If you’re like many dog owners, you’ll do anything you can for your dog. Even if you provide your dog with exercise and plenty of attention, you might wonder if it’s enough. A few small changes can help you do even more for your dog without completely changing your routine. It’s not always about finding more time in the day (although sometimes that’s essential if you’re not finding enough for your dog); it’s about making sure the time you share with them includes what they need.
The Problem with Food Bowls
You already have a feeding routine; it’s easy to add a few things to make it more interesting for your dog. You don’t have to stress about finding more time in the morning or changing a routine that’s already working. Instead, rethink your dog’s food bowl.
Instead of following the same feeding routine every time, you can make mealtime more interesting by serving your dog’s food in a puzzle toy or scattering it on a snuffle mat designed for this purpose. Sometimes, give your dog a small challenge instead of a simple food bowl.
Another part of the feeding routine to rethink is always asking your dog to wait before you put down their food. If you repeat this routine every time, it can become too predictable. While it’s not a bad idea to get some training in before mealtime, try asking your dog for a variety of skills.
Even thirty seconds of training can give your dog a mental workout. Just make sure your dog doesn’t get overexcited about getting to their food because of the anticipation, because you don’t want to accidentally teach your dog to rush through eating.
Some people like to feed their dog in multiple bowls placed in different areas instead of just one so the dog gets to do a bit of a search game during feeding time. Another option is providing an outdoor picnic for your dog when you have time to supervise. Then, your dog can eat while enjoying outdoor time as well.
Enrichment Walks
One of the easiest ways to help your dog get more out of your walks is to give your dog free time to sniff, explore, and even choose the direction you go. It’s important to train dogs how to walk safely on the leash without pulling. When you’re walking on a sidewalk near traffic, your dog should walk close to you and stay on one side without switching back and forth or surprising you.
Train your dog a cue for walking close, and use a clear cue to tell your dog when it’s their time to walk in a more relaxed way. You might do this in open areas such as the park or on trails.
When you let your dog sniff and sometimes even lead the way (without pulling, though), you’re letting them gather information, relax, and enjoy the walk differently.
Rethink Fetch
Fetch can be a great game for some dogs, in some situations. Retrieving is rewarding for many dogs. It’s also a common exercise in obedience training. The thing is, backyard fetch can get too repetitive. Instead of throwing your dog’s toy over and over, you can use that time to add other games.
For example, you can ask your dog to stay while you hide the toy, then encourage your dog to find it. This is a great way to work on stay, and it gives your dog a chance to sniff and search.
There are so many ways to play and interact with your dog. You have to figure out what’s best for your dog because every dog is different. When something starts to feel too repetitive, get creative and add new games and a bit of training to make the time more interesting.
Training In Real Time
Training your dog might seem like a big commitment, but it’s one of the best ways to rethink your regular routine with your dog. You interact with your dog every day, and there are dozens of opportunities to improve your dog’s manners and communicate better. Purposeful training can give your dog learning opportunities throughout the day.
Think about the behaviors you want more of throughout the day compared to the ones you don’t want. Training opportunities are everywhere. If your dog jumps on you when you walk through the door, you have a training moment to think about. If your dog bolts through the door before you’re ready or gets too excited when you pick up the leash, you have plenty to practice in real time.
Observing Your Dog
I recently wrote about the importance of observing our dogs. As important as training and play are, it’s also important to build time into your dog’s schedule to let your dog be a dog while you step back and observe. You can do this in the yard if you have a fenced-in yard where your dog usually roams off-leash. You can also do this during enrichment walks. The idea is that instead of trying to influence your dog’s behavior, you try your best not to while still paying attention to what your dog does naturally. You might learn more about your dog this way, and your dog will have more moments to sniff around and enjoy being a dog.
