Enrichment at home

Canine enrichment at home

One of the most common contributors to unwanted behaviors of all shapes and sizes that I see in my behavior cases is under enrichment. I’m seeing dogs who are crawling out of their skin with energy they need to use. They are getting into conflicts with each other, reactive on leash when they do get out, pulling on the leash hard because they so desperately need to move their body, struggling with over arousal, struggling to self regulate, and getting into mischief at home because they need something to stimulate their mind.

The best way to enrich a dog in my opinion, is to get them out of the house and yard, hook a long line on them, or go off leash if possible, and get them into an enriched environment to run, explore, and sniff. This takes care of both their movement needs and mental stimulation. Enriched environments are places with a lot of nature, grass, trees, plants, dirt, rivers, streams, lakes, trails, and wide open space, where your dog can explore and be a dog with minimal boundary rules. Unlike neighborhoods where they are limited to the sidewalk and shouldn’t be trampling or toileting on other people’s property or wondering into the street.

If for what ever reason you can’t get your dog out on a long line or off leash out in nature, you can still meet their needs at home. For this post I’m specifically referring to folks who have access to yards. You can and should turn your yard into a training and enrichment space. Especially if you struggle to get your dog to come inside, barks at neighbors, or races the fence line with other dogs. The more time you spend with your dog in the yard playing and training, the better they will connect with you and care about what you say out there.

So what can you do in your yard?

You can create a backyard agility course with common household or hardware store items, teach them how to play treibball or sheep ball, play structured fetch (perform a learned skill and earn a throw) to work their mind and body, play structured tug-of-war, get a tether tug, set up nose work boxes, make treat sniff hunts, practice obedience skills, teach tricks, practice your positive reinforcement rattlesnake training (click here to learn more about this training), schedule a training play date with another dog, set up water features, create a dig pit with buried treasure, or combinations of all the above for a full brain and body work out!