Day 18- Enrichment

We have already touched on enrichment in some previous videos, but today we will discuss what we mean by that. Enrichment refers to any activity that looks after your dog's physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

Enrichment activities are unique to each dog, what one dog may find enriching, another may find frustrating. This means that it is important to determine what your dog enjoys doing and incorporating that into your activities.

Think about what your dog likes to do when out on a walk… do they enjoy sniffing, chasing or foraging? Would your dog enjoy scent work, hide and seek, snuffle mats, activity feeders, or a run with a flirt pole? Could they benefit from some training to engage their minds?

There are also some behaviours that we would deem inappropriate but would benefit from enrichment, such as chewing or destruction (which will be covered tomorrow), while we don’t want to actively encourage our dogs to perform these behaviours, sometimes providing an outlet that is controlled, it can satisfy our dogs a bit better. 

Enrichment is such a broad topic that we could discuss it continuously, but it is all about engaging our dogs in activities they find enjoyable but also make them think. It is also a great way of building a bond between yourself and your dog.