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Meeting your dogs needs
To feel fulfilled, humans require more than the bare necessities. In addition to the basics for survival, we seek out hobbies, entertainment, and challenges to enrich our lives. The same is true for dogs. Our pups need physical, mental, and social stimulation to thrive. Every pet guardian knows what it’s like when their four-legged family member seems on edge or appears to be crawling up the walls. Introducing your dog to enriching activities is a great place to start directing that energy.
Enrichment is a good and necessary thing for all living animals, especially those in a captive environment. You'll often see canine or dog enrichment when reading about dog training, pet health, and wellness, or behavioral issues such as separation anxiety. Beginning with zoo animals whose lives were so deficient in species-typical behavior opportunities, keepers began noticing stress-related behaviors known as stereotypies.
What Is Canine Enrichment?
According to the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine's Indoor Pet Initiative, enrichment is defined as anything that modifies an animal's environment to encourage physical activity and mimic behaviors that animals would do in the wild to satisfy their physical and mental needs—think of fetching, foraging, digging, tracking, problem-solving for dogs. In order for animal enrichment to be effective, it must be done in a way that doesn't cause any stress or anxiety.
A significant focus in all my training and behavior modification work is ensuring sufficient and appropriate enrichment for my client dogs. We want to consider what our dogs' breed was designed to do. A scent hound will be particularly interested in nose work-type games, while a sighthound will be very interested in chasing fast-moving objects. Herding breeds like to round things up, keep them organized and move many things (people, other pets, toys) as a group to new locations. Of course, any breed can show interest in any of these activities, and you will see individuals within a breed class that shows zero interest in what the breed "should" be eager to do.
Some of us see the immediate change in our dog's behavior. Enrichment helps to build behavior repertoires, rehabilitates the response to depression, lessens helplessness, stress, and fear, and promotes happiness when implemented
How can such small activities have such a significant impact on welfare?
The key to a happy and healthy dog is regular enrichment and allowing them to engage in their innate behaviors. Dogs who don't receive stimulation tend to find ways to enrich themselves, resulting in unwanted behaviors. Allowing your dog to engage in these behaviors will enable them to be physically, emotionally, and mentally satisfied.
Enriching your dog's life is simpler than you might think, and it doesn't require a large budget or huge time commitment.
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