At Pet Expo recently I was on the Tail Talks stage hosted by the fantastic Ruby Reese to talk about the benefits of enrichment.
It was a great discussion - we covered everything from the predatory motor pattern to how enrichment can help reduce challenging behaviours to scentwork - and everything in between!
The audience were fantastic and asked lots of great questions - I thought it might be good to pull them into a blog and share them with a wider audience!
I'm new to enrichment - where should I start?
This is a great question! I recommend keeping things really simple in the beginning and observing your dog to ensure they are set up for success. A snuffle mat is a great place to start - introduce it with no food so your dog can explore it without feeling coerced, and then introduce food around and scattered on top before hiding the food. Using their favourite treats or strong-smelling treats like liver cake, sprats, or cubed lamb's lung can be helpful.
The single greatest thing you can do for your dog is to give them choice. This might be something really simple like presenting two chews and letting them pick one, or letting them decide their walking route. Sometimes we forget that dogs are captive animals without much agency, so being mindful of this and giving them lots of opportunities to exercise choice when we can will make a big difference to their emotional well-being and therefore their behaviour.
What can I put on a lick mat?
Whatever your dog enjoys! Good options for lick mats are pumpkin puree or mashed sweet potato, raw / cooked food if that's what they eat (or if kibble fed, you can blend their kibble with water or bone broth to make a paste), or kefir / natural yoghurt! You can freeze them, but just be cautious that this is something your dog enjoys and will not find frustrating - signs to look for are whether they are licking the food (good sign) versus using their teeth (can indicate frustration).
Will shredding toys not mean they will destroy my things?
Shredding is an important part of the predatory motor pattern in dogs - the dissection stage. It's my favourite behaviour to provide an outlet for, and it's a behaviour we humans often see as an issue.
The reality is, dogs are wired to shred, and the best thing we can do to prevent them picking up and destroying our things is to give them appropriate outlets for this behaviour.
Dogs are incredible at picking up context and will soon learn what they are allowed to shred and what they are not! And by giving them an outlet for the natural behaviour, you will be meeting a need, meaning they are much less likely to go looking for something you'd rather they didn't destroy!
DIY options include toilet roll tubes stuffed with treats and packing paper, Amazon boxes - you can also pick up second hand toys from a charity shop (just make sure they don't have beads in them and remove any hard plastic pieces like eyes and noses). Noticing what textures your dog is chewing or shredding and offering enrichment opportunities in a similar texture is a good idea. I have wool shredding balls which are great fun, as well as fleece versions and cage ball versions too. If they like sticks or chewing the leg of your coffee table, olive branches and root chews are a great alternative.
My dog isn't interested in food toys - what should I do?
There are lots of things to consider here. Does your dog eat their meals without issue, or do they struggle with food generally? Gut issues may be at play if so. Has the enrichment toy or activity been properly introduced to them, or might it be too difficult for them, or perhaps not interesting to them?
There are lots of options to provide enrichment opportunities that don't involve food - letting them sniff on walks, providing opportunities to shred, playing tug, offering opportunities for bodywork if they like physical contact, bringing them somewhere different for a walk or on a drive with the windows open for example. Variety is key here!
A note here about toys that are classed as "slow feeders" - these are generally the plastic bowls with ridges inside that are marketed as helping slow down your dog's eating. For lots of reasons, I don't recommend these - particularly if your dog is hungry and being fed out of these as it leads to frustration. Instead, I recommend offering your dog their food in a bowl alongside an enrichment food toy, or just feeding them in their bowl and offering food enrichment outside of mealtimes. You can always reserve some of their daily food allowance for these!
What would you recommend for a dog who loves playing with and chewing shoelaces?
Very common - and it's important not to reinforce resource guarding here, which can be a big issues particularly in breeds like cocker spaniels. The fleece shredding balls are a great alternative - soft and easy to pick up and hold, but also designed to be shredded and put back together! When playtime is over or if the dog is moving into chewing territory, swap the toy for something else valuable to your dog.
My dog picks up his snuffle mat and shakes it to get the food out - what does that mean?
All behaviour is communication, so it's key here to ask why. There are lots of reasons this might be happening - perhaps your dog is hungry and wants quick access to the food, or maybe they are anxious around food? Maybe they don't know how to engage with the toy or it's too difficult for them? Or maybe they just don't find this particular toy or activity meaningful? I suggest setting up multiple different toys as "stations" and observing to see your dog's preferences - where do they return to time and again, where do they spend the most time? There is lots we can learn when we take the time to observe our companions. Honey loves to work through a puzzle or a snuffle toy, she lingers over a snuffle ball or her snuffle cloud in particular and enjoys taking her time to explore it fully and get all the food, whereas Kingsley gets frustrated quickly and prefers easy access to food with multiple refills. I tailor activities to suit them both!
I hope this was useful - do feel free to message me through the website with any queries or drop me a DM on Instagram!