A great way to add some enrichment to your dogs day is to get creative with how you feed them. While feeding them for a bowl will keep your dog occupied for two minutes, we can use that same food to create some fun activities that will give their brain a workout and keep them entertained for longer.
I can’t do enrichment games my dog is Raw fed.
Yes you can!
Scatter feed!
One of the simplest get most effective enrichment activities is as easy as scattering your dog food on the floor and letting them use their sense of smell to find it all.
If you’re using raw food you probably don’t want to be scattering it all over the house so there are a few things that we can do.
Scatter feeding can be a great activity to try in the garden or inside long grass. Try rolling some of their raw food into smaller meatballs to make it easier to scatter.
If you want to scatter raw food inside, then using the small silicon or paper cups case is a great way to do it. Put some food inside each and scatter these around the house (just make sure your dog isn’t likely to eat the cupcakes to!
if your dog is likely to eat the cases, then some small plastic tubs might be more suitable. You can try spreading these around while your dog is out of the room to create a really fun ‘find it’ game.
No Washing up!
Cardboard boxes make really fun in enrichment . And they are normally on my way to the recycling bin anyway we don’t need to worry about the hygiene aspect of cleaning them afterward.
Start with an empty cardboard box that’s a comfortable height for your dog to reach inside, and scatter some of the food in the bottom so they can reach in to get it. If they are happy juniors you can start to make it more interesting by adding some crumbled up paper or toilet roll tubes into them for them to rummage through to find the food. This is a great confidence building activity to activity to encourage them to explore things that might move or make a noise when they touch.
Packaging with recesses such as egg cartons make a great (and free) slow feeder.
Apples are a great food dispensers like Kongs. They are also perfectly safe for your dogs to eat so great for Strong chewers. Simply call an apple making quite a big hole through the middle, and stuff the whole with your dogs dinner and give it to them to enjoy. If your dog is enjoying it or getting through them really quickly you can try freezing your Apple Once you’ve stuffed it for more challenging longer lasting treat.
Kongs and LickiMats are perfect with Raw food.
Combine enrichment feeding with long lasting chews.
Regular exercise and yearly health checks.
💕 Sprinkles of love from you.
You will see some pawsitive changes and a happier, and more settled dog.
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The Apple idea is a great idea, we have always used kongs in my house, so will go together perfectly.
Love kongs and LickiMats, we used them for my dog and she always enjoyed!! That apple idea is really cool too
Love the apple Kong idea! 😊