As a professional dog walker and dog owner myself, I come across the topic of canine enrichment often.
Enrichment for dogs, in a nutshell, is a way of improving their quality of life by satisfying their physical and mental needs.
Enrichment can be found in naturally stimulating environments, play time, puzzle toys, socialization, and the list goes on.
We as consumers can sometimes get sold the idea that doggie enrichment can be expensive or time consuming. Websites might want to sell us hundreds of dollars worth of puzzle toys, but the truth is that there are many creative and cost-efficient ways to enrich your dog’s life.
Feed Them Differently Each Week
First, switching up how you present a meal to your dog can immediately become an canine enrichment activity.
There are many alternatives to putting their meal in a bowl and giving it to them. There are so many ways to turn this from simply feeding time, into enrichment!
- Scatter their kibble in the grass outside, and having them sniff and hunt to find it all. This activity helps them engage in their natural behavior, indulge in the smells, and work for their food.
- Separate their food in a muffin tin as an alternative to purchasing a lick mat or puzzle toy. Cover the food with balls or toys, so they will have to remove the item on top to get to the food underneath, in the muffin tin. This can be quite entertaining!
- Roll their kibble up in a blanket, and letting them work out how to unravel the blanket and eat it all.
All of these suggestions can be expanded on as well. If you have an idea that’s safe, try it! These canine enrichment activities are also a great way to help your dog slow down as they eat, not choke on their food, and digest properly.
Play Hide and Seek with Treats
The ideas for food enrichment can be expanded into treat time as well.
Many owners ask their dogs to sit, ‘shake’ or do tricks for treats, and that is wonderful, but there are other ways to make treat time fun as well!
Hiding treats is a great way to play scent games and let your dog use their natural senses. If you have some cardboard boxes and packing materials, you can use those to hide treats and let your dog work out how to get to them.
Instead of a puzzle toy, you can use paper towel and toilet paper rolls, fold the ends, cut a hole out and then put a few treats inside and let your dog work out how to get them! These are awesome ways to entertain your dog, all recycling regular household items! No additional purchases necessary.
Let Them Sniff!
Maybe you’re wondering about cost-efficient canine enrichment aside from food.
Something I love educating clients on, is the power in letting your dog sniff.
While this might sound obvious, I have noticed that many dog owners tend to believe that a dog walk should be continuous movement, be purely physical exercise, have a destination in mind, and the less stopping and mulling about, the better.
Well, this is a myth that I would love to bust.
The truth is, our dogs can benefit so much from a shift in our perspectives of walks.
Dogs love to sniff, and it’s literally the way that they observe and understand the world. By letting our dogs explore and sniff at their heart’s desire, we are truly enriching their lives.
It helps them decompress, regulate their nervous system and feel safe. Not to mention, this absolutely encourages confidence in our dogs. Sure, exercise is very important.
However it’s also important that our dogs are given the freedom to sniff and receive that mental stimulation as well. A healthy dose of both goes a long way.
I truly hope that these tips and tricks for cost-efficient doggie enrichment are helpful.
As a dog walker, I love engaging in conversations about how to enrich the lives of our dogs. I’ve learned a lot in this business, and appreciate those I’ve worked with who have given me experience and a thirst for knowledge on how to improve the lives of all dogs!
Author: Liz Uhlman
Liz has loved all animals since she was a child, from growing up with dogs, cats, rabbits, birds and horses. She worked on and off with horses for over 10 years in her spare time, while working a variety of jobs. Then, in her late 20's, she started making pet care her career. She began part time work as a dog walker and pet sitter in Philadelphia, and then formed her own LLC and started her own pet care business. Liz got into this business because she envisioned a life for herself that was bigger than just faking it at a job she didn't have a passion for. Since getting into pet care full time, Liz made the leap and moved to Bend, Oregon in summer of 2020 and continued her business here. Liz loves the connections and relationships she has built with other pet sitters, dog walkers and clients. She has learned an immense amount through personal experience and has recently taken her passion to the next level, and is enrolled in Victoria Stilwell Academy for Dog Trainers. Liz hopes to continue learning every day through furthering her education and eventually working full-time as a positive reinforcement dog trainer…