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- Dog Enrichment: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How to Do It Effortlessly
You’ve probably heard people talking about dog enrichment lately, but what does it really mean? Enrichment is all about understanding your dog’s natural behaviors and needs, then finding ways to meet those needs through engaging, fulfilling activities. Simply put, it’s giving your dog opportunities to be their best, happiest self. And here’s the best part: it doesn’t have to be super hard, or time-consuming! What Is Enrichment? Experts often describe enrichment as helping dogs do what they’d naturally do “in the wild to survive and thrive.” – Diane Garrod, Barks Blog ♥️ This could mean stimulating their senses—sight, sound, touch, and taste—or encouraging instinctive behaviors like sniffing, chewing, shredding, digging, or chasing. It’s like giving your dog a VIP pass to happiness and well-being. Why Is It Important? Enrichment is not just a luxury; it’s essential for your dog’s mental and physical health. Its benefits include: Preventing boredom (and the chewed shoes or garden destruction that come with it) Boosting brain health through mental stimulation Improving problem-solving skills Building confidence and social skills Encouraging natural behaviors, making dogs happier and more balanced Without enrichment, dogs can become bored, frustrated, or resort to behaviors that we find problematic to meet their needs. When you enrich their lives, they’re not only happier but may be less likely to engage in the behaviors that we humans don’t like because they have a structured way to get that need met. Examples of Simple Enrichment Activities: Scatter treats in the grass for a fun sniffing game. Use cardboard boxes for snuffling cookies, shredding, or puzzle-solving (like in the video below). Go on a nature walk and let your dog sniff to their heart’s content (new environments are like gold for your pup!). Offer interactive toys or simple DIY puzzles/problem-solving activities. How to Get Started Here’s the good news: enrichment doesn’t have to take hours of your day or break the bank. Start simple and build up as your dog gains confidence: Start Easy: For example, if using a Kong, start with loose treats instead of jumping straight to a frozen one. Gradually increase the difficulty over time! Keep It Fresh: Rotate activities daily to keep things exciting. Balance Energy Levels: After stimulating activities like tugging or shredding, wind down with calming ones like sniffing, licking, or chewing to help lower arousal. A Word of Caution: Some enrichment ideas online can be too challenging or frustrating for dogs - like a firmly wrapped package. 😉 Avoid activities that might frustrate your pup, and tailor activities to their individual needs and preferences. Your Dog Deserves This! Think about how much you value your hobbies and interests. Dogs rely on us to create fulfilling experiences for them. With just a little creativity and effort, you can enrich your dog’s life—and enjoy a stronger bond with a happier, healthier pup. 🐾 Thanks for sniffing around! Let the enrichment adventures begin! Stay tuned for more free or low-cost ideas. Remember, enrichment isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some dogs love to dig, while others thrive on problem-solving or chasing games. Experiment and see what gets their tail wagging!
- DIY Dog Cookie Bomb: How to Satisfy Your Dog's Shredding Instincts
Is Your Dog Bored? Try a DIY Cookie Bomb for Fun Shredding Time! If your pup seems bored or tends to shred any toy in minutes, it’s likely because shredding is an instinctual need for dogs. Rather than spending money on expensive toys, why not get creative with recyclables and make your own “cookie bomb” to keep them entertained? Here’s how to make a Cookie Bomb: Grab a recyclable toilet paper roll, paper towel tube, or even a larger wrapping paper tube for bigger dogs. Close one end, then stuff it with some kibble or tasty treats. Fold the other end, sealing in the surprise! This simple activity will encourage your dog to problem-solve, use their nose, tongue, and teeth to shred the tube, and engage in satisfying natural behaviors. Think of it like a dog-friendly “animal carcass” (minus the mess), which taps into their instinctual shredding drive. A Few Tips on Dog Cookie Bombs: If your dog tends to eat paper, this activity might not be suitable. Most dogs will only lick or tear at the tube, but always supervise to be safe. If your pup struggles to engage with the tube, help them out by partially opening one end so they can easily access the treats. We want this to be fun, not frustrating! Why It Works: Shredding is a deeply ingrained behavior for dogs, rooted in their DNA. Studies show that providing environmental enrichment—like activities that engage their natural instincts—can reduce stress and even have therapeutic effects. Shredding can be an anti-anxiety outlet and help prevent repetitive behaviors (Morris et al., 2011). Will a cookie bomb meet all of your dog's enrichment needs? Probably not. But adding 5-15 minutes of shredding fun to their day is a great way to satisfy their instincts—without the mess of shredded furniture! Studies suggest that providing a healthy outlet for shredding doesn’t encourage inappropriate destruction elsewhere—it actually helps address their natural urges. So, why not give it a try? Your dog will love it, and you’ll both enjoy the benefits!
- Why Dogs Love Shredding and How to Channel That Instinct
Why Dogs Love Shredding and How to Channel That Instinct Have you ever caught your dog joyfully tearing into a pillow, unwrapping gifts, or dismantling your favorite magazine? While it might seem like destructive behavior, shredding is actually rooted in your dog’s natural instincts. Understanding why they love to shred and providing appropriate outlets can lead to a happier and healthier pup — and a couch that stays intact! The Science Behind the Shred Dogs come hardwired with instinctual behaviors inherited from their ancestors, which were crucial for survival in the wild. This sequence of behaviors, known as the predatory sequence , includes: Orient Eye Stalk Chase Grab/bite Kill Dissect Consume Over centuries, humans have selectively bred dogs to emphasize specific parts of this sequence based on the tasks they were bred to perform. For example: Collies : Excel in orienting, eyeing, stalking, and chasing, making them great herders. Terriers : Are generally prone to use more of the sequence with an emphasis on grab-bite and kill-bite as dogs bred to eradicate vermin. While breed can give clues about your dog’s natural tendencies, every dog is an individual. Observing your dog’s behavior can help you understand which parts of the sequence they find most fulfilling. Why Meeting These Needs Matters When a dog’s instinctual needs aren’t met, they might express those behaviors in less-than-ideal ways, such as destroying household items. By recognizing and addressing these needs, you can provide outlets that offer mental stimulation and satisfy their instincts. Benefits of providing outlets for shredding behaviors: Mental stimulation : Activities like shredding engage your dog’s brain and can tire them out in ways that physical exercise alone cannot. Reduced destructive behavior : A dog with appropriate outlets is less likely to turn to furniture or shoes. Improved well-being : Fulfilling instinctual needs leads to a happier and more balanced dog. How to Safely Encourage Shredding Creating safe opportunities for your dog to shred is easier than you think! Here are some tips: DIY shredding toys : Take a cardboard box and fill it with crumpled paper, treats, or safe toys. Let your dog go to town. Paper towel rolls : Hide treats inside and fold the ends closed for an engaging challenge. Gift unwrapping : Supervise your dog as they "unwrap" a box or paper-wrapped item. Avoid using tape, which can contain harmful chemicals. These simple ideas can provide your dog with lots of fun and mental stimulation while satisfying their natural shredding instincts. Important Safety Notes While shredding is a great activity for many dogs, safety should always come first: Monitor consumption : Make sure your dog doesn’t ingest paper or other materials that could cause blockages. Avoid toxic materials : Steer clear of tape and items with adhesives or coatings. Know your dog : Not all dogs are suited for shredding activities. If your dog is prone to swallowing non-food items, consider other forms of mental stimulation. Some guardians offer cabbage or carrots for shredding with pups who consume non-edible items. A Happier Dog With Just Five Minutes of Effort Providing a simple shredding activity takes just a few minutes but can make a big difference in your dog’s happiness and overall behavior. By meeting this natural need, you’re not only enriching your dog’s life but also helping protect your belongings from becoming their next project. (Matilda wore herself out after an hour of shredding and playing with the bone inside!) So, this holiday season — or any time of year — let your dog unwrap the fun. They’ll thank you with wagging tails and contented smiles. To learn more about enriching your dog’s life, follow Love Up Pup. Together, let’s make every dog’s day a little brighter! Be sure to follow along on Instagram @LoveUpPup and subscribe to our YouTube page . We also feature some of our favorite products for pups right here on the site so check it out!
- Let's Get a Kong - Does Your Dog Love Marvin Gaye?
Boost Your Dog’s Mood with a Fun Kong Bone Enrichment Activity Today’s post is all about an easy and enjoyable food enrichment activity featuring the Kong Bone – a toy that has never let me down when it comes to keeping dogs entertained. If you’ve never tried one, these toys are a hit with pups of all shapes and sizes. Watch this video for a quick demo of how to set up this enriching activity in under a minute. It’s a great way to add stimulation to your dog’s day with minimal effort (though I’m not suggesting you skip out on playtime – just offering quick ways to make your dog’s day a little more enriching!). In the video, my buddy Oakley spends three hours with her Kong Bone, while Moose wraps up after about 25 minutes; all pups are different in their need for enriching activities, so find what works for yours. (Oakley enjoyed her Kong Bone for three whole hours!) My posts blend my personal experience with research on the science of animal behavior, aiming to provide suggestions on quick ways to optimize feel good hormones for your pup. So, for those who enjoy the nerdy details, let’s dive into a little more science behind this fun activity and explore the "why." The Science of Chewing and Its Impact on Your Dog When dogs chew, their brains release endorphins, also known as ‘feel-good hormones.” According to the University of Texas at Austin , “Chewing not only satisfies a dog’s natural urges but can also play a major role in managing their stress levels.” This simple, instinctual behavior helps dogs cope with mild stress and boosts their overall mood. So, if your dog could use a little emotional boost, consider giving them a Kong Bone. The benefits of chewing go beyond just a fun distraction – it can be part of helping reduce mild anxiety and provide comfort to your furry friend. Read the full article here: Impact of Chewing on Dog Anxiety Levels . Tips for Using the Kong Bone When choosing a Kong Bone for your dog, it’s important to pick the right size and chew type based on your dog’s age, size, and chewing habits. Kong offers different color-coded options: Pink or Blue for puppies Red for regular chewers Black for super chewers You can fill the Kong with a variety of tasty treats to keep your dog engaged. Some great options include soaked and smashed kibble, wet food, cream cheese, sweet potato, or even pre-made dog food like Lucy’s Roll (Lucy’s Roll was used in the video). For more fun recipes and ideas, check out Kong’s official Cuisine page , if you want to get fancy. So, if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to help your dog feel calmer and more content, the Kong Bone is a fantastic choice. Give it a try and see how much your dog enjoys it! Watch the video below. Moose says, “You know what I’m talking about, come on baby, let’s get a Kong.” 🎵 Human Time: 1 Minute Pup Time: 25 Minutes - 3 Hours (3 hours is most likely an outlier) My priority is helping dogs feel good! I only post on either free enrichment, or to food toys that I have found to be quite durable. Amazon links to Kong Bones are shown below. If you decide to purchase through my link, I earn a small commission (no pressure). Link to Small Dog Size Kong Bone: https://amzn.to/48UAynx Link to Medium Dog Size Kong Bone: https://amzn.to/3OaR5dK Link to Large Dog Size Kong Bone: https://amzn.to/3UUsmxZ Link for Puppy Kong Bone: https://amzn.to/3OylGBT Link for Lucy’s Roll: https://amzn.to/4g7deW2 Caution: If your dog guards food or toys, be sure to separate dogs for this activity. Always supervise. These ideas are meant to supplement a healthy overall lifestyle. If your pup is showing chronic stress, please consult a certified positive reinforcement trainer.
- How To Embrace Dog Enrichment: Scatter Feeding On Walks
Dog Enrichment in 5 Minutes or Less: Boost Mental Health with Scatter Feeding In our last blog we discussed why sniffing and foraging are essential for your dog’s mental health. When dogs sniff for food, it releases dopamine, the "feel-good" hormone, which lowers stress, helps with digestion, and provides important mental stimulation. It also boosts confidence and allows them to gather information about their environment, fostering a sense of safety and relaxation. So, why not incorporate these enriching activities (like scatter feeding) into your daily routine? How to Add Food Scatters to Your Walks Instead of feeding your dog from a bowl where they finish their meal in 30 seconds, try what we like to call, “cookie scatters” (food scatters, scatter feeding, kibble scatters, whichever your preferred term or food of choice). Simply take your dog’s daily food ration, place it in a treat bag, and scatter it in clean areas with grass (or dirt) while on your walk . This simple activity encourages your dog to use their natural foraging instincts, mentally stimulating them and slowing down their eating. It's a great way to engage their senses and promote calmness, all while spending quality time together. The beauty of cookie scatters is that it is more about the quality of the walk than getting in the miles. While exercise is important, mental enrichment is just as vital for a balanced, happy dog. Watch your pup find their scattered food, take a moment to relax, and enjoy the process. It’s easy, effective, and fun! It is frequently said that a 20 minute sniff walk is as enriching and tiring as a one-hour walk, although there are no definitive studies on the topic as of yet. Remember: cookie scatters simply means spreading their daily food, and/or some treats. (No more than 10% of their daily intake should be treats.) Ditch the bowl and try cookie scatter walking—your dog will thank you for it! Human time : Your regular walk time; 1-2 minutes of tossing kibble. Dog time : Depends on how much you want to throw, how far you want to throw, and how many great places you can find to toss the food. The more the merrier 🙂 Caution: If you have multiple dogs and any resource guarding behavior, separate your dogs.
- How to Embrace Dog Instincts: Boost Their Joy, Health, and Enrichment
Happier Together: Boosting Joy Through a Natural Understanding of Dog Instincts Tired of feeling like you can’t help your dog calm down? Feel like you can’t figure out how to make life together a little easier? We all love our dogs and want the best for them, AND our lives are busy and we don’t always know how to meet their needs beyond our daily walks. This blog is focused on quick things that take 5 minutes or less for you while providing activities that will get your dog wagging for ten to forty-five minutes or more! All dogs are different, and we don’t always understand what they need based on their individual uniqueness, and some tendencies that we humans have intentionally bred into them. This blog is designed to help you explore super easy ways to meet some of their needs quickly and efficiently, all in one place. Is your dog a digger, chaser, chewer, dissector, or frantic sniffer? Is your dog always getting into things? Creative Ways to Encourage Natural Dog Behaviors That Work for You As a certified professional dog trainer and instructor of positive reinforcement classes for puppies and adult dogs, I often hear questions like, "Why does my dog…" Chew on the remote Dig up my favorite parts of the garden Shred pillows, the couch, or toilet paper rolls Sniff constantly and pull on walks (please let them sniff) Bark in the yard and jump on guests Steal laundry or garbage from the trash, and so on… These behaviors are showing up for a reason! They are clues as to some of your pup's needs as a canine. They do it because it feels good to them or because it is an unmet need of sorts; they are showing us behaviors that were needed for the survival of their species and are part of their evolutionary hard wiring If they have no way to meet the need, they will find one. Engaging our pups with opportunities to meet these needs in productive ways has enormous benefits for their mental health; we just do not want them to decide that shredding the couch is the way to meet the need! If they don’t have a job; they will self-employ, and you probably won’t like the job they pick! Join me in exploring ways to help our best friends get some of those needs met. Thanks for sniffing around! Easy Win Number 1: Cookie Scatters Why dogs need to forage and why ditching your food bowl is a huge gift to your pup: In their evolutionary past, dogs relied on their sense of smell to hunt and track prey and to forage for food. Sniffing in dogs is hard-wired to help them survive as a species. Dogs have a highly developed sense of smell, up to 300 million scent receptors compared to our 5 million. Sniffing allows them to gather information about their environment and is essential for finding food and detecting potential dangers. Sniffing is mentally stimulating and can help reduce stress and anxiety in dogs . Overall, sniffing is a vital part of a dog's life, contributing to their overall well-being and natural behaviors and it lowers the heart rate. Instructions (always scan your space for any hazards first): Take all or some of their meal portion that you typically feed from a bowl (toss in a unique treat or two if you like). Walk out to your backyard or a grassy field – free from foxtails, random dogs or other dangers. Say “Party” or “Cookies” and throw those treats all over your yard or grassy space. Rather than them gobbling up breakfast in 30 seconds, let them use their noses to search for the food for 20 minutes or more. They will finish having fulfilled their purpose of foraging, elevated their mood, and feel more calm. Estimated Human Time: 30 seconds to 1 minute Estimated Dog Time: Highly variable depending on space, volume of food, foraging efficiency (20 min, plus) Caution: If you have multiple dogs and any guard food or toys, separate your dogs.