Mental stimulation: these DIY enrichment ideas can help

A lot of people have high energy dogs. But most dogs keep that energy throughout the day. Even after hours of walking, running and playing they seem to be recharged in 5 minutes. Dogs don’t only need physical stimulation, but also mentally. This you can do with enrichment! On World Animal Enrichment Day we look at what enrichment is, what benefits it has for your dog and which DIY ideas you can use for your house.

What is enrichment?

Enrichment is a term that’s used for enabling dogs to explore and use natural instincts, like sniffing, exploring and interacting with objects. It’s something that every dog needs daily, just like the regular walks and potty breaks. There are different types of enrichment you can use, like:

·      Behavioral

·      Environmental

·      Feeding

·      Scent

·      Social

Behavioral enrichment is training, problem-solving and memory tasks. It all involves mental stimulation and can help the dog feel calmer and less stressed. Environmental enrichment is exposing the dog to complexity in the environments, like going to a park or other walks. It encourages the dog to explore the world.

Feeding enrichment is the type of enrichment that has to do with food, like food puzzles or toys that are filled with treats or their kibble. It enhances the desire to learn something new. You can also use scents as enrichment. Dogs explore the world through the scents that are available around them. This makes them more engaged in everything and everyone around them. Sniff-walks can already make a big progress in their mental stimulation. Just like social enrichment, where the dog gets social interaction with other dogs, people or other animals.

These are the benefits of enrichment

Enrichment is meant to mentally stimulate the dog and enabling the natural instincts of the animal. When you do this daily, it can give a lot of benefits for you and your dog. Engaging in natural behaviors, like sniffing, playing, running, exploring and social interaction helps the dog being a dog. While they are living in our house, we sometimes expect them to behave and show behaviors that we want. But it can give a dog more stress and anxiety. Enrichment can reduce that stress, which also helps during your walks and other activities.

But there’s more. Think of:

·      Improving resilience

·      Strengthening bonds with you as the owner

·      Preventing boredom

·      Building confidence

·      Teaching new skills, like problem-solving

·      Preventing and treating undesirable behaviors, like excessive barking, fear aggression and chewing

DIY enrichment ideas for in and around your house

Some people might think that enrichment involves a lot of tools that you have to buy. While you can buy puzzle games, food toys and other enrichment tools, you can do a lot with the objects in your house already! No need to run to the store, instead you’ll use your creativity to keep your dog busy. We’ll give you a few DIY ideas that you can combine with your daily walks and obedience training.

Muffin tin game

A muffin tin can be a great tool to turn into a puzzle for your dog. With this type of enrichment, you can use everything you can find in your house, like tennis balls. You take the muffin tin and put food or treats in it. You place the tennis balls on top of the food, covering all the openings of the muffin tin. Your dog has to find the right spaces where the food is in and get rid of the balls before he or she can reach the treats. You can start out with multiple spots filled with treats and slowly make it harder for the dog by decreasing the amount of spots you fill.

The laundry basket game

This is one of the easiest and quickest enrichment games that you can do with your dog. All you need is a laundry basket and some treats or a toy. You place the treats on the ground and put the basket upturned overtop of the treats. Your dog has to figure out how to get to the treats or toys. Make sure that the dog is not throwing the basket everywhere after he figured it out. You don’t want that frustration building up! You can repeat this game a few times before putting everything away again.

A fun ball pit

This enrichment game is a fun way for puppies and busy dogs to release some mental energy. If you want to make them tired in just a few minutes, you can make your own ball pit. All you need is a play pool and some plastic balls (or other balls if you have them). You fill up the pool with the balls. Make sure there’s enough in there that the dog needs to work for the treats you put in. Throw the treats in between the balls and let the dog sniff around in the pool. The dog’s nose starts searching for the treats, while they also try to problem-solve how to get to them. You’ll have fun looking at your dog playing in the pool and the dog will release that energy in no time!

Rolled up towel game

This is an enrichment game that you can do on any time of the day. Grab an old towel, put it on the floor and sprinkle some kibble or treats all over it. When you have enough on it, you can roll up the towel. In the beginning you can just roll it up and let your dog figure out how to unroll it to reach the treats. When the dog is more advanced, you can also tie a knot in it. This way the dog needs more problem-solving to reach everything and to start unrolling!

Three cup games

This one you’ve probably already seen in videos. It’s a great enrichment game for dogs that love to follow their nose. While all dogs already explore the world through smells,, some dogs want to do that extra mile. With the three cup game you can help your dog fulfill the need. For this game you’ll line up three plastic cups on the ground. You put a treat under one of the cups while your dog is watching you do it. Give them the ‘go’ cue to point which cup is the right one. Give them the treat when he or she chooses correctly. When the dog is more advanced with the game, you can place the treat under the cup while the dog is watching and start shuffling it. This way the dog has to process what is going on and use more skills to point to the right cup.

Frozen treats

This DIY enrichment is not really a game but can keep your dog occupied for a while. Especially during the hot summer days where going outside a lot is not an option. For this DIY you take a tray or plastic container, put some treats or fruit in it and fill it with water. You’ll get ice cubes filled with some delicious things for your dog! Not only does it keep the dog busy for a while, it can also give that extra hydration during the hot summer days.

Start doing enrichment

You can use almost everything in your house to make a DIY enrichment. Whether it’s kitchen tools, laundry baskets or even shoe boxes: there’s endless possibilities when you use your imagination and creativity. At our boarding and training it’s one of the ways we stimulate the dogs during the day and even use it in our trainings to teach the dog new skills!