FOOD FOR THOUGHT

ENRICHING MEAL TIMES

Canine enrichment is a topic we've discussed many times before here. Quite simply, it is the addition of actions or items to your dog's environment to benefit their physical and psychological health, ultimately improving their quality of life.

There are six types of enrichment for dogs, which include:

1. Social enrichment – Dogs are social animals, and this form of enrichment provides opportunities for dogs to spend time with other dogs, animals and people, which helps build self-confidence and trust.

2. Cognitive enrichment – This form focuses on providing opportunities for problem-solving and thinking through challenges.

3. Physical or environmental enrichment – This can involve adding things to your dog's everyday environment to make it more interesting.

4. Feeding enrichment – This taps into dogs' natural scavenging and foraging behaviours. Putting food anywhere but in the food bowl means the dog can be happily engaged in working for their food.

5. Toy enrichment – This form involves providing toys or games where dogs need to use their paws or mouths to get a reward, such as food.

6. Sensory enrichment – Anything that stimulates the dog's five senses of sight, touch, taste, sound and, of course, the big one, smell.

FEEDING ENRICHMENT

In this article, we will focus on feeding enrichment and consider why this is good for our dogs; we will also look at some ideas of how we can make it part of their daily lives. As we will see, what is so good about enriching meal times is that through just this, we can tap into all six types of enrichment and, therefore, enhance our dogs' daily lives in many ways.

We know that if dogs were free-ranging, they would spend their days scavenging, foraging and finding food. Indeed, survival in these conditions would require a great deal of physical activity and problem-solving ability. This is, of course, in direct contrast to the lives of our domesticated dogs.

If we simply put food in a bowl for our dogs, it will be eaten in 30 seconds, creating very little enjoyment for them. As dogs don't have much control over their day-to-day lives in a busy household, we can add something more meaningful and rewarding by appealing to their innate tendencies of scavenging and foraging.

BENEFITS OF ENRICHMENT FEEDING

• Slow down feeding times

• Create a sense of achievement when food is found

• Encourage natural foraging behaviour

• Be useful for training

• Burn more calories

• Prevent boredom and thereby reduce the risk of destructive behaviour

• Aid in managing separation anxiety

• Stimulate and assist with brain development

• Slow the onset of dementia in dogs

• Build confidence

MAKING MEAL TIMES MORE FUN

CHEWING

Dogs love to chew as it is a natural instinctive behaviour for them. Chewing can also act as a stress reliever and help to prevent boredom when you need to do household tasks. Antler dog chews, yak milk dog chews, etc, will keep your dog busy for quite some time.

FORAGING

• Scatter feeding – this is easier to do with dry food and is a great way to make a meal last longer. Scatter the food in as many areas as possible for your dog to find.

• Snuffle mats - These can be homemade or are available online. Dogs love to snuffle out food, which gets buried into the large felt strips that make up these mats. If you want to make your own, simply buy a rubber mat with holes, cut a fleece blanket into strips, thread it through adjacent or diagonal holes, and tie in a knot.

• Hiding food – Hide treats or food. Make the 'hidden treasures' easy to find at first by letting your dog see you hide them to build confidence. Over time, you can then progress to more difficult hiding places and hide the food when your dog is not in the room. You could also hide food/treats in a ball pit, a box of toys, upturned flower pots, etc.

PROBLEM-SOLVING

Food puzzle toys such as Kong toys, treat balls, and puzzle feeders can be challenging ways for your dog to work for their food. The dogs'dogs' usual diet can be packed easily into these toys. These will keep your dog busy for considerably longer than a food bowl. You can also make the challenge tougher by filling up the feeding toy and freezing it. Just remember to place a straw through the food before freezing to make a hole so your dog can't choke when eating it.

LICKING

Licking is extremely relaxing for a dog. Wet food, low-fat cream cheese, or peanut butter can all be spread on a lick mat and can be a helpful calming aid if there are any situations which the dog finds stressful.

PRINCIPLES

Enrichment should be challenging but not frustrating for your dog, so make sure you start off nice and easy and gradually increase the level of difficulty over time. Help your dog be successful in the challenges and build from there.

For example, try getting rid of the food bowl for just one meal; the goal is to increase the amount of time it takes them to eat their food, encouraging mental and physical activity.

Finally, whilst there is no right or wrong way to use enrichment feeding, it is recommended to use your dog's daily food allowance rather than giving lots of extra treats in addition to his normal ration. This is to avoid unwanted consequences such as weight gain.

A NOTE FOR OLDER DOGS: For dogs with signs of canine cognitive dysfunction (otherwise called doggy dementia), include enrichment challenges, but try not to make them too difficult. Food toys for young puppies are perfect for older dogs, too, and there are also specially designed Kongs for older dogs.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, have fun! Our canine companions are super intelligent animals, and providing a variety of ways of feeding can give crucial mental stimulation for them and be a real boost to their quality of life.