Mental Enrichment

Have you heard the old adage "a tired dog is a good dog"? While the saying may be true, when we say "tired dog", we don't just mean physically exhausted. Engaging your foster's brain is just as important as ensuring they get adequate exercise. In some case, it may be MORE important. Sometimes fosters need cage rest if they are recovering from an injury. Some fosters are so young and active, they need mental enrichment to help them learn to settle. Not to mention that engaging the brain is just plain fun when done right. Below are a variety of ideas on simple, DIY enrichment ideas for dogs. 

Train Them!

Training sessions do not need to be long! Spending 2 minutes several times a day working on a single exercise is wonderful! We don't want our dogs to just behave in 30 minute chunks of time, we want them to learn that training and following cures happens throughout the day, in lots of different locations. We have provided access to our KHS Manners For Life dog training classes and our KHS Positively Puppies class so fosters can work on basic skills. 

You can also teach them tricks! Tricks are fun, and showing an adopter how smart your foster is can be super endearing and help to find them homes. A few fun tricks to work on are:

Feed Them on a Walk

Scatter treats in the grass for the dog to sniff out and eat, or stop randomly and practice a cue they are learning such as "sit", then continue on the walk.

KONG Toys

Kongs are one of those things I think all dog owners and fosters should have in abundance. I In my house, we don't use regular dog bowls to eat out of, our dogs get all of their meals out of Kong and fun feeders (see next item for info on fun feeders). Not familiar with Kongs? Click here for how to use them.

Fun Feeders

Simply pour their dry/wet food into the fun feeder instead of a normal bowl. It helps to slow down and eating and makes them work a bit for their food.

Scatter Feeding

Simply scatter food across the floor and let the dog sniff around and find it all. 

Hide and Seek for Food

Teach your foster to find their food when you hide it using these tips. Once your dog knows the game, you can increase difficulty. We play Hide and Seek Fetch with our dogs. Have them wait in a room (close the door if your dogs aren't good at waiting on their own), go hide the toy in another room, then release your dogs with an enthusiastic "Find It!" and watch the fun ensue.

Snuffle Mat

Sprinkle dry food or treats in a snuffle mat so your dog can sniff out their dinner.

DIY Toys

You can google DIY dog feeding toys for more ideas, but below are a few of my favorites.

Treat Balls

Place food in the balls. Dogs will roll them around to get food out. See a large selection of toys here.

Box Foraging

Take an empty cardboard box, the bigger the better (can also use a kiddie pool). Cut the sides down if needed so your dog can easily put its head in the box and reach the bottom. Fill with crumpled paper, towels/fabric scraps, plastic containers, toys, or anything else you can think of. Scatter food in the box so the dog needs to search around for the food. (See image)

Suggested Toys