Enrichment can be a great way to “work out” your dog when we’re stuck indoors more during the winter. Dogs can start to go stir-crazy just like people. But the good news is, there are other ways that you can work your dog’s mind and body inside that will help tire them out. Here’s one idea to try at home.
Try wrapping your dog’s kibble (or a handful of treats if you don’t feed your dog kibble) in towels. Then you can tie the towels up (but not too tight) and give them to your dog to untie and find the kibble. You can view step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1
Lay the towel flat on a table or the floor. Sprinkle the kibble (or treats) across the towel. Then roll up the towel (it's recommended to roll it up along the longest edge of the towel). This can be done with one or more towels, depending on how challenging you want the game to be.
Step 2
If you only have one towel, you can just tie it up and tuck the ends in to the knot to make it a little more challenging. Don't tie it too tight, or it could be frustrating for your dog.
Step 2a
If you have more than one towel, you can cross them and tie them together to form one larger ball to make the game more challenging.
Step 3
Give the ball to your dog and let them sniff and paw at it to untie it. Your dog should be supervised during this step to make sure they don't chew and eat the towel itself.
There’s also a Facebook group out there called Canine Enrichment which has lots of other ideas. All ideas are posted by members and not all of the members are professionals. So we do still recommend consulting a professional or doing your own research to make sure suggestions are safe for your dog. Stay tuned for more tips in this series!