Excited About Enrichment: Boredom Busters For Your Pup!
What is Enrichment?
Enrichment is anything that helps mentally stimulate your dog. This can be done with training or adding things to your dog’s routine or environment. We wanted to share three of our favorite brands that offer great enrichment opportunities! Mental stimulation often tires a dog out far faster than physical exercise, which is imprtant especially for young dogs and puppies, but senior dogs will enjoy the opportunity as well.
Kong: A Classic.
Kong is one of the most well known dog toy brands in the world. Their durable classic rubber toys can be filled with wet food or peanut butter and frozen, but did you know they make a food/treat dispenser toy as well? These offer a great alternative to feeding your dog out of a bowl, especially for dogs that are fast eaters.
Outward Hound Puzzle Bowls
Our dogs love the Outward Hound puzzle feeders! For dogs that are fast to gobble their food, these slow them down significantly! You can also water down pate wet food, yogurt, or peanut butter and freeze it in these to give them something to lick. Always supervise though to make sure they don’t chew on the plastic!
The West Paw Toppl
The Toppl is a staple in our homes! Similar to the other brands, this offers a durable way to freeze pate dog food or peanut butter and occupy our pups! We have found it to be a great alternative to the Kong Classic both for ease of the dog getting the food out and for durability for tough chewers.
What Boredom Busters do you provide for your dog? An enriched pup is a tired pup, and a tired pup stays out of trouble!
Fueling Success: Healthy Treat Options for Every Dog
Fueling Success!
Why Do We Train With Treats?
When we begin training our pups, we start with positive reinforcement training and reward our dog’s successes with treats they like to communicate with them that they did what we wanted.
Think about rewarding your dog in the beginning like putting money into the bank. The more money you put in, the more your account builds, so when you later have to make a withdrawal (IE, phasing out the treats or not rewarding at all), it doesn’t have as much of an impact as if you didn’t have that balance built up.
It is important to let your dog know when he is doing the right thing- after all, we do not work for free, why would they want to?
Not All Treats Are Created Equal
While an occasional PupCup or Milkbone is fun and not harmful, many cheaper dog treats have ingredients that may not be healthy long term for your dog. Think about eating McDonalds everyday; you may not initially notice a difference, but over time unhealthy snacks can lead to weight gain and other health issues. Don’t forget that during training it is important to remember to subtract the amount of food you use in training from their daily meal intake to avoid unnecessary weight gain.
So what treats are healthy and safe for your dog?
Redbarn Dog Food Rolls
Our favorite training treat comes in the form of the Redbarn Rolled Dog Food. This is a completely balanced dog food that we cut up into small cubes to use for treats. It comes in a variety of protein sources and sizes, and unused portions can be frozen or refrigerated to be used for later. Picky dogs usually love this one, and it can also be used as a meal topper.
Biljac Frozen Dog Food
Biljac makes regular training treats that you may have seen in your local pet store, but did you know about this hidden gem? Biljac also makes a frozen dog food that comes in a texture that when thawed, is very moldable and great for training treats as well. It is also a balanced dog food diet, and is a great option for pups that need a softer treat.
Vital Essentials Freeze Dried Raw
For the discerning pup or pups with allergies who need a single-ingredient treat, Vital Essentials has a line of freeze-dried raw treats that your dog will love. These treats have no fillers and have a unique variety of proteins to try.
Regardless of what type of treat you use, the most important thing is that your dog enjoys it and you have fun training with them!