Enrichment provides mental stimulation and physical exercise and is an integral part of a dog’s daily life. It doesn’t have to be a chore for you, though! If you lead a busy lifestyle or don’t have the budget for many store-bought enrichment toys, try these four options for easy enrichment activities.
The majority of dog enrichment is food-based. The goal is to make it more difficult for the dog to access the food, which engages their problem-solving skills and slows down their eating to prevent life-threatening conditions like bloat. You can make many common household objects into enrichment toys!
- Cardboard tube. Instead of throwing your next paper towel or toilet paper tube away, fold in the sides of one end, add some treats, and then fold in the opposite end to create a closed treat-filled tube. Your pup will have a great time pushing it around until they figure out how to tear it open. To make it more difficult, save multiple tubes, put some treats inside each without folding the ends, then place them in a shoebox. Your dog will need to get the shoebox open, then figure out how to roll the tubes to dispense the treats.
- Lick Mats. Store-bought lick mats are made of silicone and have a pattern of raised ridges. You can make your own by spreading peanut butter over a cutting board or in an ice cube tray and freezing it. If you have a silicone pot holder, that’s even better because it is essentially the same as a lick mat and is easily cleaned in the dishwasher. Especially when frozen, lick mats keep your pup entertained for a decent amount of time.
- Muffin Tin Puzzle. If you’ve got a spare muffin tin and some tennis balls, then you have a great enrichment toy on your hands! Put a couple of treats in each tin, and cover each with a tennis ball. This will teach your dog to pick up or nudge them out of the way to access the treats. Once they’ve mastered that, you can try only placing treats in some of the tins, but cover them all with balls.
- Snuffle bins. With a cardboard box and some pieces of scrap paper and fabric, you can create a great enrichment activity. Crumple up scrap pieces of paper and fabric to fill the box a bit. You can use as much or as little as you like. Then, toss in your dog’s kibbles for dinner or just a few treats. Give the box a shake so that some settle to the bottom, while others become trapped in the crumpled paper or covered by the fabric. Then, let your pup have a go at sniffing out all the pieces!
While these are all great options for enrichment that you don’t have to be actively engaged in with your dog, you should always make sure your pup is adequately supervised while interacting with it. No toy, puzzle, or feeder is completely indestructible, so you must watch them and make sure they don’t hurt themselves or ingest non-food materials.
For more training tips and fun facts about dogs, be sure to browse more articles on our blog. If you need training or obedience classes schedules, call Gulf Coast K9 Dog Training.
