Sensory environmental enrichment

KEEPING YOUR HOUSE-BOUND HOUNDS HAPPY AND HEALTHY

Text: Amelia Campbell-Horne

With complex and estate living becoming increasingly popular in South Africa, more people are having to deal with issues that arise from keeping their pets in confined spaces and unattended for hours at a time. Pet day care is often available but may not be affordable to all, so what other options are available to assist with keeping your dogs occupied and out of trouble while they are unattended in a confined space? DQ had a look into some of the latest research to provide you with some sensory environmental enrichment ideas to help you keep your house-bound hounds healthy and happy!

What is sensory environmental enrichment?

Environmental enrichment means providing stimuli to an animal’s environment to improve their physiological and psychological welfare. Most pet owners likely employ some environmental enrichment techniques already, such as providing their pet with toys, puzzle feeders, or friends for socialisation. But have you ever considered including sensory enrichment into the mix?

Sensory enrichment takes into consideration your pet’s senses, and aims to provide auditory (hearing), olfactory (smell) and visual (sight) stimulation to improve an animal’s welfare. Research has proven that sensory enrichment is a valuable tool in the management of house bound dogs, and the added benefit is that these techniques are generally easy to implement and, in most cases, relatively inexpensive!

Auditory enrichment

A significant amount of research has been conducted into the use of auditory enrichment in dogs. Studies have investigated the impact of different types of music on the behaviour of dogs, including classical, heavy metal, pop and human conversation as compared with a no-music control.

Classical music resulted in more relaxation-type behaviour including reduced vocalisation and longer periods of resting/sleeping compared to other genres of music and has the greatest potential to reduce stress-related behaviour.

Exposure to classical music has also been proven to reduce heart rate in dogs which suggests it reduces stress. However, research has shown that the effects might be short-term due to dogs becoming used to the music, meaning you might need to vary your playlist! If classical music is not your thing, alternative genres of music that may assist with relaxation in your dog include soft rock and reggae!

Stay away from heavy-metal and hardrock though, as these two genres can increase barking, reduce sleeping and even cause nervous body shaking!

Audiobooks may also provide a solution! Research has indicated that exposure to audiobooks results in more resting behaviour, reduced sitting and standing in dogs and less stress behaviours. This might be because the audiobooks provide the illusion of human company, which dogs highly value.

Olfactory enrichment

Dogs respond well to lavender

Considering how strong a dog’s sense of smell is, it is quite surprising that there are so few studies on olfactory enrichment in dogs. Two studies have been conducted that looked at the effects of various essential oils on the behaviour of kennelled dogs and found varied responses to the various odours. So, which are beneficial, and which are not?

YES – Chamomile and lavender odours resulted in less vocalisation and more time spent resting, suggesting that they induce relaxation much like they do in humans.

YES - Vanilla, coconut, ginger, and valerian also reduce levels of vocalisation and general activity, while coconut and ginger additionally increased sleeping behaviour.

NO - Stay away from peppermint and rosemary, as these may result in more barking and dogs becoming more active. The studies used essential oil diffusers and scented cloths (essential oil on cloths), both of which effectively delivered olfactory stimulation, so there is no need to buy a diffuser if you don’t have one - you can just apply the oils to an old facecloth and leave it out of reach of your dogs!

Visual enrichment

Once again, relatively few studies have investigated the impact of visual enrichment in dogs, but those that have may have an easily implementable idea for you (ESKOM allowing).

A study investigated the behavioural effects of a blank television screen verses moving television images of dogs, other animals and people sitting and walking inside a house. The study found that dogs spent significantly more time observing moving images than a blank screen, vocalised less, and were less active in general than when the television was off. However, the dogs quickly got used to the television and became less interested in the TV, spending only 10% of their time looking at the screens.

Getting started

So, perhaps implement auditory and olfactory stimulation first and then supplement it with visual enrichment, and hopefully with these affordable options you will return home to a happier hound (and neighbours).