Bessey's Positive Paws: It's Raining, it's Pouring...

With all the rainy weather we are getting here in Maine I thought it appropriate to discuss the importance of mental stimulation for our pets and how important it really is.
Providing mental stimulation for our dogs is often forgotten about. Most people focus on getting dogs out for a walk, run, or dog park etc. to tire them out, but 20 minutes of mentally stimulating your dog can make them equally as tired. It can involve exercise but instead of sticking to the usual walking route you take your dog somewhere new, somewhere different. Dogs that only ever receive physical exercise often are always on go. Other dogs that aren't getting enough exercise, physical or mental, often develop behaviors problems such as barking, digging, chewing etc. Dogs are problem solvers and will figure out away to release the built up energy or tension.

A Kong - a hollow rubber toy excellent for entertaining dogs.

Dog like to solve problems and can benefit from mentally stimulating toys or puzzles. Often dogs who are not challenged enough mentally get into trouble. They decide to create their own entertainment to ease the boredom. I am guilty of having not provided my dog Henry with enough mental stimulation. He likes to eat items he should not. Socks, sticks, plastic caps, truly anything he can have the opportunity to ingest without being noticed. We have managed it with the use of "Leave-it" or "Drop It" but I feel this behavior is a result of having little to no mental stimulation. Henry has a secondary cleft palate, a hole in the roof of his mouth, which for me makes it difficult to stuff kongs. I usually stuff a kong with peanut butter and a banana but that consistency would go right up into his sinuses.
He has also lacked in his trick training because of having a second dog in the house and having had a torn cruciate in his knee. For some reason to me that meant he couldn't do silly tricks, like crawl or such because it'd put strain on that knee. But I have decided that another dog in the house or not, Henry needs mental stimulation...and a lot of it.

Ways to provide your dog with stimulation is by teaching them a new trick. Shake, high five, roll over, crawl, "Bang" or Dead Dog, back up, sit pretty etc. The pet industry is a large and growing industry. There are so many engaging toys out there to utilize. Kongs are an essential staple in any household. They are durable and easily stuffed with a variety of different treats. A dog must lick it or toss it around to figure out how to get the treats out. Once your dog gets really good at it, you can start freezing the kong and the contents within. Busy Buddy makes a large assortment of food dispensing toys. Toss aside your dogs dish and fill any one of these dispensing toys and make your dog work for his food. A Buster Cube is a cube with a hole in the middle and you can change the level of how easily the treats come out. It is made of hard plastic so it is loud when it is being knocked around.

If you leave your dog home alone and free in the house, take the time to hide kongs or some of the other toys to provide lasting entertainment for your dog.