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💡 100 Enrichment Ideas
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#IDEA 13. Got a dog that loves to fetch? Spread around the room different baskets or boxes filled with old linen or towels and toss your dog's ball randomly into the different baskets in order for your dog to have to use all of his senses to quickly determine where it landed! This can be a fun game for you as well.
#IDEA 14. Place a number of wide boxes, baskets, or bins across the room and provide your dog with different of his favourite toys. One at a time, the moment he chooses to carry that toy anywhere near any of the boxes, provide him with a rare treat. This will start to teach him to put toys away!
#IDEA 15. Got a few egg carton boxes in the recycling bin? Place inside of them a couple of your dog's treats, wrapped in thick paper or towels for your dog to first figure out how to open the cardboard box and then snuffle each piece you put inside. If your dog doesn't eat paper or cardboard you can let them tear it at the end.
#IDEA 16. Got a few empty toilet paper rolls in your recycling bin? Grab a few and in only one of them place inside of it some of your dog's smelly treats, before folding the end of each roll and hiding them each in different boxes or towels for your dog to have to identify which one has the treat and snuffle it.
#IDEA 17. Have a large enough treat dispenser ball with a dog that's too skilled at getting all the treats out? Stuff it with brown tissue paper to make it more challenging for each piece to come out. Make sure that you start with only small amounts of paper so that it's not too difficult and ensure your dog feels eager to do it.
#IDEA 18. Got a few clean and empty water bottles available? Place a few of your dog's more wet-like kibble or treats inside it without the lid and watch your dog try a few different ways to get each piece out. Try different bottle sizes and/or add brown tissue paper inside to alternate difficulties.
#IDEA 19. Have a two-step stool? Place a couple of your dog's favourite treats near and around it, and slowly on top of it. Once your dog is comfortable jumping on it, you can begin doing this with something soft underneath the stool like a cushion, so that it becomes a little wobbly to practice balancing on it.
#IDEA 20. Place two cardboard boxes of the same height 2-3 feet apart. Make sure the boxes are taller than your dog. Place a third box on top of them, creating a roof. Now encourage your dog to go through and underneath the boxes like a tunnel. With time you can cut the boxes smaller to encourage crawling.
#IDEA 21. Want your dog to go to his bed at the sound of the doorbell? Find a doorbell sound for your dog on YouTube. Play it, then place a tasty treat in your dog's bed (show him) and wait for him to go get it. A few moments later repeat, until you do this with multiple doorbell sounds, prior to practicing with your own.
#IDEA 22. Poke a hole on two opposing sides (near the rim) of a handful of disposable plastic cups. Run a cotton twine through them, between two chairs, so that they're hanging loosely, a bit closer to the floor but high enough that your dog needs to paw the cups to flip them for the treats to fall.
#IDEA 23. Put aside different flavour empty yogurt containers and place them within empty toilet paper rolls a few feet apart. Roll up the sides so the container doesn't fall out. Take one of the flavours from the containers and present it to your dog so he can get a whiff of the scent, and match it to the correct one.
#IDEA 24. Using a calming mask (make sure that your dog feels comfortable wearing it), place a strong-smelling treat inside a clean plastic water bottle without a lid. Place it among other empty water bottles and guide your dog towards them so that your dog can let you know which one contains the treat.
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