I hope our rainy day activity inspires you to create your own Doggie Wonderland to provide enrichment for your dogs! The definition and reason for enrichment is to stimulate a dog’s brain and reduce stress by offering opportunities for him to express natural behaviors like sniffing, foraging, seeking, playing, and more. Doggie Wonderland is simply a room full of individual enrichment activities. You can provide each one by itself or string a bunch of activities together as we did here, giving your dogs choices about which ones she wants to do!
Enrichment Intro
This video gives you an introduction to the individual stations I set up today:
Daisy went first, and spent a whopping 16 minutes in Doggie Wonderland before choosing to leave. That’s a lot of mental stimulation! She didn’t want to go in the tunnel, but took part in almost all the other activities. Here’s her experience, purely her own choices, on video:
Albert went next. Each dog has his or her own preferences for activities and for the snack choices offered. Al only wanted a little peanut butter and didn’t choose yogurt at all. He opted out of the tunnel experience, too, just like Daisy did. Maybe next time! Here’s Al’s experience on video:
Enrichment is a big topic with so many options! Think about what you might offer your dogs to broaden their experiences. When it’s too muddy to play outside, Doggie Wonderland might just be the next best thing. But you can provide a variety of enrichment options, indoors and out, on a regular basis to help build a dog’s well-being.
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