What Does Your Dog Dig? - Give Them Species-Appropriate Activities!
Training is definitely an important piece to help your pup be a well adjusted citizen in this human-centric world, but another piece is meeting your dog’s core needs with activities that allow them to engage in activities they love to do. This is what we call enrichment.
Canine Core Needs
Your dog is a dog… you probably knew that - but what does that mean? It means that your dog needs to do things that are specific to dogs. And those things - spoiler alert - may not always be what we want or like to have around us. So it’s a good idea to help your dog meet their core needs in ways that work for both of you.
Your Dog, the Hunter
One way to look at this topic is by acknowledging that your dog is a hunter and scavenger. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise then that canine core needs include elements from your dog’s hunting pattern. Most dogs want to:
Chase
Catch
Tug/Tear
Bite
Dissect
Chew
Keep in mind that due to their personality and breed profile your dog may prefer some pieces of the hunting pattern over others. For example, many Labradors love to chase a ball, but a chihuahua might have different ideas.
You can mimic these natural activities with toy play, such as using a tug toy or flirt pole, and you can also use food in ways that help your dog feel more satisfied.
In addition, dogs want and need:
Physical exercise
Mental exercise
as well as
Social contact
Adequate rest
When selecting the right amount of physical and mental exercise as well as social contact, rest, and more, always keep in mind who your dog is due to their personality as well as genetics. Younger dogs are often social butterflies and much more social, but once a dog reaches maturity, they may no longer be as excited about meeting and playing with everyone. Similarly, both puppies as well as elderly dogs require more rest than teen and young adult dogs.
Four Quadrants of Enrichment
There are many ways to think about this enrichment idea, as you can see. I find it really helpful to use Liz Radar’s four quadrants of exercise as a mental framework for enrichment activities. Here it is:
Four Quadrants in Practice
Think of the four quadrants as having two axes: low and high intensity as well as physical and mental. So you can have low physical, high physical, low mental and high mental enrichment activities.
All dogs like a unique combination of all four quadrants - and what is best for your dog will depend on your individual pup. Here are some ideas:
High Energy Physical Exercise:
These are high impact, often cardio-heavy movement activities, like
Zooming through the woods
High energy toy play (ball play, flirt pole, tug)
Playing with a well-matched play mate
Low Energy Physical Exercise:
Low energy physical exercise are activities that do not completely tire out your dog but get them moving, such as:
Long line sniffs in quiet parks, parking lots, or other interesting smelling locations
Relaxed leashed walks
Gentle face-biting play with another dog
High Energy Mental Exercise:
These describe problems solving activities that require complex thought patterns, for example:
Trick training
Nose work
Difficult food puzzles that your dog hasn’t solved yet
Low Energy Mental Exercise:
These exercises ask much less of your dog mentally, which means they can be quite relaxing, for example:
Licking a lick mat
Chewing a bully stick
Eating a meal from a snufflemat
So Much for the Theory - Now for Some Practical Tips
What does that actually look like? Here are some ideas you can try.
FOOD-BASED ENRICHMENT IDEAS
You can actually use your dog’s regular meals for enrichment, for example using the feeding method:
Maze feeder, for example HERE
Food puzzle, for example HERE
Scatter feed your dog’s kibble on the floor or in the yard
Place kibble into cardboard box or paper bag and let her destroy it to get at the kibble
Put treats or kibble between two towels so that your dog has to sniff out the food. You can also twist the towels together or even put a knot in them to make it harder.
Enrichment box: take a cardboard box and fill it with recycling (yogurt containers, cans, …) and scatter kibble or treats throughout. Let them rummage around the box and find their food.
You can of course have more fun with food-based enrichment beyond meals. Here are some other ideas:
Offer your dog different kinds of novel treats and foods in a muffin tin, cover them with an object - like a tennis ball - and see which ones your pup goes for first. This is called a preference test and can show you a lot about your dog, for example which food they would work best for. You can use any dog safe foods here. Have fun with it!
Play nose work games: hide treat around your home and let your dog find them.
Train your dog a trick using treats or kibble as a reward - how about spin, sit pretty, roll over, or play dead?
You can use food toys for longer term enrichment, too.
Make a frozen Kong or West Paw Toppl. There are many kinds of fillers you can use. Here’s just one option:
Mix equal parts pumpkin and puppy wet food plus a bit of rice flour and put into Kong. Freeze for several hours. Serve to puppy!
Smear a lick mat or plate with peanut butter, spray cheese, wet food or cream cheese and freeze it before serving it to your dog.
Experiment with chews your dog might like, for example Whimzees, no hide chews, or bully sticks.
NON-FOOD ENRICHMENT IDEAS
As you know, I love giving my pups food all day long, but there is so much more that you can do. The following is just a short list of things I like to do with my dogs. The sky really is the limit here!
Play with toys your dogs likes, such as a tug toy, a flirt pole, or a ball. This is a large area to explore. Experiment with different types of toys and different ways to play with them.
Take your dog for a sniffy walk in a novel area. I strongly recommend having a leash that is about 15-20 foot long so that you’re not needing to work on leash manners but can instead safely follow your dog around.
Go on an off leash or long line hike - if your dog has the necessary skills.
Take your dog on a sniffy leash walk - if that IS relaxing and fun for your dog. Again, a longer leash can be very helpful.
Form a dog play group with socially appropriate other dogs that play well together.
If it is comfortable for them, take your dog to a busy area, like a food cart pod, and practice watching people pass by. This can be very mentally enriching for your dog, especially if you have a herding dog like me! Be careful with this kind of exercise, though, as we don’t want to add stress.
Give your dog some cardboard to shred.
Give your dog some stuffies to tear up - please remove the eyes first, though.
Give your dog adequate rest - jazz up their sleeping area by adding cozy bedding, dimming the lights and playing some gentle music.
Gently stroke or lightly massage your dog for a longer period of time or spring for a massage for them.
Rent out a www.sniffspot.com for some safe off leash time.
How Do I know It’s Working?
What you should see if you are meeting all of your dog’s needs is a relaxed and satisfied dog. We are not looking for a tired or catatonic dog but rather a dog that rests a good amount of the day and is happy to engage with you the rest of the time in adequate ways.
Enrichment is not just “throwing activities into the abyss that is our dog”, but instead it means thinking about what challenges your dog experiences and then offering them activities that will help them overcome this challenge. If your dog paces in the home, they may need more high impact physical exercise - see what happens if you take them to a Sniffspot. If that doesn’t help, you have an answer - that wasn’t it. Trial something else and see what happens. When it comes to enrichment, your dog will be much better at giving you answers about what works than your trainer.