Welcome to our first blog! Pet enrichment is something I've been using for decades, before it was even known as such, but there are still many people who are unaware of the benefits. My knowledge is primarily in dogs, however I understand the need to enhance the lives of all species of animals. Having shared my home with dogs, cats and reptiles for several years, many of my future blog posts will reflect this. I hope you find these blogs helpful and that they aid you in enriching the lives of your pets!
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Enrichment. It is a word that has gained significant momentum over the past decade particularly in the dog training world. It means improving or enhancing the quality of something and therefore can only be a benefit to our pets but to use enrichment effectively, we need to understand what it means.
One could argue that taking our pets to the vets for medical care is enrichment, but would your pet choose to go? Is it something that is enjoyable for them? Yes, I know some pets would certainly choose to visit the vet but enrichment goes beyond that. It should enhance your pet's quality of life by giving them things that they want to do. Our pets don't have much control over their lives, particularly reptiles who are usually resigned to a tank space that doesn't meet their physical needs, and dogs and cats are finding themselves more restricted as many are now required to be on-lead or muzzled, houses and gardens get smaller, cats are required to be kept indoors due to traffic etc.
Although the outside world may be getting smaller for our pets, there are many things we can do to "enrich" their lives!
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Enrichment to me, means encouraging and allowing my pets to display their natural innate behaviours that may be restricted by their lifestyle. This does come with a caveat; I would never allow my dog to run off-lead near a road or let my snake loose in the house. There are many restrictions we put in place because we have to, we need to keep our pets and other people safe and that's ok! But give your pets more than those restrictions.
Enrichment doesn't have to be difficult or add extra time to your day. One of my dogs loves to destroy things- her favourite game is to pull the stuffing out of a soft toy or rip a cardboard box to shreds to access the treats I've hidden inside. And all of those behaviours are absolutely natural and fine! I've often heard that if I let her destroy a box she will destroy the whole house- well the house is fine and she is always supervised during her enrichment.
The benefit that chewing, pulling, ripping, sniffing and shredding gives to Gem is a release of endorphins in her brain. This in turn makes her feel good, plus she gets treats once she has worked through the box which further adds to her good mood. Please note that this type of enrichment is not suited to pets who eat non-food items and should always be supervised.
Research shows that not allowing natural behaviour, boredom and low confidence can result in many behavioural and training issues seen by animal behaviour professionals. So, not only can you help your animals to live their best lives, enrichment might just help yours as well.
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I've already got lots of ideas for future blogs specific to certain species or breeds but for now here are a few of my favourite enrichment methods for my pets:
- Sniffari for dogs- if your dog loves to sniff, take them out on a sniffari- this means let them walk and sniff wherever they like (as long as it's safe!)
- Flirt poles for cats- something resembling a mouse or bird attached to a long line on a pole. You can use this at a distance and encourage natural hunting and playing behaviours in your cats without the upset of real mice and birds being killed and brought home.
- Puzzle games for dogs and cats- you can find lots of ideas on our SHOP page but just interacting together with a toy or puzzle is a fantasic way to build a strong bond with your dog or cat. It can also help when training and problem solving.
- Different decor for snakes- this will not apply to all species of snake, but our King Snake loves it when I swap out some of his branches for new ones. I never throw the old ones away, I just rotate them so that he has a new climbing frame every week. This not only gives him something to do but also helps him to maintain his muscle through exercising appropriately.
- Rabbits ears for cats- whilst many cats will enjoy eating a hairy rabbits ear, one of ours much prefers to play with it. Only yesterday he spent over 45 minutes throwing this ear up in the air and pouncing on it- he then slept for three hours after all his hard work. And the rabbit ear didn't go to waste as one of the dogs enjoyed it in the afternoon- the benefit of multi-pet households!
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This has been a very brief intro into enrichment, showing how easy it is to implement and the benefits that our pets and us can gain. I like to think that everyone who owns pets does so because they enjoy having them and also because they enrich our lives. Surely the least we can do is enrich theirs too.