Did you know that your dog can get bored? It actually happens more often than you think. The worst part is, a bored dog is a destructive dog. Many dog owners believe their dog is a bad dog because they chewed the rug or destroyed a pillow while they were at work. In reality, they never exercised their dog’s mind.
There are so many ways to work your dog’s mind. Most of these activities do not take a lot of time out of your day and they are a great way to bond with your pup!
Exercising A Dog’s Mind Through A Sniffy Walk
The dog nose is an amazing thing. In the right conditions, it can smell up to 12 miles away. A dog’s nose can tell the dog who is home, what time it is, and even if someone is upset. The more that a dog uses their nose, the more mental stimulus they are getting.
Get your dog in their no pull harness and take your dog on a walk. Let them sniff the grass, bushes, trees, fire hydrants, whatever they want! Let them lead the way! Wherever the smells take them. Make sure they don’t have bad manners by pulling you or walking somewhere unsafe.The more they sniff, the more their brain is working.
I found that if you utilize a hiking trail then the dog gets more out of the sniffy walk. There are thousands of more smells than your typical neighborhood sidewalk. Plus, you get out of the house and get exercise as well! I suggest using the app All Trails. It shows every trail in your area with pictures, maps, and it even indicates if it is dog friendly.
Puzzle Devices For Purchase
The internet has many puzzle devices that you can purchase to use with your dog but here are my favorite ones; listed from easy to more difficult. You can always use any, anytime to help keep the activities interesting and really get the dog’s mind working.
Classic Kong
If you are a dog owner, you know what a Kong is! The best way to make this a good mind game for your pooch is to fill it with different textured edible items. So for example, peanut butter, dry dog food, and pieces of carrot. You can make this even more of a challenge by freezing the stuffed Kong. This way your dog has to work just a little bit harder to get their treat.
Snuffle Mat
Everything comes back to the nose! A snuffle mat is a cloth device that has lots of surface area where you hide treats. When your dog uses the snuffle mat, they will be using their nose to search in all the nooks and crannies to find every last treat. Some snuffle mats come with adjustments so you can make them smaller which increases the difficulty when sniffing for snacks.
Treat Ball
These treat ball toys are great for all kinds of dogs. You can adjust the treats in the side cavities for the level of difficulty. So for my older dogs, I stick the treats down farther than I do my young puppy. These are also great because you can put small treats around the outside and one large treat right in the middle part. I have also stuck peanut butter in between each cavity as well!
Treat Tumble
This toy is perfect if you have a dog that is a hunting breed or herding breed. You fill the inside with treats that can easily fall out of the holes, and introduce it to your dog. If they’re a natural they will immediately start pushing it around the house. If not, tap it a couple times to get the dog to understand how to get the treats. With some guidance, they would take to it!
Hide-N-Slide
This device is going to be for your intermediate level pups. So those who really understand the treat game. This device incorporates both rotating pieces and sliding pieces to find the treats hidden inside. Be patient with your dog as they learn this one, give them guidance. If they do not get it, try the easier stuff for a bit longer and try this one again later.
These are just my favorites. Outward Hound has many options to choose from depending on your dog’s ability. They are listed on Amazon by difficulty and age. They are all great products to keep your dog happy and non-destructive.
DIY Puzzles and Games
For those who may not want to spend money right now, I have listed some easy DIY puzzles for your dog’s mind!
Human Hide-N-Seek
A great way to work your dog’s mind is to play searching games. For this you need a dog that does a good sit-stay or a friend to help. Have the dog wait in one room and then go and hide in another. Make it easy at first and be in plain sight. When you’re ready, start calling your dog. When your dog gets to you praise them up! You can do this four or five times and it will eliminate boredom for a long while! As your dog gets used to the game, start hiding in trickier spots around the house.
Frozen Feeder
This one is quite fun and so easy to do! Grab a spare dog bowl, preferably a slow feeder if you have one. In a mixing bowl, combine warm water with pumpkin puree to make a slurry. Pour that into the dog bowl. Then place cut up carrot, cut up green beans, treats, bananas, etc into the bowl of pumpkin mix. Freeze the bowl for 24 hours then let your dog enjoy it! So many textures and tastes! Plus it is frozen so it will take them some time to get through the pupsicle treat.
Scent Games
This one is great for those hunting breeds or hound dogs. There are specific toys you can buy online that mimics a prey animal and are used for training hunting dogs. There is also a spray scent you can buy to make the stuffy smell like a squirrel, duck, or rabbit. I would play this game outside so the extra smells in the air really makes your dog concentrate. For the first could of tries. Just have your dog wait in a sit-stay (or have a friend hold them in one spot) and then walk about 10 yards in front of them and place the toy on the ground. Say “find it” and let them go. Do it like this five to ten times. Then move onto having the dog watch you hide it behind a barrier. Eventually you will have the dog turn away and you hide the toy where they didn’t watch you hide it. Absolutely a great game to play to work the mind and get great exercise in.
Blanket Snuffle
If you were not ready to purchase your snuffle mat, you can always make one at home. Get an old blanket and scrunch it up so there are a lot of ripples and folds. Sprinkle some treats in the blanket all in the creases and under the folds. Your dog will love searching through the fabric to find the treats, exercising your dog’s mind using their hunting instincts!
Knotty Treats
Grab some old t-shirts or fabric for this DIY puzzle. Take the t-shirt or fabric and start tying loose knots. The more knots the better. But make sure they are loose because after it is full of knots, you are going to stick treats in the folds of the knots. The more the happier the pup. This allows the pup to work their nose and use their mouths to get the treats out of the fabric. Depending on how deep the treats are, they’ll be occupied for a while.
Cardboard Fun
This one may be time consuming only because you need to save up all those paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls. After you have about a dozen rolls, cut at about 2.5 inches, grab a cardboard box. Place the rolls in the box so the openings are facing up. After the box is filled, sprinkle treats in each one of the openings. Then you’re ready! Let your dog use their tongue to pull all of the treats out of each toilet paper roll opening. If your dog pulls the rolls out to get the treats, then that’s amazing! They are just showing off their intelligence.
Muffin Tin Search
Everyone should have a muffin tin in their home, if not they are at Big Lots for a couple dollars! After you grabbed your muffin tin. Fill each section with some treats, then put a tennis ball on top of each muffin spot. Your dog will have tons of fun moving the tennis balls around to get to all the treats underneath!