Bored dogs? Brain games!

It's hard being a dog sometimes. Dogs are expected to inhibit lots of normal canine behaviours whilst living with us. Chewing furniture, peeing where they like, barking and destroying things are just a few of the fun things our dogs want to do each day! These are normal dog behaviours; our dogs aren't human and so won't entertain themselves in a human way. They can't read books, watch T.V. or take themselves for a walk. We control their whole lives, and so it is on us to provide them with safe outlets and opportunities for all those behaviours. Even dogs should be allowed let their hair down, right?
There's lots of ways that we can give our dogs different things to do daily that are appropriate and won't leave us tearing our hair out or with yet another chewed television remote. As well as that, giving our dogs things to do can help leave them more satisfied and some activities can even help reduce our dogs excitement or arousal levels, helping them to calm down and relax after stress or exciting chasing or other energetic games.

Stuffables

Kongs are a great versatile toy that have many different uses. Be sure to get a few that are the right size for your dog. In the larger end, add some of your dogs food, some chicken, ham or cheese and make sure it goes right up to the top. Cover the top with a small amount of peanut butter (make sure it's 100% peanuts, with no other ingredients), natural yogurt or pate and you've created a chew toy that will last a while.

You could even create a recipe of your own using lots of dog-friendly foods that your dog enjoys. Mix it all together and stuff it into the kong. You can use things like bananas, strawberries and blueberries, some sweet potato or some carrots too. It can also be a good idea to shove a pizzle stick right through the Kong and anchor it with the smaller hole so your dog can't choke on the smaller piece once it's chewed down.

Prepare a few of these in advance and have them wrapped in clingfilm in the fridge ready for when you need them. Just unwrap and give to your dog when required, perfect for keeping your pup busy when you have guests over or are busy around the house. Once your dog has mastered being able to empty them and get all the food out, you can begin freezing them for an extra challenge.

Some similar toys on the market are the K9 Connectables range. These can also be stuffed, but have the added bonus of dismantling them entirely. Once they're finished, just wash them, restuff and click back together for another puzzle break!

Chewing has the added benefits of soothing puppies gums, helping our dogs relax, and keeping them busy in one place whilst we can't actively supervise.

Freebies & cheaper puzzles
Cheap and free stuff that can entertain dogs can be great; they can practice destroying, ripping, chewing and tearing appropriate things so that we can keep our furniture and other belongings safe. We can also get cheaper long lasting toys such as snufflemats, which are any bathmat or rug with ruffles that we can hide food in for our dogs (see the below picture with the labrador) to search for. It's like a portable sniffing station that we can bring anywhere and everywhere!

Cardboard tubing, newspaper and cardboard boxes can also be the perfect ingredients for a puzzle, although you want to make sure your dog does not have a tendency to eat paper and always supervise well. Loosely crumple up some newspaper, put it in the cardboard box together with tubing and mix it all up with little bits of food. Your dog can then snuffle, sniff and dig out all the food that's hidden in amongst the paper and card. There's lots of things we can give our pets to entertain them, here's a quick video showing these in action.

If you want to learn more or continue to explore the world of canine enrichment, you can check out this 100 days of enrichment project here by AniEd Ireland, or join their Facebook group.
If you'd had fun with your dog and puzzles recently, let us know by commenting or sending us pictures and videos of your dog doing fun stuff. We're all about joyful dogs here!