Stay-At-Home Enrichment for Your Dog

For full descriptions of all of the exercises below please visit:
https://www.animalbehaviourcoaching.com.au/blog/stay-at-home-enrichment
 
Stay-at-home enrichment activities are suitable for any dog to try as an addition to regular exercise, or as a substitution for those dogs that cannot be exercised due to illness or injury, cannot be walked for the safety of themselves or others, or for dogs whose owners are unable to exercise them.

When determining the best suited enrichment activity for your dog, you will first need to observe how your dog interacts with its environment. You then need to develop activities to enhance the environmental and behavioural opportunities for your dog in its daily activities. Your dog is more likely to succeed at activities that it naturally finds enjoyable. The ideas provided are by no means an exhaustive list, and not all activities will be suited to all dogs or situations. It is important that you trial different ideas, under supervision initially, to determine what works best for you and your dog.

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Aim

• Ask your dog to earn a reward by using different parts of their brain
• Mentally stimulate your dog whilst teaching it new behaviours
  
• Keep your dog settled despite minimising exercise and/or changing their routine

Recommended items

• Toys your dog enjoys
• Cardboard boxes, KONG original toy (or another brand of hollow, rubber, washable toy)
• Plastic cup(s)
• Small treats your dog likes (no larger than the size of your little fingernail)
• Try to avoid or minimise fatty treats (eg butter, cheese, meat fat, kabana, ham) that can cause digestive problems such as pancreatitis
  • Wet or dry dog food
  • Boiled chicken
  • Diced carrot, sweet potato, or other dog-safe vegetables
  • Spreadable toppings e.g. vegemite or peanut butter (MUST NOT contain xylitol as toxic for dogs)
  • Chews e.g. sheep/pig/cow ear (can cut with secateurs), vet-advised dental chew, natural rawhide

NOTE: if your dog is allergic or intolerant to any of the above foods, please substitute for an appropriate alternative and ONLY use food that is safe for your individual dog. If you are unsure, please consult your veterinarian.

Preparation

• Choose an area of the house or garden where you are happy for your dog to eat and get food on.
• Multi-dog households may require dogs to be physically separated for enrichment if:
• There is ANY food-related aggression.
• There is ANY resource-guarding aggression i.e. aggression over you, your friends, or a member of your family when interacting with any of the dogs.
• When together, their arousal levels increase to a point where they no longer listen i.e. they get over-excited.
• One dog is more confident or quicker than others and consistently gets the food reward faster, making it less enriching or unfair for the other dog(s).
  • Supervise your dog during these games/exercises to ensure they remain safe.

Techniques
Food Scatters:
Food scatters can be used in addition, or as a replacement, to meals.

• Grab a handful or portion of dry food/kibble and throw it over a grassy or textured surface (e.g. shagpile rug or snuffle mat)
• Your dog has to use its nose to find their food before eating.
  • Rub the food into the surface so it embeds lower down to increase the difficulty once your dog understands the activity

NOTE: Routines are very important to dogs, particularly if they are anxious, so if using at meal-times, please still provide some food in your dog’s bowl for consistency in addition to the scattered ration.

Hide & Seek:
Best used for dogs who know ‘Fetch/Get It’ with toys and understands a short ‘Stay/Wait’ cue.
Chewing Toys:

• Toys such as the original KONG are useful as washable, chewable toys that come in different rubber formulations and colours depending on the kind of chewer your dog is:
• Puppy pink or blue for puppies;
• Classic red for general chewers;
• Extreme black for power chewers;
• Senior purple for older dogs or those with tender mouths.
• Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-A9pL7_3do to determine if your dog is a gentle, average, or power chewer.

Training:
When your dog is rewarded for displaying the correct behaviour, it increases their confidence through positive reinforcement. Things that dogs find rewarding include food, toys, games, praise/attention, and patting/massage. Positive reinforcement has been associated with the least amount of undesirable behaviours when compared to other training methods.
Tug Games and Fetch:
Even if not being walked, tug and fetch games can be played inside and outside the house, depending on your individual circumstances.
Scent Games:
Your dog has a much greater sense of smell than we do as humans. Studies have shown that dogs can detect odours from fingerprints left on a pane of glass 6 weeks prior! Asking dogs to use their sense of smell to gain a reward (e.g. finding tasty food) can really work their brain!

Puzzle Toys:
These are toys designed to teach your dog to problem solve by working out how they retrieve a treat from an object. This can be in the form of a purchased toy, such as the Nina Ottosson range where they have to slide or remove part of the toy to uncover the treat. Alternatively, there are many toys you can make at home, including:

• A cardboard box full of scrunched up paper or knotted rags can be great to scatter dry treats/kibble into for your dog to find.
• They may also really enjoy tearing this apart so be prepared to clean up the mess!
• Treats in the cardboard centres of toilet rolls or paper towel rolls, in cardboard egg trays, in plastic milk or soft drink bottles (lid off), with or without holes cut in them, all make great DIY puzzle toys.
• Towels or rags folded, rolled, or knotted with treats inside can also make great puzzle toys.
• NOTE: this style of enrichment is not suitable if your dog ingests non-food objects as life-threatening obstruction can result.
  

Dr. Emma Vermeeren