We've talked a lot about enrichment, and why it's so important for dogs. Not only does it improve their overall quality of life, but it can also help prevent behavior problems! Enrichment is amazing for building a bond with your dog, keeping them happy, and providing an outlet for their natural behaviors. And also: enrichment can help us humans, too!
We all have limited time in the day, and there are some great ways to help our dogs AND ourselves with enrichment.
If your dog:
starts whining or barking at you every day during your 3pm Zoom meeting
tends to get underfoot when you're cooking dinner
gets overly excited for the first 10 minutes of people visiting
Tactical enrichment might be for you!
The whole idea of tactical enrichment is just to choose enrichment activities wisely and apply them when it's helpful for you and your dog. If we know we need to give our dogs enrichment activities anyway, we might as well time them in a way that's helpful! This might look like:
Saving a portion of your dog's kibble and putting it into a snuffle mat for them at 2:55, before your last Zoom meeting of the day.
Preparing a food puzzle with your dog's dinner and giving it to them in another room while you cook
Preparing frozen Kongs ahead of time and giving one to your dog just before guests arrive
Again, it's key to note that these are activities we would have done for our dogs anyway! We're just preparing ahead of time so our dogs can enjoy AND stay out of trouble.
Note: one cool thing about tactical enrichment is that it can actually change behavior long-term! If your dog gets their needs met in the afternoon instead of being bored while you work, they're less likely to bark at you for attention during that time in the future. If your dog learns that guests coming over means "there's a LickiMat for you on your bed," they'll start heading there when friends come over instead of rushing the door. So tactical enrichment can help with more than just one moment!
Need some help setting up tactical enrichment for your dog? Set up a private training session!
Want to learn more about enrichment? Check out our webinar all about enrichment, or one about your dog's "love language," or how to keep your dog entertained while on exercise restrictions.