helps them feel more comfortable in their home and gives them a feeling of control so they have lower levels of stress. In addition to providing an outlet for energy, physical and mental enrichment activities help your dog understand your boundaries and their place in the home.
The social aspects of enrichment are also beneficial. Socialization is an aspect of enrichment that can get overlooked. When not regularly exposed to other dogs or people, your dog can forget the “etiquette” they learned as a puppy. This can lead to awkward meetings with other dogs and even reactivity. A well-socialized dog knows how to act, how to respond, and is more comfortable in unfamiliar settings.
Dog Enrichment: Myth vs Fact
Myth: Your dog should always be stimulated.
Fact: No! An overstimulated dog will be jumpy, stressed out, and destructive. Overstimulation can lead to poor sleep, chewing, and licking… all the things enrichment is meant to prevent. Just like a furry toddler, your dog needs time to wind down and decompress.
Myth: If I allow my dog to shred a box or paper, he’ll think everything is fair game and will shred my couch.
Fact: This is a huge misconception. Your dog instinctively wants to dig, shred, and chew on things. Providing them with a proper outlet allows them to engage in this perfectly normal behavior while setting a boundary.
Myth: Enrichment games need to be super challenging or your dog isn’t getting mentally stimulated.
Fact: We’ve all gotten frustrated at a difficult puzzle and thought about drop-kicking it. Your dog can get frustrated too. Enrichment games should be fun. Start off with easy games so your dog doesn’t get frustrated and bored right away. If you have a very smart dog, or your dog seems to be getting bored, go ahead and make it more challenging.
Myth: Enrichment toys are expensive and very elaborate.
Fact: Sure you can splurge on a few items here and there, but many enrichment toys are reasonably priced. As for elaborate, you can’t get much easier than filling a hole with peanut butter. You can even DIY basic enrichment toys for your dog. A box filled with big plastic balls with treats scattered around, or a muffin tin covered with tennis balls with food in only a few of the cups are popular DIY solutions. You can get some more fun ideas here.
Pet Waggin’s Done-For-You Enrichment Service
Because we know just how important enrichment is and we’ve seen how it can affect a dog’s daily life, we want to make it as easy as possible to get enrichment into your daily routine! Whether you’re busy, working long hours at work, travel a lot, or just simply don’t want to have to think about how to creatively engage your dog’s brain, we will do the work for you. With our Enrichment service, we provide your dog with 30 minutes of enrichment activities. We will tailor their session to your individual dog and their needs. Maybe they’re in need of some puzzle time… or a game of hide and seek… or a sniff walk. Whatever they’re situation, we’ll make sure we’re leaving your dog engaged and satisfied… but not frustrated or overworked.
Pet Waggin’s Enrichment service is the perfect solution for Long Beach dogs in need of some daily engagement! Book your dog’s Enrichment service now by logging into your Client Portal.