Enrichment Feeding for Lock-down and Beyond

Limited walks can be frustrating for your dog at this time and so one of our volunteers, Kate, has shared some ideas of ways to keep your dogs busy during lock-down and beyond!

Like most of us - humans and dogs - things have changed in our lives recently.  My dogs certainly are not getting the same interactions as before so I have tried different approaches to their normal feeding:

Firstly I have been scatter feeding - this isn't rocket science and basically entails putting their dry food/kibble around the garden to make them sniff it out and eat it.  

I also use slow down bowls which do exactly that.  I tend to use  wet food for this and perhaps a sprinkling of dry/kibble on top, with a bit of water to squidge it down and make eating a little more elongated.

One of my favourite ways of feeding is using a Kong - this can be stuffed with a variety of food - wet, peanut butter (dog one only), squeezy cheese like Primula, chicken and veg mixed together ... plenty of options.  These can also be frozen and are an excellent distraction for your dog if you're practising leaving your dog/s and/or returning back to work in the future.   

Licky mats are another variety of feeding ie. spreading their wet food onto one and letting the dog take his/her time by licking off their food.  Again they can also be frozen.  Please never leave your dog unattended with these as the rubber can be chewed.

Kong Wobblers - or as I call them Weebles - are another great way to feed your dog.  You can fill them with dry kibble/mixed in with some dry treats and your dog then can nudge the wobbler around knocking food out of it.  This can take a while to learn and again is a great brain game for your dog.

Snuffle mats are also great fun for dogs - you can sprinkle their kibble into the snuffle mat and they sniff it out.  The can also be hand-made so if you're looking for something to do, to pass the time in lock-down, this might be a fun craft to try!

Any kind of game where your dog has to work for his/her food is good for their brain.  Filling the yellow/green game with different food - some kibble and some higher value treats is a good way for your dog to use their brain.  Even mine can use this so it really cant be that hard!

Give your dog/s time to be come adjusted to these tools and you'll understand which ones they are interested in, which ones they can be left with and which need supervision.  

Cleaning these are important, and I put each of these gadgets through the dishwasher to ensure high temperature cleaning.  Anything for an easy life!

Just some ideas to keep your dog happy and engaged during this quite bizarre time in our lives.

Have fun!