What makes a dog a dog is sniffing, forging, digging, socializing, shredding, tasting, chewing, and playing and are all important things that make our dogs who they are.

Canine enrichment opportunities that help meet your dog’s needs provide so many benefits. 

All dogs benefit from enrichment in many ways and gives your dog a fuller life. 

That includes learning appropriate engagement with people, and exploring the world through play.

• Enrichment helps manage innate behaviors such as sniffing, seeking, shredding, digging, chewing, playing, and socializing.

• Creating space for supervised and managed innate behaviors allows your dog to think and problem solve, and reduces boredom and anxiety.

• Enrichment activities encourage dog specific behaviors and the mental and physical stimulation to think and problem solve.

• Enrichment games are fun and engaging for both you and your furry teammate.

• Enrichment activities will enhance and grow your special bond with your beloved pup grow.

• Enrichment helps senior dogs continue to enjoy a full life despite physical limitations.

• Enrichment can work for behavior concerns.

• Enrichment helps build a strong relationship with you.

• Enrichment activities is an opportunity to get to know your dog.

• Helps calm over excited dogs and leash pulling.

 

Enrichment is about accepting your dog for who he is and seeking out appropriate ways for your dog to engage in innate behaviors.

For example, for dogs that love to dig up the yard, set up a sand box exclusively for your dog to dig.

Another Example is sniffing.  Sniffing is essential to dog’s well- being and it is an important part of who they are.  It is calming and reduces anxiety.  It also activates the seeking system part of the brain, thus greatly improving your dog’s focus, attention, and mood.  Don’t we all want that for our Pups?!

Enrichment activities let them sniff!

 

Providing enrichment opportunities that redirect destructive innate behaviors to positive outlets allow your dog to thrive and your bond to grow because your dog will love you for letting him be his authentic self in positive ways.

Learning what your dog enjoys and finds rewarding will not just help you with training, but is fun!  You will learn through enrichment what your dog values the most, and learn how to use that to create incredible training opportunities!  

Through enrichment training, your dog will get to have positive experiences with a wide variety of smell, textures, sounds, movements, and tastes.

So, is there an innate behavior that you want to change, for example, chewing? Let us get busy discovering how you can meet that through behavior.

 

• Create enrichment yard or room.

• Include enrichment in a puppy, manners, or teens class.

• Offer a class on enrichment, games, or dog parkour.

ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES MENTIONED:

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• Decompression Walk:let your dog set the pace and direction of the walk letting them sniff and explore a new environment.

• Snuffle Mat:Encourages “all four paws on the ground” during greetings.

Pair snuffle mat with person at door. 

Have person at the door toss a treat into the snuffle mat.  Let your Pup “go sniff” instead of jumping on visitors and is an excellent resource for dogs with stranger danger.

Put snuffle at each station for sniff game.  Teach clients how to use snuffle mat.

• “Find It” Game:Toss treats onto the ground and say “find it.”

• Seek & Find Game

• Muffin Tin Game

• Enrichment Box