Dog Enrichment E-Book

Anna Muir

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 167

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Enrichment engages your dog in activities that stimulate them mentally, physically and socially to meet their natural behavioural needs, leaving them happier, calmer and with fewer behaviour problems. Activities for your dog don't need to cost the earth, and the examples in this book use everyday household items to enrich your dog's life through choice, problem solving and breed-specific behaviour outlets. The games range from easy to hard, ensuring that every dog is challenged at their appropriate level, and there are plenty of options depending on how much time you have, making sure that everyone is a winner. This book is about getting everyone involved, whether they have two legs or four, to build and maintain a happy family.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: What Is Enrichment?

PART 1: GAMES, EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES

1: Games

2: Crafts

3: Movement

4: Baking

5: Tricks

PART 2: PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE

6: How, When and Where to Use Enrichment

7: Enrichment for the Whole Family

8: Dog Training as Enrichment

9: Using Enrichment for Health

10: Example Enrichment Plans

Final Note

APPENDIX: Activity Completion Tick List

Further Resources

Bibliography

Index

INTRODUCTION:

What Is Enrichment?

Meeting Our Dog’s Needs

Our dogs are valued members of our family and are no longer faced with the daily challenges of finding enough food to eat, keeping safe from threats and finding shelter in order to survive. We meet all their basic needs by providing them with food and water, sharing our warm and cosy houses with them, taking them to the vets when they are unwell and making sure no scary predators can come and hurt them. Job done? Well, not completely, because we want our dogs not just to survive but to thrive. We want them to find fulfilment in their existence and that means meeting their higher needs of social connection and mental challenge through choice, novelty and problem-solving with their family – whether those family members have two legs or four. That is what enrichment is, making sure that all of your dog’s needs are met: physical, mental and emotional. By meeting our dog’s needs, we are creating happy dogs and, seeing as they bring us so much happiness, it seems like a fair exchange.

Enrichment for Captive Animals

Great, we understand the concept of enrichment. We’re on board and keen to get started. How do we go about doing it? How do we know the needs of our dogs? How do we ensure that the activities we plan will meet those needs? To answer these questions, it is useful to look at where the concept of enrichment originally started: in zoos.

Have you ever been to a zoo and noticed how zookeepers feed the animals? The tigers aren’t given their meat in a silver bowl; the monkeys don’t sit nicely around a table. Their food is scattered, hidden and placed just out of reach. The tigers have to climb a high pole to retrieve their dinner and the monkeys have to get their fruit out of the inside of logs. Why? Because it provides a mental and physical challenge, which occupies the animals and fulfils their day-to-day life.

Zoos once contained small, barren, concrete cages inhabited by some very sad-looking animals indeed. The classic images of the repetitively pacing bear and the motionless and silent chimpanzee are examples of unhappy animals that are chronically stressed and under-stimulated. It wasn’t until the 1960s that people began to consider how these animals compared with their active and engaged wild counterparts. As research into the behaviour of wild animals progressed, scientists were able to uncover what different species did when in the wild and to start setting up enclosures to make it possible for captive animals to do the same. For instance, meerkats live in groups, spend a lot of time digging, sleep and hide underground, and always have a lookout posted on higher ground to keep watch for predators. Now zoos have mobs of meerkats living together, provide them with sandy substrate to dig in, create sleeping areas that mimic underground burrows, and have high places like fake termite mounds and upturned tree trunks for meerkats on sentry duty. The animal welfare movement was born, and captive animals now live mentally and physically healthier, longer lives, with better reproductive success. In other words, they are happier.

▲ Our dogs bring us so much joy and they deserve a life filled with joy in return.

Canine Enrichment

Now let’s apply these concepts to our dogs. ‘How do they behave in the wild?’ is a difficult question when it comes to domesticated animals. Let’s rule out the idea of wolves as wild versions of dogs. With around 15,000 years of natural and artificial selection, including physiological, morphological and behavioural changes, between them and our current dogs, the comparison isn’t accurate. Current scientific evidence points to genetic changes including an increase in boldness around humans, which allowed a move from wild hunting in a pack to scavenging on waste from human habitations at a very early stage in their domestication process. The idea of dogs as pack animals, always trying to be alpha of their hunting group, is completely outdated and scientifically disproven (see Chapter 8 for more details).

The closest we’ve got to wild dogs currently in existence are ‘street’ or ‘free-living’ dogs that exist within the human urban environment but are not under human management. They are seen in many locations around the world and are prevalent in India, Russia and South America. These dogs are scavengers, feeding off human rubbish and taking shelter wherever they can find it in the urban landscape. This includes, famously, using the underground train stations of Russia as a place of warmth in the winter. Dogs roam the streets, exploring the sights, sounds and smells of their environment and searching for food to scavenge, in between finding comfortable spots for a nap. This gives us a major clue as to how our dogs would spend their lives if they had choice and freedom. Investigating sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes, and choosing which activities to do and when, is a key part of enrichment for your dog.

▲ Helping our dogs experience different sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes is key to enriching their lives.

Breed-Specific Enrichment

We can look further into what our dog might enjoy by starting to think about what breed (or mix of breeds) they are. As humans, we are always tinkering with the genetic make-up of domesticated animals, to promote the characteristics that are useful for our day-to-day life. Predominantly, we have done this through breeding animals that possess traits that are desirable at the time, such as the ability to run fast, to be a certain size, or to have a good sense of smell. By breeding together individuals that show these traits, we hope that they will be inherited by their offspring. Due to the natural variability in how traits are inherited and expressed, we can further select which animals to breed together from those offspring, so that over time the trait becomes more and more exaggerated. For instance, if I wanted to create smaller dogs, I would systematically breed the smallest dogs from successive litters together (of different lineages preferably, although this hasn’t always been the case in modern breeding practices). This would mean that over multiple generations, the genes for smallness would be inherited, until I was left with a very small dog indeed. This is the basis of how all the different breeds of dogs that we see today have been created.

This process of selective breeding by humans has led us to the extremes of body shape and temperament that we see today: from the Chihuahua to the Great Dane, from the French Bulldog to the Springer Spaniel. Each of the breeds that exist today have been bred over multiple generations for a specific purpose and are generally classified using seven groups: gundog, hound, pastoral, terrier, toy, utility and working. To understand how these groups and breeds differ, we need to understand their predatory motor pattern (PMP). The PMP is the full sequence of behaviours from spotting prey, through stalking and chasing, to grabbing and killing, then eating the prey during a hunt.

▲ Herding breeds have been bred to watch, stalk and chase and have a genetic predisposition to show these behaviours even in the absence of livestock.

To create dogs that were useful to us for specific purposes, we enhanced or supressed different parts of their PMP through breeding. For instance, to enable Labrador Retrievers to bring back things that we had killed, the orient (spotting prey) and grab-bite instincts had to be strong but the kill-bite and dissect elements had to be weak. For Terriers to hunt vermin as pest control, the chase, grab-bite and kill-bite instincts had to be exaggerated. For Bernese Mountain Dogs, as livestock guarders, all parts of the PMP had to be suppressed, while Border Collies needed strong orient, eye, stalk and chase instincts but weak grab-bite and killbite instincts. The areas of the PMP that have been exaggerated through breeding are really fun for dogs to carry out and they will get a rush of happy hormones every time they do it. Having a look at the background to your specific dog’s breed will therefore help you learn what they have a tendency to enjoy. You can then build this into your enrichment plan. If you have a lovely crossbreed, then have a look at all the background breeds. If you’re not sure of any of the breeds that make up your dog, don’t worry – even within a breed, every individual is different so you can just try lots of different activities and see which your dog enjoys!

▲ The PMP includes all the behaviours a dog would show while hunting, catching and consuming prey. Different breeds have been bred to carry out different parts of this sequence.

Enrichment for Your Dog

Are these dog- and breed-specific behaviours starting to sound familiar? Has your pup ever scavenged something disgusting and eaten it while out on a walk? Dug up your lawn? Carried your favourite shoes around? Tried to round up your visitors? Well, guess what – our dogs will always find ways of fulfilling their needs one way or another. We can’t suppress their natural behaviours; they will always find an outlet for them, whether we approve of it or not! Telling them off for expressing their genetically predetermined behaviours, many of which we have bred them to do, seems pretty unreasonable, doesn’t it? So how about we provide them with enrichment outlets for these behaviours that are acceptable to us humans and satisfying for our dogs? Let’s work with our dogs rather than against them. Every dog is different and your role is to ensure that the enrichment that you are offering is right for your specific dog. It isn’t enrichment if your dog isn’t motivated to participate or is forced to join in when they don’t want to. In order to work with your dog to enrich their lives, play around with difficulty level, support motivation and ensure that they have choice.

▲ All dogs are individuals, even within the same breed, so find out what your dog enjoys the most by trying different activities with them.

Difficulty Level

Set up your enrichment games and activities at a difficulty level that is challenging but doable for your dog. No one enjoys a game where they never win! If they aren’t used to using their noses to find food, make the food easy to find at first. If you are scatter feeding (see Chapter 1), pour their food on the grass in a pile the first time then gradually spread it in larger and larger areas around the garden. If you are hiding a toy for them to find (see Chapter 1), start by placing the toy right in the middle of the room, then to one side of the room, before gradually progressing to hiding it behind sofas and under cushions. Feel free to help your dog by pointing to the toy and excitedly encouraging them to find it – you’re a team after all. The more that you join in with the hunt, the more they will enjoy it. I’ve heard owners say, ‘My dog has a rubbish nose, they can’t find anything’, but the truth is, using scent to find objects is a skill that needs practice, just like learning to ride a bike or play the guitar. If you set up activities so that they are too hard for your dog, for example wrapping treats in too many layers of toilet roll and paper to begin with for the pup puzzle box (see Chapter 2), then they will soon become demotivated and stop trying. If your dog isn’t interested in the activity or game, have a think about how you can make it easier for them to begin with.

▲ If your dog is new to enrichment, as all puppies are, start with simple tasks and help them to be successful. This will increase their motivation and confidence to try harder activities in the future.

Each breed is predisposed to like certain types of activities, but don’t forget that your dog is also an individual and may vary from these guidelines.

REWARD CHOICE GAME

1 Choose five different food rewards that you think your dog might like. This could be from a bag of treats from the shop, one of the recipes in Chapter 4, something you have in the kitchen like cheese, cooked meat, berries or apple or your dog’s own food. Take a small piece of each of the treats and place them in a row on the floor.

2 Allow your dog to enter the room and watch which treat they eat first, which treats they also choose to eat, and which treats (if any) they leave on the floor.

3 You’ve now discovered which treats your dog likes and which is their favourite.

4 Choose five different types of toys, such as a tennis ball, a plastic bone, a tug rope and different stuffed toys. Line them up on the floor as before.

5 Allow your dog to enter the room and watch which toys they show interest in. Also pay attention to how they play with them. Do they run around holding the toy in their mouth? Do they drop the toy for you to throw? Do they enjoy a game of tug?

6 You’ve now identified their favourite toys and how you might play with them with those toys to maximise their enjoyment.

Now that you know your dog’s favourite things, you can use these to motivate them to engage with enrichment. Try this game at different times of day and see if your dog makes the same choices, as their favourite may vary depending on whether they are full or hungry, tired or have just had a nap. Plus, remember that dogs love novelty so rotate their favourite things within the activities to keep them interested!

Motivation

The second key element is motivation. Is the reward interesting enough to your dog for them to work to access it? If they don’t want whatever you’ve hidden then they won’t try to find it. If they don’t like the reward then they won’t work hard through training to receive it. Start thinking about what your dog loves to do and enjoys to eat and include these things in your enrichment activities. For instance, does your dog prefer toys or treats? What is their favourite toy? How do they like to play with it? What is their favourite food? Try out the reward choice game to help you find out.

Choice

Finally, the most important point: it is crucial that you allow your dog to choose whether they want to take part in an activity. Dogs need to feel safe to engage in play and enrichment. What makes them feel safe? Choice. They need to be able to opt in and opt out of scenarios depending on how they feel about them. There is a recent craze for escape rooms. You are placed in a room and have to solve puzzles to free yourself. When you have chosen to join in this game: fun. Locked in a room against your will and desperately trying to find ways to get out: not fun. In the first scenario, you know that you have opted in to take part and that in actuality you can leave at any time, so you feel safe and you can enjoy yourself. Your dog needs to have the same option. Give them the option to walk away from the game or stop the activity at any point and they will feel much more comfortable to join in when they are ready. Does your dog look uncomfortable, are they trying to move away, have they stopped taking rewards? Listen to them. Let them take a break and come back to it when they are ready. They will trust you all the more for it.

▲ Find out what your dog enjoys the most and use those items as rewards for games, activities and training.

▲ Have fun with your dog through enrichment activities and you’ll find that all your lives are enriched.

How to Use This Book

This book is a guide to activities that you can do with and for your dog. All activities are designed to be simple and accessible so that all members of your family, whether they have two legs or four, can find activities they can do and get involved with. This book will enrich your life as well as that of your dog! As with all new activities, ensure that your dog gets a full vet check prior to starting the enrichment in this book, to make sure that they don’t have any physical limitations or hidden pain that could affect which activities are most suitable for your dog at this time.

The first part of this book gives detailed descriptions of the activities, including games, crafts, movement, baking and tricks. This part is designed to be browsed and dipped in and out of as you choose an activity you would like to do with your dog. In the Appendix there is a tick list that you can tick off when you have tried each activity. The second part of the book details when and how you can use the activities to enrich the life of your dog. Here you will find specific information about how and when to use enrichment, including meeting your dog’s needs when they are puppies, overexcited teenagers, on walks, when they can’t go on walks, when your family includes children, through training and to promote health in dogs with physical and behavioural limitations. You can choose the chapters that are most applicable to you and your dog as you go through life. The enrichment plans in the final chapter will aid you in choosing the enrichment activities most suitable for your situation.

Above all, this book is about creating happy dogs and happy families, and I hope you and your dog find lots of ways to have fun together within its pages.

PART 1: GAMES, EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES

CHAPTER ONE:

Games

The games included here focus on using your dog’s natural tendencies to search, find, grab, hold and consume. There are some games that take seconds to set up and some that require more effort. All of them can be increased or decreased in difficulty to give your dog an achievable challenge. Many of them involve using food rewards – remember that these can be small pieces, just to give your dog a taste of the good stuff; there is no need to give them a huge chunk every time. Good options include small training treats (try the recipes in Chapter 4), blueberries, chopped-up apple or carrots, small pieces of plain cooked meat, cheese or pâté or a lick of dog-friendly peanut butter. Why not take your dog’s usual breakfast and dinner and instead of serving it in a bowl, give it to them using one of the games?

Treasure Hunt