개 인리치먼트 비밀 파트 1: 개의 본능을 활용해 다양성과 참여도 높이기 #314

dog, maybe a physical challenge. It definitely has variety. From my perspective, I want to make sure there's some balance. For example, as I said off the top, a lot of people think filling a Kong with all sorts of yummy treasures for your dog to find is enriching. And it is once in a while. I remember when that ice cream place came out that had the marble slab and they would put your ice cream and mix in all sorts of things and mix it all up. Oh my gosh, that was nirvana for me. However, if I'd eaten that every single day, it would cease to be nirvana. Stuffing a Kong with special treasures that your dog can find as they're working through it. Yeah, that is super cool. That is, or can be, one form of enrichment. Once in a while. Every day, not so much. So, let's talk more about what enrichment is not. So, it's not passive. Turning on the TV or turning on a radio, that's not enrichment. That can be distraction. That could be, let's say, drowned out some of the hotel noise. Don't think you're enriching your dog's life. Enrichment shouldn't be inherently dangerous. For example, some people like to take a laser pointer and get their dogs to chase it. Not only is that potentially dangerous if they get the laser in the eye, it is so dangerous in that it could create an OCD behavior where the dog starts shadow chasing, looking for reflections off your watch onto the ceiling. I've seen so many problems being created because somebody thought it would be fun to have their dog chase a laser pointer. Please, no. Just no. So, enrichment isn't passive. It isn't dangerous. It should not be pleased. It should not be overwhelming. Meaning, going to a dog park. You might think, oh, I'm going to enrich my dog's life. I'm going to go to a dog park. Potentially, for some dogs in the right dog park, that could be true. And the same can go for a daycare. Potentially with the right dog, and there are some amazing daycares out there, but there's probably an equal number or more that aren't so amazing for your dog. It can be overwhelming. If your dog doesn't have a social need of meeting other dogs, a dog park is the worst place to take them. And a poorly structured daycare that doesn't know how to meet the needs of individual dogs is not the place to take that dog. Good enrichment definitely is not human-centric in that. It's not you taking your dog for a walk while you scroll on your phone. Now, if your dog is just sniffing along beside you, yes, there's definitely a level of enrichment there, especially if you go on a

different route every single time you take your dog out. However, with a higher level of engagement from you, the potential to have a better level of enrichment for the dog is very probable. Finally, and most importantly, as I mentioned before, enrichment is not monotonous. It is not doing the same thing every day. It doesn't matter how cool of an enrichment idea that is. It will not be meeting your dog's needs when you just do the same thing for them every single day. This is so important that my team and I have put together a handout with a schedule that you can use, but I'm getting ahead of myself because that's for part two. Right now, I want to talk about the instinctive needs of your dog and how that can be fulfilled just through enrichment. In episode number 232, I talked about our dog's canine predatory motor sequence, and that is a cycle that goes back to how wild dogs or wolves hunted. And in domesticated dogs, that cycle has been muted in some different stages, or maybe it's been enhanced in some different stages. So, let me just remind you of those eight stages. First is the alert or orient, a prey potentially. Then it's locate, scan to find it. Then it's stalk. We're not going to take off chasing. We're going to stalk it. Then we're going to chase the prey. We're going to grab it to bite. It's going to be like a grab bite, not anything dangerous. Then it's the kill bite. Then it's the evisceration, and then there's a consuming. Of course, our domesticated dogs, that has been altered genetically through breeding. However, there's elements of that that are in every one of our dogs. And here is your homework is I'd like you to start to take note of the things that potentially we can use when we talk about this in the next episode for your dog's enrichment. So, we're going to start with first part of the predation cycle, the alert or orient. That could be orienting with their eyes. I think I see something. Could be orienting with their nose. Could be orienting with their ear. With those dogs, a snuffle mat where you're going to put treats in the snuffle mat and they're going to have fun seeking out those treats. It could be just a food scatter in the environment that you're leaving them in for the day. It could be if you have a dog that likes to orient with their eye. It could be one of those TV shows for dogs that have really cool things that get the dog's attention on the screen. Or if you have a dog like one of my dogs, Prophet, he loves to watch the bird feeder. He doesn't chase the birds when he's outside, but we have a big

picture window and he loves to get up there and look out at the birds as they're eating at the feeders. Now, if you have a dog that likes to orient or alert, you're going to be thinking about enrichment along those lines. You may find your dog, almost every one of these categories, you could say, yeah, my dog would love that. My dog would love that. There isn't just one for every dog. But as I go through the categories, you're going to say, oh yeah, I could see my dog doing that. Next is the locate. Now, probably the bird feeder and the TV is going to be good for the dogs that like to locate for sure. But food puzzles would be a great thing for those dogs that they can find the way you start with easy food puzzles. Like that Nina Olterson's food puzzles, they go up in degrees of difficulty and you can get to some really difficult food puzzles. And dogs love to use their brain to figure out how to get the cookies inside these little pockets. So, food puzzles are a great one for dogs who like to locate nose, ears, eyes. You could get really involved with your scattering in that you could take a towel and put cookies in the towel and roll it up and put more cookies and roll it up. Remember I said enrichment is not inherently dangerous. So, if you have a dog that you think might eat that towel, do not leave them unsupervised. Likewise, you could take cookies and put them in some brown paper, roll it up into little balls, throw it in a box, put that in another box, put some more brown paper and some more treats inside of that that will give them time removing things and finding those treasures. So, next is the stalk. Dogs who love to stalk. A slow drag of a toy is a lot of fun for a dog like that. Likewise, one of those motorized toys that you can control the direction of it. You can get some toys that just move randomly. Dogs who like to stalk love those kinds of toys as well. Just a caveat that these aren't things you're going to be leaving your dog alone with because of the danger, but also if it's an expensive remote toy, there's a very good probability that they're going to do their bite to grab and potentially the bite to kill so they could damage that toy. Now we go to the dogs who love the chase. So, restraint recalls are phenomenal for those dogs because you're running. So, that's building value and drive for you. Also a flirt pole, something that they can chase that you can move a little bit faster than just slow dragging toy. Likewise, you can buy lure coursing machines, which

lure coursing are what the sighthounds do where it's actually just a garbage bag, but it's to mimic a rabbit and it moves in an erratic patterns. And dogs who love to chase absolutely love those things. And if you have a dog that likes to chase and you have other known dogs that you know your dog is good with, that they can run together, taking those dogs out for a walk when there's another dog that I'll chase you and then you chase me, as long it's a safe environment that they're chasing in, that could be a great thing. But I'm going to put a big asterisk with that one because this is where going to a dog park, you know, just because my dog loves to chase other dogs isn't always a good idea. Actually, it rarely is a good idea because of the nature of those dog parks could have a dog that is more of a bully. It could emotionally be very damaging for your dog. Next is the dogs that like to grab bite. Well, hello tug games. Tug games are phenomenal for those dogs. You can rig up something that is just a tug game where the dog tugs by themselves. So, a lot of the bully breeds have like a tethering tug in the backyard hung off of a tree limb. I had one for my Jack Russell Terriers where they would just go out and tug on that, the tether that was hanging from the tree limb. Tug games are great. I prefer them when they are interactive with me rather than with a tree, but there are some dogs that just love that activity. And the great thing about tugging with me is you can structure that into a game that is building the dog's understanding of when I ask for the toy, you give it to me. You don't try and take it unless I tell you can have it. So, we're building some self-control, some self-regulation in that dog, which is always a good thing, especially in those dogs that love to tug so much that they find a lot of value in the bite grab game. Next is the bite to kill. And honestly, we're not going to allow our dogs to experience killing animals. That's not really a cool thing. Unless they're purposely bred and you're doing that for absolute reason, then you do you. 100% okay. However, a lot of these dogs love squeaky toys. So, some of the grab bite also love just squeaking squeaky toys. You will find some dogs love squeaky toys and others really could care less. Most of my border collies absolutely have zero interest in squeaking a squeaky. Now, they will play with a squeaky. They really don't care. Again, very particular. And some dogs like the soft squeaky, some like the ones that are cloth. Figure that one out. That isn't one that I very

likely would leave a dog alone with unless I know for sure that they're not going to be the kind of dog who likes to squeak and then try to rip the squeaker out of the squeaky. So, I wouldn't leave my dog alone with squeakies just because of that small danger. And if they're a dog that likes to squeak, sometimes they also like our next category, which is eviscerate. So, if your dog likes to squeak and eviscerate, then I wouldn't leave them alone with the squeaky. But what you could leave them alone with is puppy bombs. I've talked about that here on Shaped by Dog before where I make them with toilet paper rolls. Again, I supervise my dog for the first few. So, I know they love to shred the toilet paper rolls after they have eaten the goodies that are inside it. But do they eat the paper? I'd rather my dogs not eat a lot of paper. The good thing is that it's pretty biodegradable. But if I have a dog that likes to shred and eat, then those are things that I'll do when I'm alone. And after they've shredded them, I'll just pick up all the little pieces. But you can buy those toys that are like a cone. So, I had one that was a beehive that there were these tiny little bees that stuffed inside the beehive and the dog would stick their face down and pull the bees out of the beehive. And that was like dogs who like to pluck. I think that's related to the evisceration instinct. I honestly don't know, but some dogs love that. Other dogs could care less. Oh, they're in there. They're not doing anything. I don't need them. And also for dogs who love to eviscerate any shredding, anything that is safe for them to shred. So, paper is the only one that I've allowed my dogs to shred. And for me myself, I've never given my dog stuffed animals to shred. Actually, I shaped them to never shred stuffed animals because I just think it's dangerous if they happen to swallow some of that, you could end up with a really expensive surgery. So, you'll recognize that puppies are the dogs that love the evisceration. Make sure that you provide for an outlet that is safe for that dog. Finally is the consume. Dogs who love to get to the final end and consume. Well, that's where your stuffed cons and your stuffed topples, maybe your lick mats, food puzzles, those are the things that would come in for those dogs. Now, I think pretty much any dog loves that as an enrichment. But as I mentioned right off the top, true enrichment should fill your dog's cup. It should have the potential to maybe growing confidence, the confidence of a dog being left alone. Yeah, I'm okay because

I've got all these fun things that happen when you leave. Potential to grow a better relationship between you and your dog. Potential to meet your dog's instinctive needs or meet your dog's emotional needs. That's why we go to all this effort to create an enriching environment for our dogs. So, your homework is go through that predatory motor sequence and really decide what one of those eight sound like your dog and create a list of activities that are true enrichment in that they're safe, they're not passive, they're not overwhelming and create a list. Because in our next episode, we're going to go over a master list of potential activities that you can use for your dog's enrichment. Plus, I'm going to help you chart that enrichment so that variety just naturally happens. You don't have to go, oh, did I give her the purple food puzzle or did I give her the lick mat? I can't remember. We're going to help you schedule that. All that right here next time on Shaped by Dog. I'll see you then.