Mental enrichment and why its important!Lets talk about mental enrichment! When we think of exercising our dogs, most people think of physical exercise. But did you know letting your dog sniff for 15-20 minutes is equivalent to them running for an hour?! Its true! Dogs noses are powerful sensory machines, which means you are drastically increasing their mental stimulation by just letting them sniff (whether its outside on a walk, or in your backyard... or even inside doing nose work activities).
A TIRED DOG IS A HAPPY DOG... Mental enrichment activities: SNIFFARI'S Take your dog on a walk and let them sniff their hearts out! You will be surprised how tired they are afterwards! HIDE AND SEEK Hide some of their favorite treats and/or toys inside or in the backyard and let them sniff em' out STUFFED KONGS Put their meals in kongs (freeze them overnight to make it more challenging) SNUFFLE MATS/FOOD PUZZLES My boy, Hodor, LOVES his snuffle mat and food puzzles! It takes him a solid 20+ minutes to finish his meals as opposed to a few seconds in his regular bowl. How to stuff a kong: |
Our favorite snuffle mat on Amazon:
Hedgehog Snuffle Mat Our favorite food puzzles on Amazon: Outward Hound Puzzle by Nina Ottosson Kong Wobbler Our favorite harness and long line for SNIFFARI'S:
Petsafe 3 in 1 Harness Biothane Long Line Try snazzing up your dogs food puzzle by introducing novel/safe human foods! Just make sure you start with small portions so
they do not get upset tummies. |
Now let's talk about cat enrichment...
Ok, lets not forget about our kitties and their needs! Cats NEED enrichment too!
Here are a few easy and quick ways to increase their mental stimulation: CAT TV YouTube offers free CAT TV channels. You may be surprised by how much your kitty enjoys watching it! LICKY MAT Just smoosh their wet food into the mat and enjoy watching your kitty licking it up! FOOD PUZZLE Fill it up with their kibble and let them work to get their meal BACKYARD ADVENTURES (SUPERVISED) Train your kitty to wear a harness and take them on backyard adventures! TEACH TRICKS Teach sit, down, shake etc (this is also a great bonding activity) HIDE AND SEEK Hide treats around the house and watch them sniff em' out My favorite food puzzles for kitties:
Catstages by Nini Ottosson Lukito Licky Mat |
My kitties favorite interactive cat toys:
Potaroma Fluttering Butterfly Automatic Moving Cat Ball Toy My favorite cat harness: PetSafe Come with me Kitty harness |