Dog’s Choice: Exploring the Wide World of Enrichment

All sorts of enrichment activities can benefit your dog and may be different for each dog in your pack.  photo: AdobeStock

Enrichment is a term that gets thrown around a lot in the dog behavior world. When dog people hear the word enrichment, food puzzles are often the first thing that comes to mind: slow feeders, Kongs, lick mats, and the like. By definition, enrichment is the action of improving or enhancing the quality or value of something, which all those puzzles definitely do. But enrichment goes well beyond food puzzles, and it’s different for every dog.

For example, in behavior modification training, I often think about choice and the hierarchy of reinforcers. What does the dog in front of me find most reinforcing? What does he find most enriching? What does he find most valuable? It’s important that dogs have the autonomy to discover what - in the wide world of enrichment - is most motivating to them.

For my Boston Terrier/Cairn Terrier mix Rugby, the most enriching activity is definitely sunbathing (a close second is terrorizing rats under the shed). But my other dog, Cricket, finds Thursdays and Fridays to be the most enriching. That’s because Thursday is when I roll the trash bins out to the sidewalk, and Friday is when I roll them back in, giving her the best stalking opportunities of the week.

Cricket is a mostly black Border Collie/Belgian Malinois/Whippet mix, and she’s loved stalking since she was a puppy. Because Rugby - her main target - hated  being stalked, I spent much of Cricket’s first few months trying to teach her alternative behaviors to what her genetics told her was the greatest game ever. 

One dark winter Thursday night, I rolled my garbage bins from the side yard to the curb. As I walked back around through my backyard, something bolted out of the dark and charged straight for me. First I screamed, then I laughed as I realized my attacker was baby Cricket. 

Cricket thought this series of events was amazing. She had successfully stalked her first victim. When she caught her prey (me), it screeched. This was quickly followed by a laughing, presumably happy human, a seriously reinforcing sequence for a dog with her tendencies. Now every time I walk to the side yard, Cricket finds a hiding spot. She waits for me to come back around. Then she chases me down. 

Lick mats and puzzle feeders are one type of enrichment tool but many more exist.  photo: AdobeStock

In the beginning, her hiding spots weren’t very good. She’d just lie down, out in the open in plain view. A bit later, she began to hide behind a tree - better, but I could still see her obviously peeking around the side. I was most impressed the first time she dug a small hole to hide in (I was less impressed when she tried hiding behind a rock that was clearly way smaller than she was). Her current favorite hiding spot is under the hammock behind a rosebush, an excellent spot for an ambush. 

My role in all our stalking games is that of The Human Sheep. Sometimes as a sheep, I pretend not to see her, then act startled when she pops out. Other times I slowly, cautiously creep back to the house. Occasionally, I’m “forgetful” and start to walk towards the house only to turn around and walk back to the side yard just before she’s about to pop up. 

Sometimes I’m a slightly savvier sheep. If Cricket pops up, I freeze. If she lowers herself back down in a stalking position, I’ll continue creeping around. Other times I play a runaway sheep or maybe a squirrel. If she pops up, I’ll run until she “catches” me. Often I’ll hide a tug toy in my pocket while I’m taking out the bins so that when she does catch me, she can have the satisfaction of biting her prey. 

In fact, the same principles that led me to play The Human Sheep with my own dog are the ones that guide our enrichment programs at Marin Humane where I work. Every day, each dog gets a food puzzle in its own kennel to shred, lick, and chew to its heart’s content.

But our out-of-kennel enrichment activities offer our dogs more autonomy of choice. These sessions take place midday Mondays through Fridays and include playgroups, scenting, and the Enrichment Room. Volunteers are also welcome to take a dog on a hike, sit in the sun, read a book - whatever they think that particular dog would enjoy. 

Our Thursday activity - Enrichment Room or ERoom for short - expands on that idea, allowing dogs to choose what they find most enriching. The ERoom is hosted by two volunteers, Rosemary and Emma, who set up the space with puzzle toys, stuffies, wobble boards, platforms, cozy beds, music, a bubble machine with bacon-flavored dog-safe bubbles, and more (each week has a new set up). Our dog walking volunteers bring in one dog at a time, take off the dog’s leash, and sit down. The room is scattered with treats to encourage each dog to investigate. Some dogs forage for every treat they can find. Other dogs explore the room, looking for what’s new and exciting. Still others find the nearest human and solicit snuggles. 

Sometimes we get under-socialized, almost feral dogs at Marin Humane and the ERoom is perfect for them. It’s a relatively quiet space where a dog can spend time in the presence of humans who won’t touch her if she doesn’t want to be touched. 

A shelter is a hard place for a dog who isn’t used to humans. At a minimum, each  shelter dog has six different people per day coming into her space: the morning walker, the morning feeder, the midday walker, the kennel enrichment volunteer, the evening feeder, and the evening walker. Once a dog becomes available for adoption, we expect her to tolerate being handled by even more people and spend a few hours on weekends being stared at by visitors walking through the shelter. That’s a lot of social pressure for a dog who may have only interacted with a human a few times before arriving at the shelter. 

We use ERoom as a bridge for those dogs. It provides a setting for desensitization to people without direct social pressure on the dog, other than the handler bringing the dog to and from ERoom. With regular visits to ERoom, we’ve seen dogs who were once afraid to explore or eat in the presence of humans, now confidently trotting in, visiting with the humans, and searching for snacks. 

So the next time you see your dog enjoying life, take a moment to notice exactly  what it is that excites them. Yes, enrichment can be food puzzles, but it can also be so much more - from snuggles, to searching or, in Cricket’s case, stalking. 

Bottom line: if it enhances the quality of your dog’s life (without harming others, of course), it’s enrichment. And that’s a good thing by any definition.