What The Fluff Is Enrichment?

Because sometimes, a dog just has to do dog stuff, and that's okay.

Today we're going to talk about the wide world of canine enrichment from my novice standpoint. I am by no means an expert in enrichment, but it's something I've been working to learn more about now that I have several high energy dogs in my life. To me, it seems like enrichment just kind of sprang up when I started the Instagram account for Grimm, but I'm starting to wonder if it's been around the whole time and I just missed the memo.

Because there's so much to talk about, I'm going to try my best to keep everything organized so you can jump and skip around to the things that are most useful for you. So today I want to focus on what enrichment is, different ways we can enrich out dogs lives, and some of the accounts I follow on Instagram that have really inspired me. The next post will tackle different products and "recipes" I've used.

Defining Enrichment

According to Barks & Recreation, "Canine enrichment means engaging your dog in activities designed to stimulate their mind and to keep them physically fit at the same time."

My working definition of canine enrichment is anything added to a dog's routine that goes beyond meeting just their most basic, minimal needs in order to add novelty and biological fulfillment to their day.

Dogs are animals, no matter how much we treat them like four legged kids in fur suits. Animals have certain biological needs that don't just go away because we hook them up with a sweet house to hang out in with a fenced in yard or a luxury condo in the heart of downtown with all the best views. I'm going to generalize those needs, but know that every dog within every breed group and even each breed has varying needs. I'd say we can expect dogs to have a biological need to dig, shred, tear, bark, run, and do just about every other thing we often deem as "annoying" or "bad dog" behaviors.

I believe that canine enrichment is an attempt by pet parents to channel their pups needs into safe, minimally frustrating, but still satisfying behaviors.

Okay, but how often should I be doing enrichment?

That's up to you and your pets needs. I'm low effort, so mine get a Kong or Toppl each morning as their incentive to go into their crate. At bed time they each get a chew of some kind to help keep them entertained if sleeping for 6-8 hours doesn't seem like it's going to happen. Those are my standard go-tos on a pretty much daily basis.

Sometimes I'm feeling more energetic and want to bust out the flirt pole I'm trying to learn to use properly, or the ChuckIt toys, or we'll go for a longer sniffari walk. I choose not to put extra pressure on myself because if I make enrichment a chore for myself, I know I won't keep up with it, and at its core, being a dog mom should be fun, right?

Some Stats From Our Followers

I asked our Instagram followers about enrichment through various polls and questions in our stories, and found the results pretty well matched my own thoughts. This, of course, doesn't represent the entire dog community, but I couldn't resist sharing what our followers had to say. The following statistics are based only on the information provided by those followers who interacted with our stories.

• 70% said enrichment is part of their routine with their dog

• 63% use food-based enrichment the most regularly

• 100% agreed that enrichment does not have to be complicated or time-consuming

• 89% agreed that enrichment does not have to involve food

• 100% agreed that enrichment is not a phase

And I agree with all of this. Food-based enrichment is my go to, but I'm realizing there are so many other ways to satisfy your dog. Plus, if I keep sticking to food-based enrichment, Grimm is never going to lose the 3-5lbs of puppy fat he's clinging to.

Ways To Incorporate Enrichment

In my world there are four categories of enrichment: scent-based, exercise-based, mental/brain games, and food-based. A lot of activities can cross into multiple categories, so don't get too hung up on the labels I've tossed around. Enrichment is a uniquely individual experience, and I think that's why I like it so much.

Scent-Based Enrichment

When I think about scent-based enrichment I think about things that rely on my dogs using their sense of smell over anything else. I've also found that scent-based enrichment, for me, is a bit lower effort than most other forms of enrichment. Some of my favorite ways to include scent-based enrichment are:

• Sniffari Walks: These are walks that I usually do on a long leash (Grimm has the Teton 10ft Rope Leash from WilderDog, Reaper has a red 10ft biothane leash from EvergreenDogCo) and I let the dogs choose where we go. There's no strict leash walking rules or protocols or expectations. They just take me where they want to go and spend most of the walk with their nose to the ground. I find that doing these types of walks really seems to exhaust my guys in the right way. There's so much for them to learn about the environment just by sniffing around, and taking in all of that information is really stimulating.

• New Walking Areas: Sometimes the best thing I can think of is to take the pups to a new place to walk. There end up being new people, new smells, new sights, new textures, all kinds of new things. In new places that I expect to be kind of crowded or indoor places, like stores, I keep my guys on their standard leashes so I know I can maintain control and get them out of sticky situations. But if the new place I'm checking out is a calmer trail or park, or even just a couple of streets over in the neighborhood, I tend to let them have their long leash so they can explore all of the new things. Think about your typical neighborhood walk as running a mile on a track in high school: it's the same loop, over, and over, and over again. It gets boring for them after a while, and sometimes just breaking that routine is enough.

• Car Rides: I know it seems crazy, but hear me out. This can be a really efficient way to run errands, socialize your pup, and get in some scent-based enrichment. Load your pup into the car, head to the store to pick up your curb-side grocery order, and keep the windows cracked. Just driving around town with the windows down a bit can be really stimulating. Each day there are different cars, people, dogs, cats, wildlife, who knows! Your dog gets the chance to experience new smells and sights simultaneously, and you get to work on car ride etiquette too.

Exercise-Based Enrichment

This is probably the category of enrichment that I use the least often with my dogs. Considering Grimm and Reaper, in particular, are high energy breeds, adding more exercise-based enrichment into our routine needs to be a higher priority. Initially I avoided intentional exercise with them because they were young and I'm very worried about their joint health after having German Shepherds for so long. Then over the summer I avoided it because Florida is hot and I had my weight-loss surgery and wasn't feeling great. Now... it's just my general lack of energy that seems to keep the exercise away. But anywho, some exercise-based enrichment we've done:

• Walking On/Interacting With New Surfaces: I consider this one relatively low effort, but I think it can be highly rewarding. I think I did the best job of this with Kai so far. After his appointments for his shots, I liked to take him to the local park and give him a chance to explore the areas most dogs don't go to, like the playground. Our time at the park allowed him to experience walking on mulch, going through the playground equipment (which we only did if kids weren't around, and we actually got really lucky that we were perfectly timed to show up just before park management came around to clean the equipment), climbing the weird rock formation course, and even just having to watch other people walk by. Grimm is a bit more hesitant about surfaces, and Reaper has apparently decided that he doesn't care and will jump on just about anything.

• ChuckIt Toys: I'm not always sure this counts as enrichment, but since it's something I don't do every day, I'm throwing it in here. We only have the ChuckIt and the corresponding balls, but I'm really excited to add more of their line up to the mix. What I like about the ChuckIt balls in particular is that different styles bounce differently, some make whistling noises, and most of them have varying textures. Just ten to 15 minutes outside chasing the ChuckIt balls is enough to satisfy Grimm, which I really appreciate. Reaper isn't much for chasing balls, but he loves to chase Grimm and Kai while they chase balls. I'm excited to try some of their indoor toys and their discs to give the dogs more variety as well.

• Flirt Poles: This is essentially brand new to us, so we are definitely not experts in flirt polling at all... not even sure that's an actual verb. I'd seen the phrase flirt pole on different accounts, and when one of the accounts we follow posted that there was a deal on a specific flirt pole through Amazon, I jumped at the chance to try it out for $12. I have pretty much no idea what it is that I'm doing, so I basically just whip it around on the ground or in the air for the dogs. A flirt pole is essentially a large scale the cat toy with the little stuffed toy or feather at the end. I'm still working on learning how exactly I'm supposed to use it, but so far Reaper has been really interested in jumping like a mad man to get it, and Grimm really just wants to chase it around, which I guess is the whole point.

One thing we haven't done yet but I think is worth mentioning as a form of enrichment is dog sports. I can definitely see how going through trick training, agility, dock diving, and all of the other dog sport classes can be wildly enriching. In these courses dogs have to use various senses and learn new skills regularly. Some of these sports require dogs to work independently and use their brains to think critically, others may require the dog to be handler focused and work off of cues. There's really no shortage of ways that dog sports can enrich your dogs life.

Food-Related Enrichment

This is my absolute go-to for enrichment, because it's a pretty consistent way to be sure that my pack of pups is engaged. We'll get into products and recipes further in, but for now, let's just look at ways we can use food as enrichment. It's important to note that for the overall health of your dog, you should be mindful of how much food enrichment you're doing and consider adjusting their meals accordingly to maintain healthy weight, nutrition, and general health.

• Puzzles: There are a lot of fantastic puzzle options available online, but my go to brand has been Outward Hound. I find the price point is perfect for being able to get multiple puzzles, and the fact that I can get them with fast shipping from Amazon or find them in most chain pet stores is a huge bonus. There are varying difficulties to puzzles, and what I've come to really like about those from Outward Hound is that many of their puzzles have different ways to adjust the difficulty of that puzzle built right in. It's important to remember that whenever you're introducing something new to your pup, you should be monitoring them. What I've found with puzzles is that each dog tackles them a different way. Grimm gets that he should keep it on the ground, and he's good about using his paws and his nose to get things moving. Reaper is generally disinterested in most puzzles because he's prettier than he is smart... or maybe he's the smartest one since he waits for the others to figure the puzzle out and then swoops in for the goodies. Rudy and Kai are both more the "pick it up and bang it around" type of pups. If anything, it's just really fun to watch dogs problem solve. I've also seen puzzles recommended as a way to slow down dogs who eat too quickly, but that's not an issue I've come across yet.

• Scatter Feeding: This is another method that's pretty low effort and can yield high impact. Scatter feeding is can also be another way to slow down those speedy pups who gobble up their food in three seconds. Sometimes I just take a handful of kibble and toss it around on the floor, and it's just that simple. I've done it in grass too when we've been out and I needed a way to distract them from some other stimuli.

• Varying Textures & Temperatures: Sometimes enrichment can be as simple as just changing the texture or temperature of what your dog is eating. It can be as easy as soaking their kibble in water or broth until the kibble soaks up the moisture, or feeding your dog what I like to call "kibble soup" with more of a chicken noodle soup kind of texture. I've noticed my pups aren't super interested in the super wet kibble unless I use some kind of super tasty broth, water just doesn't cut it for them. To take it to the next level, see what happens when you heat up or freeze something your pup is going to eat. My guys get frozen Toppls or Kongs every morning as payment for going into their crates, but even within those, there are a variety of textures. It's been interesting to learn what textures and temperatures they like, but really all I've discovered is that everyone except Rudy will eat just about anything any way I give it to them.

• Novel Feeding: This includes a wide variety of things like Toppls, Kongs, slow feeders, lick mats, and snuffle mats. My idea of novel feeding is just the idea that your dog is eating their meal from something other than a standard dog bowl. What I like about all of these options is the fact that they're generally going to make the food in them last. My dogs aren't super speedy eaters anyway, but it's nice to be able to give them something and know that they'll be entertained for more than two minutes. I'm also going to throw this in as an option: use your trash. Yep, I said it. Grimm loves it when I take kibble and treats and hide them in a box for him to shred, and given my Amazon addiction, he gets plenty to use. I've seen others use egg cartons as well and that looks like it would be really fun. This category can get really huge and is the one I use the most, so it's going to get its own separate post about the products and "recipes" I use.

Accounts We Adore:

The last thing I wanted to touch on today were some accounts we follow that highlight enrichment in different ways. Some are pet parents who provide enrichment, others are businesses that provide enrichment items, but all of them have offered me something new to learn and have shaped the ways I use enrichment. There are a ton of different accounts I could have linked here, but it would have been absolutely insane, so here are a few to get you started.

• Sniffingtons

• Bo.And.Son_

• Sit.Forest.Sit

• Sadie_Lady_The_Coonhound

• MotherPuppinEnriching

• WildNourishPet

• WestPawsUs

• FussPop

• KongCompany

• BarkuterieBoards

• BindisBucketList

• TheAussieMerleGirls

• SodaPupDogToys

As always, I hope you've enjoyed this tail, and here's to many more!

Danielle