Why Mental Enrichment Is Important For Your Dog

Regular walks are important for your dog but what’s usually missed by many owners is the importance to provide mental stimulation and enrichment for your dog.

There are six types of enrichment:

1. Social enrichment
2. Cognitive enrichment
3. Physical enrichment
4. Sensory enrichment
5. Feeding enrichment
6. Toy enrichment

Mental stimulation enriches dogs lives by giving them something meaningful and challenging to do, instead of the usual going out for walks. Because these activities alleviate boredom they decrease the likelihood of our dogs developing behavioural issues such as excessive chewing or barking.

Some of my favourites include:

Snuffle Mats - An interactive enrichment puzzle, used to help refine search and find skills along with many positive results including:

• Encouraging Attentive Play
• Mentally stimulating and boredom-busting
• Ideal for pets on restricted exercise
• Can be used for behaviour modification training
• May help reduce stress

https://amzn.to/2sDVA6o

Snack Balls -  Snack labyrinth as I call them, they provide longer lasting fun as your dog tries to release treats.

https://amzn.to/2JbBGKS

Kongs -  These are a great! Stuff them with what you like! These help with speedy eaters, separation anxiety, crate training and teething.

https://amzn.to/2Jek9lC

Be inventive and play around, I can assure that adding mental enrichment to your daily routine will help keep your dog happy!