Enrichment

So do you recall that in an effort to keep Einstein quiet while Worry Wart walks the FG in the morning, she would throw kibble all around to keep us busy searching?  Busy and quiet.  Until of course, we vacuums are finished and then Einstein starts barking anyway.

Well it turns out that there is actually a name for what she is doing.  It’s called Scatter Feeding.  Who knew?  It’s supposedly a great way to make us use our noses and work for our food.  Some people even scatter food in the lawn.  Worry Wart would be too paranoid that we would eat bugs in the process – so I don’t see her trying that any time soon.  Mind you, what’s a little extra protein?

She learned about his partly though this new Facebook page that a friend suggested – called Canine Enrichment.  It’s all about keeping dogs busy – and keeping our brains active so we don’t get bored.  There are lots of great ideas – mind you a lot of the things people put food in would not work for us PONs.  We would eat or destroy the container.  Like there were these “lick mats” that you fill with food, or peanut butter.  Worry Wart figures I would eat the lick mat along with the food.  She’s probably right.  And stuffing treats in toilet paper rolls – what kind of mess would THAT make?    And  clearly, some dogs have more patience.  For example, several people depicted these snuffle mats – which are like thick shaggy carpets.  You put kibble in the mat and your dog has to find the food.  I picture one of us – probably Einstein just picking up the mat so all the kibble falls out.  Let’s face it – that’s a faster technique.  

There are some good treat dispensing toys that are tough – and we have several of those.  Just don’t let us use it in a room that has anything fragile on a table.  It’s like demolition derby when we start batting those toys around and no furniture is safe.

It seems that a fair number of the enrichment activities have to do with scent work. The FG seems to have a good nose – like us PONs.  We can sniff out food ANYWHERE.  Time to get back into scent classes again!

But all in all, enrichment ideas are interesting – and CAN keep us dogs busy.  Check out the ideas.

Well, time to go enrich Worry Wart’s life.  Because enrichment goes both ways!

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.