Transcript of Episode 314: Dog Enrichment Secrets Part 1: Using Your Dog’s Natural Instincts to Build Variety and Engagement

Speaker Key

SG Susan Garrett

Transcript

00:00:00

If you've ever filled a Toppl or a Kong for your dog and thought that you were filling their quota of
enrichment for the day, I think both you and your dog are going to be happy that you happened on
today's episode of Shaped by Dog.

00:00:26

Hi, I'm Susan Garrett. Welcome to Shaped by Dog. I have been wanting to do this episode for a very
long time. So much so that now I've got so much to share, I think it's going to be a two-part episode.
Today I'm going to go over what really is enrichment, why it's so important for our dogs, what it is not,
and how you can start compiling a list of things that will be ideal for your own particular dog.

Because let's face it, no two dogs are alike, kind of like people. I happen to be a real sports and music
fanatic. I have friends who would never step foot inside of an arena to watch a game. We're all
different. Doesn't make one better or worse, just like our dogs, they're all different.

00:01:13

So, after today's episode, you will be getting a little bit of homework that will allow you to really dig deep
into the needs that your particular dog, or dogs, may have. But first let's talk about what is enrichment.

Really, it's simple as just creating a variety of experiences for your dog to meet their needs, meet their
emotional needs, their social needs, their instinctive needs, their mental needs, and sometimes their
physical needs. Now, not one activity is going to meet all of those needs, which is why variety is
important. More on that later.

00:01:53

We want to meet their needs in a really meaningful way. A way that they will find value in and a way
that they will feel enriched. Because dogs aren't like furniture. They're not meant to be sitting around
like some dogs that unfortunately you still see chained to a doghouse in a backyard for 99% of their
entire day.

That is a dog who is not living an enriched life. Dogs have curious minds. They have instinctive drives.
And when those needs of the curious mind and these instinctive drives are not met, you will see anxiety
get expressed in the form of sometimes destruction, digging up all of your flowers, shredding your
furniture, couch cushions, or maybe finding entertainment by barking at cars passing by your front
window.

00:02:43

True enrichment may be engagement with you in the form of dog training that definitely is enriching
your dog’s life, but there's so much more that doesn't need to involve you. True enrichment provides
agency in that the dog can choose. The dog allows the activity that is meeting their needs.

Now, some enrichment has a level of challenge to it. Maybe mental challenge for the dog, maybe a
physical challenge. It definitely has variety. From my perspective I want to make sure there's some
balance. For example, as I said off the top, a lot of people think filling a Kong with all sorts of yummy
treasures for your dog to find is enriching, and it is once in a while.

00:03:28

I remember when that ice cream place came out that had the marble slab and they would put your ice
cream and mix in all sorts of things and mix it all up. Oh my gosh. That was nirvana for me. However, if
I'd eaten that every single day, it would cease to be Nirvana.

Stuffing a Kong with special treasures that your dog can find as they're working through it, yeah, that is
super cool. That is or can be one form of enrichment once in a while. Every day, not so much. So, let's
talk more about what enrichment is not.

00:04:06

So, it's not passive. Turning on the TV or turning on a radio, that's not enrichment. That can be
distraction. That could be, “let's drown out some of the hotel noise.” Don't think you're enriching your
dog's life. Enrichment shouldn't be inherently dangerous. For example, some people like to take a laser
pointer and get their dogs to chase it.

Not only is that potentially dangerous if they get the laser in the eye. It is so dangerous in that it could
create an OCD behavior where the dog starts shadow chasing, looking for reflections off your watch
onto the ceiling.

00:04:41

I've seen so many problems being created because somebody thought it would be fun to have their
dog chase a laser pointer. Please, no, just, no. So, enrichment isn't passive, it isn't dangerous. It should
not be, please, it should not be overwhelming. Meaning going to a dog park, you might think, “Oh, I'm
going to enrich my dog's life. I'm going to go to a dog park.”

Potentially for some dogs in the right dog park, that could be true. And the same can go for a daycare
potentially with the right dog. And there's some amazing daycares out there, but there's probably an
equal number or more that aren't so amazing for your dog. It can be overwhelming.

00:05:20

If your dog doesn't have a social need of meeting other dogs, a dog park is the worst place to take
them. And a poorly structured daycare that doesn't know how to meet the needs of individual dogs is
not the place to take that dog. Good enrichment definitely is not human centric, in that it's not you
taking your dog for a walk while you scroll on your phone.

Now, if your dog is just sniffing along beside you, yes, there's definitely a level of enrichment there.
Especially if you go on a different route every single time you take your dog out. However, with a higher
level of engagement from you, the potential to have a better level of enrichment for the dog is very
probable. Finally, and most importantly, as I mentioned before, enrichment is not monotonous.

00:06:07

It is not doing the same thing every day. It doesn't matter how cool of an enrichment idea that is, it will
not be meeting your dog's needs when you just do the same thing for them every single day. This is so
important that my team and I have put together a handout with a schedule that you can use, but I'm
getting ahead of myself because that's for part two.

Right now, I want to talk about the instinctive needs of your dog and how that can be fulfilled just
through enrichment. In episode number 232, I talked about our dog's canine predatory motor
sequence. And that is a cycle that goes back to how wild dogs or wolves hunted.

00:06:52

And in domesticated dogs, that cycle has been muted in some different stages or maybe it's been
enhanced in some different stages. So let me just remind you of those eight stages.

First is the alert or orient, a prey potentially. Then it’s locate, scan to find it. Then it's stalk. We're not
going to take off chasing, we're going to stalk it, then we're going to chase the prey. We're going to grab
it to bite.

It's going to be like a grab bite, not anything dangerous. Then it's the kill bite, then it’s the evisceration,
and then there's the consuming. Of course, our domesticated dogs that has been altered genetically
through breeding.

However, there's elements of that that are in every one of our dogs. And here is your homework, is I'd
like you to start to take note of the things that potentially we can use when we talk about this in the next
episode for your dog's enrichment.

00:07:47

So, we're going to start with first part of the predation cycle, the alert or orient that could be orienting
with their eyes, “I think I see something.” Could be orienting with their nose, could be orienting with
their ear.

With those dogs, a snuffle mat where you're going to put treats in the snuffle mat and they're going to
have fun seeking out those treats. It could be just a food scatter in the environment that you're leaving
them in for the day.

It could be if you have a dog that likes to orient with their eye, it could be one of those TV shows for
dogs that have really cool things that get the dog's attention on the screen. Or, if you have a dog like
one of my dogs, Prophet, he loves to watch the bird feeder.

00:08:28

He doesn't chase the birds when he is outside, but we have a big picture window, and he loves to get
up there and look out at the birds as they're eating at the feeders. Now, if you have a dog that likes to
orient or alert, you're going to be thinking about enrichment along those lines.

You may find your dog almost every one of these categories, you could say, “Yeah, my dog would love
that. My dog would love that.” There isn't just one for every dog, but as I go through the categories, you
are going to say, “Oh yeah, I could see my dog doing that.”

Next is the locate. Now probably the bird feeder and the TV is going to be good for the dogs that like to
locate for sure.

00:09:01

But food puzzles would be a great thing for those dogs that they can find the way. You start with easy
food puzzles like that Nina Ottosson's food puzzles. They go up in degrees of difficulty, and you can get
to some really difficult food puzzles.

And dogs love to use their brain to figure out how to get the cookies inside these little pockets. So, food
puzzles are a great one for dogs who like to locate. Nose, ears, eyes.

You could get really involved with your scattering in that. You could take a towel and put cookies in the
towel and roll it up and put more cookies and roll it up.

00:09:36

Remember I said enrichment is not inherently dangerous, so if you have a dog that you think might eat
that towel, do not leave them unsupervised. Likewise, you could take cookies and put them in some
brown paper, roll it up into little balls, throw it in a box, put that in another box, put some more brown
paper and some more treats inside of that. That will give them time removing things and finding those
treasures.

00:09:58

So next is the stalk. Dogs who love to stalk, a slow drag of a toy is a lot of fun for a dog like that.
Likewise, one of those motorized toys that you can control the direction of it. You can get some toys
that just move randomly. Dogs who like to stalk love those kinds of toys as well. Just a caveat that
these aren't things you're going to be leaving your dog alone with because of the danger.

But also, if it's an expensive remote toy, there's a very good probability that they're going to do their bite
to grab and potentially the bite to kill so they could damage that toy. Now we go to the dogs who love
the chase. So, restraint recalls are phenomenal for those dogs because you are running, so that's
building value and drive for you.

00:10:43

Also, a flirt pole, something that they can chase, that you can move a little bit faster than just slow
dragging toy. Likewise, you can buy lure coursing machines, which lure coursing are what the
Sighthounds do where it's— actually, just a garbage bag, but it's to mimic a rabbit and it moves in an
erratic patterns.

And dogs who love to chase absolutely love those things. And if you have a dog that likes to chase and
you have other known dogs that you know your dog is good with that they can run together, taking
those dogs out for a walk when there's another dog that I'll chase you and then you chase me, as long
it's a safe environment that they're chasing in, that could be a great thing.

00:11:22

But I'm going to put a big asterisk with that one because this is where going to a dog park, you know,
just because my dog loves to chase other dogs isn't always a good idea. Actually, it rarely is a good
idea because of the nature of those dog parks could have a dog that is more of a bully. It could
emotionally be very damaging for your dog.

Next is, the dogs that like the grab bite. Well, hello tug games. Tug games are phenomenal for those
dogs. You can rig up something that is just a tug game where the dog tugs by themselves. So, a lot of
the Bully breeds have like a tethering tug in the backyard hung off of a tree limb.

00:12:01

I had one for my Jack Russell Terriers where they would just go out and tug on that, the tether that was
hanging from the tree limb. Tug games are great. I prefer them when they are interactive with me rather
than with a tree. But there are some dogs that just love that activity.

And the great thing about tugging with me is you can structure that into a game that is building the
dog's understanding of when I ask for the toy, you give it to me. You don't try and take it unless I tell
you can have it. So, we're building some self-control, some self-regulation in that dog, which is always
a good thing, especially in those dogs that love to tug so much that they find a lot of value in the bite
grab game.

00:12:42

Next is the bite to kill. And honestly, we're not going to allow our dogs to experience killing animals.
That's not really a cool thing unless they're purposely bred and you're doing that for absolute reason,
then you do you, a hundred percent okay.

However, a lot of these dogs love squeaky toys, so some of the grab bite also love just squeaking
squeaky toys. You will find some dogs love squeaky toys and others really could care less.

00:13:12

Most of my Border Collies absolutely have zero interest in squeaking a squeaky. Now they will play with
a squeaky. They really don't care. Again, very particular. And some dogs like the soft, squeaky, some
like the ones that are cloth. Figure that one out.

That isn't one that I very likely would leave a dog alone with, unless I know for sure that they're not
going to be the kind of dog who likes to squeak and then try to rip the squeaker out of the squeaky. So,
I wouldn't leave my dog alone with squeakies just because of that small danger.

00:13:47

And if they're a dog that likes to squeak, sometimes they also like our next category, which is
eviscerate. So, if your dog likes to squeak and eviscerate, then I wouldn't leave them alone with the
squeaky.

But what you could leave them alone with is puppy bombs. I've talked about that here on Shaped by
Dog before, where I make them with toilet paper rolls. Again, I supervise my dog for the first few, so I
know they love to shred the toilet paper rolls after they have eaten the goodies that are inside it. But do
they eat the paper?

I'd rather my dogs not eat a lot of paper. The good thing is that it's pretty biodegradable, but if I have a
dog that likes to shred and eat, then those are things that I'll do when I'm alone and after they've
shredded them, I'll just pick up all the little pieces.

00:14:29

But you can buy those toys that are like a cone. So, I had one that was a beehive, that there were
these tiny little bees that stuffed inside the beehive, and the dog would stick their face down and pull
the bees out of the beehive and that was like dogs who like to pluck. I think that's related to the
evisceration instinct. I honestly don't know, but some dogs love that.

Other dogs could care less. “Oh, they're, they're in there. They're not doing anything. I don't, I don't
need them.” And also, for dogs who love to eviscerate, any shredding, anything that is safe for them to
shred. So paper is the only one that I've allowed my dogs to shred.

00:15:07

And for me, myself, I've never given my dog stuffed animals to shred. Actually, I shaped them to never
shred stuffed animals because I just think it's dangerous. If they happen to swallow some of that, you
could end up with a really expensive surgery. So, you'll recognize the puppies or the dogs that love the
evisceration. Make sure that you provide for an outlet that is safe for that dog.

Finally, is the consume dogs who love to get to the final end and consume well. That's where your
stuffed Kongs and your stuffed Toppls, maybe your lick mats, food puzzles, those are the things that
would come in for those dogs. Now, I think pretty much any dog loves that as an enrichment.

00:15:50

But as I mentioned, right off the top, true enrichment should fill your dog's cup. It should have the
potential to maybe growing confidence. The confidence of a dog being left alone. “Yeah, I'm okay
because I've got all these fun things that happen when you leave.”

Potential to grow a better relationship between you and your dog. Potential to meet your dog's
instinctive needs or meet your dog's emotional needs. That's why we go to all this effort to create an
enriching environment for our dogs.

00:16:20

So, your homework is, go through that predatory motor sequence and really decide what one of those
eight sound like your dog, and create a list of activities that are true enrichment in that they're safe,
they're not passive, they're not overwhelming, and create a list.

Because in our next episode, we're going to go over a master list of potential activities that you can use
for your dog's enrichment. Plus, I'm going to help you chart that enrichment so that variety just naturally
happens.

00:16:52

You don't have to go, “Oh, did I give her the purple food puzzle, or did I give her the lick mat? I can't
remember.” We're going to help you schedule that. All that right here next time on Shaped by Dog. I'll
see you then.