Welcome to Day 53 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
taking puzzles to a new height, literally, changes the challenge greatly
you really can suspend any puzzle, but today we are starting with a more gentle introduction to suspended puzzles to help our dogs gain the skills
food and cognitive based enrichment
get the family involved in this one – kids love making puzzles for pets and these challenges offer lots of opportunities for children to use their imagination to come up with the best puzzle for their pets.
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
Suspended puzzle prep will probably take you about 5-10 minutes – having a collection of puzzle stuff is a good idea…it will resemble a pile of rubbish or recycling!
What do you need?
plastic bottles from soft drinks, for example
a range of food rewards
a toy or toys that your dog loves
paper for stuffing and packing
dog lead, cord, shoe lace, rope or similar (you cold even use a bamboo stick or similar)
to encourage a wide range of foraging and exploratory behaviours
to do more feeding related behaviour than eating
to encourage the development of strategies (behaviours) for getting the food out of the suspended devices
by varying the design of suspended bottles we will facilitate carrying out a range of different behaviours, broadening the dog’s repertoire
While this challenge is certainly food based, they are also experiencing cognitive, sensory and environmental enrichment, with lots of crossover between categories.
Working out how to get to the food and developing dexterous skills in manipulating the suspended puzzles are examples of cognitive challenge.
Sniffing out, tasting and chewing food all offer sensory pay off, but so does finding their way through each food puzzle, determining its value, and engaging in the puzzle of getting to the good stuff.
Suspended puzzles encourage pets to interact with their environment – just the very interaction with the bottle is encouraging the pet to manipulate their surroundings, to get the things they like.
By carefully layering the challenge, so that they don’t give, we want to help the dog expand their range of puzzle-busting behaviours and facilitate your pet applying strategies from other puzzles to new ones; that’s a true cognitive gift and is growing your dog’s brain!
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
give your pet plenty of space for working on suspended puzzles and bear in mind there will be mess, so think about spaces that are easier for clean up
the more difficult you have made the challenge, the higher the value the reward must be so use HIGH value foods to motivate exploration and experimentation and make it VERY easy to get the food (no frustration!)
if your dog just dives in, in full on destruction mode that might also be an indicator that they need an easier challenge so they get to experiment with a broader range of behaviours
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of Suspended Puzzles:
Suspended puzzles are a great to expand your puzzling-arsenal and carefully increasing the challenge will really stretch the dog’s puzzling abilities.
These puzzles offer lots of different possibilities for expanding the dog’s behavioural range, truly engaging them cognitively.
Suspended puzzles are truly adaptable – there really is no limit to how they can be adapted to suit different puzzling levels.
What I tend to see, though, when puzzles are given to dogs, is that well-meaning owners go waaaaay over board, coming up with the most elaborate designs to really challenge their pet.
Suspending puzzles can be quite a change for many dogs so taking it easy and increasing challenge very gradually is more worthwhile.
While it’s great to go for challenge, it’s important that enrichment remain enriching. That means that the challenge must be made appropriate and doable for the individual puzzler.
Our job is to adjust the puzzle difficulty so that our dog uses a range of behaviour and gets to the goal pretty quickly.
This is the true way to improve the dog’s confidence in puzzling (and in life) and help them expand their behavioural repertoire.
Because of the home made nature and variable materials used in suspended puzzles, it’s best to supervise your pet carefully when they have access to this puzzle.
Know your dog! If you have an ingester, these may not work.
If you are concerned about your dog ingesting non-food items during puzzling, have a pocketful of HIGH value treats in your pocket and be ready to toss a couple toward your dog, across their eyeline, if you think they are thinking about eating the bottle.
Making sure the challenge is very doable and they can get to the hidden food rewards quickly is key to modifying their behaviour and expectations during puzzling.
Check all your equipment for this challenge carefully and make sure to remove tape, staples, other fastners, small pieces and plastic pieces. With bottles, remove the lid and plastic ring before giving to your pet. Play safe!
Enrichment Options
Suspending puzzles increases challenge suddenly and drastically. It’s important to work incrementally to help your dog develop skills (behaviours) to solve these puzzles.
Increase or decrease difficulty by lowering and loosening the line, and by working against a wall or surface or have the puzzles freestanding.
Beginners:Â
puzzle is suspended at or lower than your pet’s chin height
the line is looser
puzzle is suspended against a wall or surface
Intermediate:
puzzle is suspended at or slightly above your pet’s chin height
the line is tighter
puzzle is suspended against a walk or surface
Advanced:
puzzle is suspended at or slightly above your pet’s chin height
the line is tighter
puzzle is freestanding
Option 1 Jumblers
Simple and fun introduction to suspended puzzles!
Tubes!
Simple puzzles, with quick wins, so are the perfect introduction to Suspended Puzzles!
Suspend your dog’s favourite toy or stuffable in a hanging basket for an extra level of challenge to toy games. Have a fun game when the dog gets the toy, and then set up for another hanging basket challenge!
Be careful where you pierce the bottles, to pass through the line on which they are suspended. Further up the bottle, toward the lid, makes it more difficult for the dog to spin to win.
There are more Suspended Puzzles, offering new and different challenges, over the 100 days!
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 52 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
trick-training is often approached differently and thought of differently
there’s no such thing as “just a trick”
it’s ALL tricks to the dog
trick-behaviours can be used to teach all sorts of applicable behaviours and skills for all sorts of situations
get the family involved in this one – children can be great dog trainers with lots of guidance, and lots of these behaviours are child-friendly, and make maintaining the peace with kids and K9s easier.
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
training exercises can be practiced in individual sessions of no more than 30 seconds at a time; have as many sessions as you can!
What do you need?
food rewards – you can use your dog’s regular food, a training mix, commercial treats, home prepared treats such as cut up meats, cheese, vegetables or homemade treats such as liver or tuna cake
toys or access to anything that your dog will work for
I am not a massive ‘trick training’ fan. But, I do love the enthusiasm and lightness that people bring to teaching trick behaviours – it’s seen as frivolous and fun…all teaching should be approached in the same way because it’s all tricks to the dogs.
Enrichment Goals:
Teaching simple behaviours, without the pressure of OBEDIENCE, brings benefits to both ends of the lead.
the dog learns how to learn – this is just another puzzle to your dog…”how do I train the human to make rewards available?!“…it’s all human training, for dogs!
to teach the dog that their human will ask for behaviour and will make sure reinforcement is available – this reduces stress by improving predictability and controlability
For the human:
lots of practical applications to real life situations
While training exercises certainly fall into the cognitive enrichment category, they can provide so much more.
Providing dogs with cues allows for a complex level of communication between two species; you are merely requesting that the dog perform behaviour (he might already know how to do the behaviour) and that request comes with a contract. Respond appropriately to this signal and rewards are coming your way. That’s the deal…that’s what being a good teacher is about – keeping your word and making it easy for your dog to train you.
This forges the most healthy of relationships between our two species. This is a level of social enrichment that’s tricky to replicate.
When we talk about enrichment being enriching, this is never more clear than when we start to teach behaviours intentionally. It’s the human’s job to set the dog up for success by making sure the behaviour is doable and that rewards are fast-flowing.
There’s no test at the end of this and you and your pet are not under any pressure. Learn to enjoy the time together, whether you achieve the goal behaviour or not. That’s what’s enriching here…the social and cognitive outlets such exercises provide (for both species).
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
although you can use any reward that your dog will work for, using small food rewards that are quick to eat are best for these exercises so we can have lots of fast repetitions
keep it simple and split behaviour – reward approximations toward the final behaviour, rather than hoping that your dog will offer the goal behaviour quickly
take your time and work in many short sessions
try for 30 seconds at a time, 5-10 rewards each session, and then take a break
portion out your dog’s daily food and allot some for training exercises
make a training mix by adding in something yummier and leaving it all to ‘cook’ together in the fridge; the smells will mingle, harder foods will soften a little, and everything will become more valuable
remember to adjust your pet’s diet accordingly to accommodate the extra calories from treats added, where relevant
split your food rewards into little bowls with just the right number of rewards in each bowl so that you are ready to go; stick bowls of rewards in places where you may need to teach and reward behaviours so that you have rewards ready to go
If you are feeding wet or fresh foods, cut up small or mash to a paste and present on a wooden spoon or spatula. Alternatively you can freeze in small ice cube trays or a pyramid baking tray so that you can use small portions and individual treats.
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of trick behaviours
I prefer to approach tricks from the applicable point of view. How can these behaviours offer real-life benefits?
What behaviours can I teach, with a tricks-attitude, that really benefit the dog’s experience?
We’ve talked lots about targeting already – this forms the basis for some of the best and most applicable ‘tricks’.
Managing behaviour – for stress related behaviours:
head turns (divert behaviour, prevent hard-staring, diffuse tension, conditioning & rehab, re-focus, move and position the dog, maintain position, husbandry training) – nose targeting, diffuse and divert
middle/’peek-a-boo’ (we are going to work on this later in the #100days)
nose targeting to teach LLW, focused walking, competition heeling
nose targeting for recall
Moving & positioning:
hand targets, chin targets
body targeting
perch work, pedestal work, platform work
moving around an item
moving to a target
maintain position for husbandry training
Conditioning, fitness, rehab work:
hand targets, chin targets, foot targeting, body targeting e.g. hip/shoulder targeting
perch work, pedestal work, platform work
moving around an item, to a target
rear end awareness & improved body awareness
sit pretty, paws up, walk/move on hind legs
bows, crawling
Husbandry training:
hand targets, chin targets
foot targeting
body targeting e.g. hip/shoulder targeting – to move and maintain position
roll over, play dead, paws up
Retrieving items:
picking up items
tug items
tidy away items
assistance dog type behaviours
For example, close doors, pick up/place items, take socks off, empty washing machine etc.
Enrichment Options
Today is for tricks your dog already knows and ones that you love to practice with them. What fun and simple behaviour will you and your pet practice today?
Need some inspiration? We’ve written and filmed plans for teaching some fun and simply tricks here, check it out!
Have fun, take the pressure off and remember, it’s all tricks to the dogs!
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 51 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
get a box (or other safe container), stuff with puzzles
puzzles within puzzles within puzzles
the Russian Dolls of puzzles!
food based enrichment
get the family involved in this one – kids love making puzzles for pets and these challenges offer lots of opportunities for children to use their imagination to come up with the best puzzles for their pets.
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
Compound puzzle prep will probably take you about five-ten minutes – having a collection of puzzling stuff is a good idea…it will resemble a pile of rubbish or recycling!
What do you need?
cardboard boxes or plastic tubs or similar, any container that is open (and safe)
paper e.g. packing paper, kitchen roll, newspaper etc.
to encourage a wide range of foraging and exploratory behaviours
to do more feeding related behaviour than just eating
to encourage the development of strategies (behaviours) for getting the food out of the puzzles
by varying the design of each puzzle we will facilitate carrying out a range of different behaviours, broadening the dog’s repertoire
While this challenge is certainly food based, they are also experiencing cognitive, sensory and environmental enrichment, with lots of crossover between categories.
Working out how to get to the food and developing dexterous skills in manipulating each puzzle are examples of cognitive challenge.
Sniffing out, tasting and chewing food all offer sensory pay off, but so does finding their way through each food puzzle, determining its value, and engaging in the puzzle of getting to the good stuff.
Compound puzzles encourage pets to interact with their environment – just the very interaction with it is encouraging the pet to manipulate their surroundings, to get the things they like.
By offering a variety of puzzles in puzzles, we want to help the dog expand their range of puzzle-busting behaviours and facilitate your pet applying strategies from other puzzles to new ones; that’s a true cognitive gift and is growing your dog’s brain!
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
give your pet plenty of space for working on compound puzzles and bear in mind there will be mess, so think about spaces that are easier for clean up
the more difficult you have made the challenge, the higher the value the reward must be so use HIGH value foods to motivate exploration and experimentation and make it VERY easy to get the food (no frustration!)
if your dog just dives in, in full on destruction mode that might also be an indicator that they need an easier challenge so they get to experiment with a broader range of behaviours
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of Compound Puzzles:
Compound Puzzles are truly adaptable and you can dress them up for more challenge or just use the bare essentials to make a quick and easy puzzle.
Don’t make the challenge beyond your dog, it’s important that enrichment remain enriching. That means that the challenge must be made appropriate and doable for the individual puzzler.
Our job is to adjust the puzzle difficulty so that our dog uses a range of behaviour and gets to the goal pretty quickly.
This is the true way to improve the dog’s confidence in puzzling (and in life) and help them expand their behavioural repertoire.
Because of the home made nature and variable materials used in compound puzzles, it’s best to supervise your pet carefully when they have access to this puzzle.
Know your dog! If you have an ingester, some of these puzzles may not work or you might try using a plastic tub and supervise them closely. They will still eat plastic, it will just take them longer.
If you are concerned about your dog ingesting non-food items during puzzling, have a pocketful of HIGH value treats in your pocket and be ready to toss a couple toward your dog, across their eyeline, if you think they are thinking about eating something they shouldn’t.
Making sure the challenge is very doable and they can get to the hidden food rewards quickly is key to modifying their behaviour and expectations during puzzling.
Check all your equipment for this challenge carefully and make sure to remove tape, staples, other fasteners, small pieces and plastic pieces. Play safe!
Enrichment Options
Go nuts today! How many puzzles can you get into one puzzle?
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 50 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
it is not at all uncommon for dogs to appear as if they have poor rear-end awareness
rear end awareness allows the dog to move each limb independently and consciously
cognitive and sensory based enrichment
often used in training for sports dogs and for rehab after injury, trauma or surgery
get the family involved in this one – kids love setting up challenges like this for their pets. It’s probably better than an adult to help the dog move over the obstacles though as this requires a level of care and coordination, particularly at the beginning. Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
practice in very short sessions of 2-5 minutes at a time – this can be very tiring, both mentally and physically so it’s important that you work for very short sessions
What do you need?
flat, shallow box, large book or similar shallow platform
mop, broom handles
hula hoop
Enrichment Goals:
to help dogs develop awareness of how their body moves, where their limbs are and how to adjust and shift their weight to compensate during physical challenge
to provide physical and mental challenge to pet dogs
to encourage dogs to interact with novel or weird things in their environment
to help dogs develop confidence through enhanced body awareness
to help dogs slow down and think about how they move and physically interact with their environment
to help prevent injury, improve fitness, lengthen stride, increase back and core strength
Rear-end awareness exercises are something that most dogs will benefit from; being able to ‘find’ and ‘control’ each limb, especially the hind limbs, is particularly challenging for many dogs.
For dogs who train or compete in sports, especially those that require repetitive activities, and dogs recovering from injury or surgery, these exercises can be very beneficial.
While this challenge is certainly cognitive, the dogs are also experiencing sensory challenge and we are adding enrichment to their environment, with lots of crossover between categories.
Body awareness exercises can be especially helpful for puppies, whose brains are forming, resulting in improving coordination as the relevant brain areas mature, and for older dogs whose cognitive abilities and coordination may be disimproving as they age.
Shy puppies can be particularly helped and given a big confidence boost with body awareness work. They are learning to interact with their environment, being exposed to novel stimuli and sensory experiences, and engaging their cognitive and sensory systems…literally growing puppy brains!
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
take your time with this one and listen carefully to your pet
some dogs can be reluctant to pass over things, especially when going backwards, and that’s ok
set up as you did for cavaletti or other body awareness exercises and leave it out for your dog to investigate and check it out in their own time, without you using food to lure them or encouraging them too much
setting up rear-end awareness on grass or on a non-slip rug or runner, bath mat or yoga mat can help improve the dog’s comfort and increase their willingness and confidence; this is also safer
this is not a race – the goal here is to help the dog find their rear legs, so that they need to think about placing each foot, weight shifting and compensating for position
it’s better to work on these exercises off lead so think carefully about where you set up
often, there is a temptation to walk toward, loom or move toward the dog when working on back-up behaviours; there is no need to attempt to intimidate or push into the dog!
don’t lure your pet, with food in your hand; again, no need, and may cause the dog to sit or lie down Luring or moving into the dog can cause the dog to use front led movement – their front legs are doing all the work, and their hind end is just shuffling backwards. We want rear movement, that comes from the rear!
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of Rear-End Awareness:
Dogs who develop good rear end awareness probably have improved balance, fitness, collection, recovery and injury prevention, and over all better performance
But, this work really can help in other, ‘everyday’ ways too.
My favourite application of body awareness exercises is with dogs who can have difficulty coping with the ups and downs of the world; dogs who exhibit behaviour associated with cautiousness, shyness or fear, dogs who may show behaviours associated with excitability, frenetic movements, and who have a hard time calming after getting wound up.
Although these dogs’ responses may seem very different, their behaviour may be associated with having difficulty coping with swings in stress, having a hard time recovering and are losing control fast.
Getting them thinking about their movement helps them to think rather than react and boosts their confidence on a number of levels.
Enrichment Options
Option 1: REVERSE!
This really is a tough challenge for most dogs, especially young and large dogs. Work for very short sessions of a couple of minutes at a time.
Beginners; foundations can be practiced anywhere:
stand facing your dog
move your feet just wider than shoulder width apart
have some food rewards ready in your hand or pocket
if you use a clicker or other precise marker, this is a good exercise to use it
toss a treat through your legs, so that your dog moves just the front third of their body through (any further and they might walk all the way through and just turn around)
watch one of your dog’s hind legs (pick either the left or right, it doesn’t really matter which)
as soon as your dog lifts and moves the chosen hind leg back, mark and toss another reward between your leg
You are using the treat positioning to prompt the backing-up behaviour and set the dog up for the next repetition.
Practice about 5-7 times per session and then take a break.
You can work this one sitting in a chair too and just fire the treat a little ways under the chair. Working in front of a mirror also helps you to assess what’s going on and make marking/rewarding all the more accurate.
Intermediate; backing over something:
To encourage the dog to step over and really think about food placement, use a prop for them to step over such as a hula hoop or broom handle.
you can work sitting on a chair, which is great for smaller dogs, or standing up, which can be better for bigger dogs
whether sitting or standing, have your feet further apart then should-width
if using a hula hoop, have the chair in the hoop or stand in the hoop, and position it so that your dog must step over the hoop in just one stride/step backwards
if using a broom handle or pole, have it positioned so that your dog must step over it in just one stride/step
do exactly as you did with the Beginners exercises – toss the treat under and watch for that hind leg movement
Practice about 5-7 times per session and then take a break.
Lots of dogs will be helped by draping a blanket over the shallow platform. Not only does this offer better non-slip but also provides for a more continuous, softer surface making for a more gradual incline.
While reversing over and onto platforms of different heights presents many challenges to dogs, it emphasises weight on the front end most of the time. To equally exercise both brain and body, teach the dog to reverse off a platform too; they are learning to go backwards, stepping down as well as up.
These are not mutually exclusive exercises and should both be present as part of a work out. Having Decker recovering from injury rest and exercise restriction in the last couple of months, a big part of getting his fitness up again, has been going back to our cross training and platform work, that we really prioritised when he was younger and maturing.
This clip shows snippets from this work. We start with reversing on to the platform and then add in reversing onto it and off it, and then forward again. This really challenges coordination, so is a great brain AND body workout!
you can help them by luring them up, bringing your food hand up high so that they step up
if they are nervous or worried, at all, shape by rewarding the dog for looking at the perch, approaching the perch, raising one paw onto the perch, raising the second paw on to the perch
when the dog gets up on the perch, reward up high with a couple of food rewards
toss a food reward off at different angles to help encourage your dog to turn
when they return, they will get up onto the perch from an angle and might start to move to line up with you for reward
Pivoting and moving the rear end, without the perch at all, is generally applied to teaching a competitive heelwork position. This involves the dog learning to keep their back end in, their body straight, their shoulder at your leg and their head in the correct position – not at all easy for any dog.
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun! You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 49 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
Don’t forget to review all the information leading up to #100daysofenrichment and more here on playing safe. Know your dog!
Every Sunday during #100daysofenrichment is Sunday Funday! This means you and your pet repeat your favourite challenge or challenges from the week.
You can do it exactly as you did first time round, you can try a different option, build on your progress already established, reinvent and rejig it…what ever you want to do with the last week of challenges!
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 48 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
Saturdays during #100daysofenrichment are all about emphasising the dog in all our dogs; all about sniffing and doing dog things.
On Day 20 we started to put sniffing on cue so, as a behaviour, we can use it in training situations. Today we will be refining applications of sniffing in specific training situations to both manage and modify behaviour, with sniffing…everyone wins!
What are SNIFFING STATIONS?
Each sniffing station is a particular spot where your dog will learn to sniff for food. While these can be set up or planned in advance, we might also quickly establish an impromptu sniffing station by tossing food rewards on the ground or floor to redirect our dog’s focus away from some trigger.
We have talked about using the Go Find It! game to redirect a dog’s behaviour to something more appropriate and calming.
a sniffing station can be a small bowl or any other visual target that tells the dog there is food there, such as small cones
food rewards
your dog’s lead and collar, or whatever gear they wear
a snufflemat or similar is also a great addition and can make a wonderful sniffing station for some of today’s exercises
strong tape, such as duct tape or similar helps to secure the sniffing stations in place
Sniffing on cue
We don’t need to teach our dogs to sniff; they got that down. But, we can teach them the meaning of a specific signal: ‘get your nose down the on the ground and search for food!’.
Don’t worry if you haven’t been working to get sniffing on cue or maybe you have just joined us in the #100days. No matter, today’s exercises can be started afresh, without necessarily using the verbal cue, “Go Sniff!”.
Cues (or antecedents) are the things that tell an animal to do a behaviour because it results in reinforcement (or tells them to avoid a behaviour that results in punishment). All behaviours are naturally cued by things that happen around the animal and teaching is about helping the animal learn the meaning of cues we introduce.
Cues can be sounds, words, hand signals, gestures or other environmental signals; anything that the dog can perceive. Different types of cues work better in different environments, for different dogs, and for different behaviours. But, for the most part, dogs learn about body movements, gestures, positions and facial expressions better than they do words.
We often believe our dogs are performing behaviours on verbal cues, words, but often, the dog is reading our signals and movements (that we might not be aware we are doing) and performing behaviour any way.
To add a cue to a behaviour, you will need to make sure that the presentation of the cue is clean. The cue must be presented just before the behaviour and just before any other signals that trigger behaviour, such as you moving your hand into a hand signal, or you moving your hand or body toward the food rewards. These are just some of the basic mechanics of teaching animals.
Because dogs don’t actually understand words, you can use any verbal cues you like. We just need to be consistent in the teaching the meaning of the word to the dog. For this exercise for Decker, I use “Go Find It!” to mean search the ground for food, and “Go Play!” to mean ‘you’re off the clock, go be a dog’.
For today’s challenges, you might only use visual cues that lead our dog on stepping-stone path of sniffing…
Applications of SNIFFING STATIONS
For the most part, I work with regular pet owners who don’t necessarily want to spend time developing really clean dog training skills. They want to be able to work with their dog on little niggling issues so that they can each enjoy one another’s company that much more.
Although for lots of these applications, there are a number of training plans and behaviours we could teach, sometimes that’s not the priority for a pet owner, especially when we want to work on lots of other bits and pieces.
Most frequently, I will use sniffing stations with clients where we have lots of other work and this approach offers a quick and easy way to manage their pet’s behaviour, so we have sufficient resources to invest where there aren’t as simple short cuts available.
The main areas that sniffing stations can help:
managing leash and pulling behaviour, especially in areas associated with lots of pulling and dragging
getting out the door
getting in a door, greetings
getting to and from a scary or arousing situation
to redirect the dog’s behaviour during some arousing or triggering situation
Changing the dog’s motivation for behaviour, and reducing his expectation (that crazy behaviour is required) will help to prevent behaviour associated with arousal and over-excitement.
Instead of the dog heading forward, all guns blazing, he is learning to stop and search. Plus, sniffing is a great calming aid so we might be helpful modify his underlying emotional response too.
Getting from A to B without too much craziness
to get a dog from a kennel to an exercise area
to get a dog to an exit (or entrance)
to get your dog out the door
The dog’s expectations at the door change; from bursting through to sniffing sniffing sniffing. This example applies treats tossed to the floor, in almost every step at the beginning, to change the dog’s expectations. Add in new cues, for these new expectations; your hand on the door means treats are about to be available for sniffing, instead of get ready to burst out!
I tend not to worry too much, at this stage, about the behaviour inside the door and I don’t like to ask over-excited dogs to sit or be stationary; this can increase frustration and stress. Instead, think about what we want the dog to do on the other side of the door; that’s the behaviour that really matters! Have a sniffing station right outside the door, just on the other side of the door. With practice, the dog’s expectations change to slowing and stopping in anticipation of the opportunity to sniff the treats on the ground.
Pre-loaded Sniffing Stations:
Start with securing each station every couple of steps to the target. Load each with a couple of food rewards.
Allow the dog to forage from each sniffing station without their lead on or any activity at the or around the target, such as the door.
Practice several times in each session and have a few brief sessions as often as possible.
Once the dog is readily checking each station, you can add their lead. Practice in the same way and make sure there is no extra excitement or distraction, away from the stations, before moving to the next stage.
Add treats to the last of the stations, open and close the door. Repeat and if the dog shows interest in the door, open more gradually and feed further from the target.
When approaching the door is a non-event, it’s time to add an external sniffing station. Work with your dog on lead and with the door open. Add the external sniffing station real obvious as soon as the dog approaches the doorway.
With some practice, we can close the door. As your dog feeds from the last or second to last station before the door, open it, so that they can get to the external sniffing station without delay.
It can help to load each station as you go, especially if the dog is a little distracted.
To get too and from an arousing situation – something scary or exciting
to get your dog from the house to the car, or from the car to the park or from one spot to a very exciting place
to teach your dog that they can safely approach and retreat from some scary situation, in their own time
Approaching something scary or arousing may be associated with pulling toward or away.
Help the dog by teaching them how sniffing stations work. Begin with just one or two stations, toward something scary, and when the dog can do that, add one more station at a time.
This may take many sessions but it’s important that the dog get to move toward and then away from the situation. Make the target a sniffing station too and then allow the dog come away again.
If this is an exciting rather than scary situation, you might move quicker through the stages, but it’s especially important that if the dog is fearful, that progress is much slower and gradual.
I like to use Sniffing Stations to help to establish predictable patterns that can help to increase a dog’s confidence in a situation. For example, with a dog who is scared of a particular context, such as when a stranger is present,
In this clip, the dog learns to enter, eat from a sniffing station (a bowl) and leave again. Soon he is able to enter the room, without distress related behaviour directed at the stranger (me) and leave. Setting this pattern up will help him to develop greater comfort in association with strangers in the house – strangers make the predictable plan happen, make high value yummies available, and always result in him being able to escape interaction.
To get past, toward or through distracting or triggering situations
This helps to manage the dog’s leash walking behaviour especially as we approach and pass distracting or exciting triggers.
To get the dog to another person, dog or location in a calmer fashion use a Breadcrumb Trail.
To help establish calmer greeting behaviour inside doors
Set up a sniffing station in areas where greetings take place. Establish this with familiar people who have just stepped out for a moment first.
Enter and immediately cue the dog to sniff and toss treats into a snufflemat, a little sniffing station bowl or on to the floor.
Practice entering, cueing the dog to sniff and then running with them to get the treats; have treats ready to go close to the door.
Lots of practice to help establish this one with familiar people before it can be applied to new people or a familiar person who has gone for a while.
Doorbell Games
Doorbell = Snuffle Party
Teach your dog that the doorbell signals a snuffle party! Instead of your dog running to the door, they run to you and their Sniffing Station to snuffle for treats; then you can bring your guests in calmly and quietly.
Establish a Sniffing Station with a snufflemat, a snuffle puzzle, or simply scattering treats on the floor, on a blanket or towel, or in their bed.
Practice in short sessions of just a minute or so at a time.
Begin working close to the door so your dog can quickly check that there’s nobody actually there. But as their comfort increases, you can move your Sniffing Station to the spot you want your dog to go to when the door bell sounds, such as another room, a confinement area, a crate or their bed.
Be exciting as you bound to their Sniffing Station – it’s a snuffle party after all!
Use a recording of your door bell or a similar sounding bell. The one I use can be found here.
You gotta practice door management games before you really need them but they are simple to work into your daily routine and require only 30-60 seconds practice per day.
Using sniffing stations in contexts like these will not only help to improve the dog’s engagement and focus, but also may help to associate good things with potentially distracting and worrying triggers.
Sniffing for food
Ideally, we would like our dogs to be sniffing out their regular meals, as much as possible. But, some dogs will need a little help to get them going and we can have our dog sniffing for treats too!
Kibble is a pretty versatile food type for enrichment type feeding, and works well for this exercise.
You can add kibble in with other yummier treats and toss those. Or you can make a Training Mix so that kibble smells and tastes yummier, but without having to add extra calories or other foods, should the dog be sensitive or restricted.
You can improve the smell/taste of kibble by grilling it a little, so that it becomes crunchier and oilier. You might also soak it in stock or other flavouring.
Wet and fresh foods can be a little more challenging:
Fresh meats and meat mixes (e.g. raw and home prepared diets) – cut up into small pieces, boiled or baked, frozen in small ice cube trays or pyramid baking mats for small individual treats. Alternatively, you could use dried or semi-moist meats and cut them into small pieces for tossing. (Note that you feed a smaller volume of dried or dehydrated foods as they are more concentrated.)
Wet feeds (e.g. canned foods) – frozen in small ice cube trays or pyramid baking mats for small, individual treats.
Don’t forget fruit and vegetables too, if you’re dog likes them. Frozen peas are one of Decker’s favourite for sniffing!
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun! You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 47 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
Now it’s your turn to get creative! Every Friday is Freestyle Friday. We’ll give you the ingredients for a puzzle or enrichment device and you build it.
Rules:
you must use all the ingredients
you can add anything else you like, or nothing at all
dog lead, cord, rope, old tights/stockings, shoe lace or similar
basket
fabric/cotton/canvas shopping bags
(Please be very careful with your choice of bags – nothing that is plastic based, plastic or plastic coated, or similar, and use breathable bags only.)
You can add food or toys or anything else appropriate, if you like. Or you can use this as it is.
We can’t wait to see what fun and brain games you and your pet get up to with this one!
Your challenge
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
Welcome to Day 46 of #100daysofenrichment and thank you for joining us on this journey!
Although our challenges are directed mainly at dogs, we want all species to enjoy and benefit from #100daysofenrichment so, please join in, adjust and adapt to help your pet or companion live a more enriched life.
puzzles that require the dog to move an item to reveal hidden food
food and cognitive based enrichment
adjusting the difficulty is easy so these are very adaptable puzzles
get the family involved in this one – kids love making puzzles for pets and these challenges offer lots of opportunities for children to use their imagination to come up with the best teasers for their pets.
Remember, supervise children in all enrichment activities and interactions with pets.
prepping teasers will take 5-10 minutes and you can use lots of the bits and pieces we use in other puzzles
What do you need?
a base for each teaser puzzle is anything that has slots or hollows such as bowls, eggboxes, muffin pans, cup holders, plastic inserts from biscuits/chocolates
blockers are items to fill each gap such as paper cups, toilet roll tubes, paper, balls & toys
a range of food rewards
Enrichment Goals:
to encourage a wide range of foraging and exploratory behaviours
to do more feeding related behaviour than eating
to encourage the development of strategies (behaviours) for getting the food out of the boxes
to help the dog develop skills in thinking through puzzles
While this challenge is certainly food based, they are also experiencing cognitive, sensory and environmental enrichment, with lots of crossover between categories.
Working out how to manipulate the teasers to get to the food and developing dexterous skills are examples of cognitive challenge.
Sniffing out, tasting and chewing food all offer sensory pay off, but so does finding their way through each food puzzle, determining its value, and engaging in the puzzle of getting to the good stuff.
Teasers encourage pets to interact with their environment – just the very interaction with the puzzle is encouraging the pet to manipulate their surroundings, to get the things they like.
By offering a variety of teasers, we can help the dog expand their range of puzzle-busting behaviours and facilitate your pet applying strategies from other puzzles to new ones; that’s a true cognitive gift and is growing your dog’s brain!
What goals can you add to this list for your pets?
How can we achieve these goals?
give your pet plenty of space for working on teasers and bear in mind there will be mess, so think about spaces that are easier for clean up
the more difficult you have made the challenge, the higher the value the reward must be so use HIGH value foods to motivate exploration and experimentation and make it VERY easy to get the food (no frustration!)
if your dog just dives in, in full on destruction mode that might also be an indicator that they need an easier challenge so they get to experiment with a broader range of behaviours
What adjustments will you make for your pets?
Applications of Teasers:
Teasers, just like many of our homemade ‘rubbish’ puzzles, can keep dogs occupied as they offer different possibilities for expanding the dog’s behavioural range, truly engaging them cognitively. They are truly adaptable and again you are only limited by your imagination!
I love to use Teasers for puppies, as these puzzles allow for great brain stretching. Puppies develop confidence in putting more pressure on the item to move it to reveal the food.
Toilet Roll Tube Teasers are a favourite of many puppies; they love to manipulate the tubes and the box, and build confidence and enthusiasm for snuffling between the tubes.
While it’s great to go for challenge, it’s important that enrichment remain enriching. That means that the challenge must be made appropriate and doable for the individual puzzler.
Because of the home made nature and variable materials used in teasers, it’s best to supervise your pet carefully when they have access to this puzzle.
Many eggboxes and other cardboard bases like cup holders, are made of pulp, which makes for a crumbly cardboard. This likely feels quite novel to many dogs and they may investigate this texture with their mouths; it also makes it very easy to eat.
Know your dog! If you have an ingester, teasers may not work for you and at the very least, careful supervision will be required. Using a metal muffin pan might be a better option!
If you are concerned about your dog ingesting non-food items during puzzling, have a pocketful of HIGH value treats and be ready to toss a couple toward your dog, across their eyeline, if you think they are thinking about eating the puzzle.
Making sure the challenge is very doable and they can get to the hidden food rewards quickly is key to modifying their behaviour and expectations during puzzling.
Check all your equipment for this challenge carefully and make sure to remove tape, staples, other fasteners, small pieces and plastic pieces. Play safe!
Enrichment Options
The level of difficulty with Teasers is set in how well the blocker fits into the base. If the ball, cup or tube fits snugly, it will be more difficult for the dog to get to the food.
Building Teasers:
choose a base such as a box, basket, muffin pan, eggbox, plastic insert, cup holder, small bowls
scatter food rewards so that every gap is filled and there is a good covering over the base
Now it’s your turn. Show us what you and your pets, of any species, can do with these challenges!
Post to your social media accounts, using the #100daysofenrichment so that we can find you and join our Facebook group to share your experiences, ideas and fun!
You can comment right here too 🙂
We look forward to hearing from you and your pets – have fun & brain games!
AniEd Ireland 