Mental Enrichment

Food enrichment for all pets

It is important that we create activity/work/enrichment via feeding our pets daily meals, ditch that bowl and start feeding via fun activities. Creating work for our pets gets them using their brain and rewarding them for it.

When in ‘work’ mode the brain fires off happy hormones…if a dog uses its nose it is working and again firing off happy hormones thus calming the dog and making them feel more relaxed and fulfilled rather than just eating from a bowl.

Dependant on what type of food your pet is on, there is always a way to make meal times fun!

• Scatter feeding: Throwing (weather permitting) food on the lawn/floor.
• Hide and seek: Pop some food in different areas of the room/garden when they are out of the room, then let them in and watch them work!
• Food activity toys: Fabulous for those ‘lazy’ human days when we maybe don’t have time to prepare a ‘food adventure’.
• On a walk/in training: (If the dog will work for their normal food) use it whilst on a walk and/or training. A fab way to feed, especially if you have a lot of training to do!
• Homemade creations: We can create all sorts of weird and wonderful activity food toys from things lying around the house, please do supervise your pet, especially if they are prone to chewing things.

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