Pushing your dogs’ mental and physical boundaries to keep them stimulated is essential. Dogs are smart animals, and giving them a challenge makes them smarter and helps them adapt more readily.
The following DIY dog enrichment games can keep your dog entertained and help exert their mental energy on rainy days when going outside is difficult. You all know how crazy the little furry guy can get when it’s been raining for a while. You know he needs to go out, but you’re going to get wet, he’s going to get muddy and it’ll just be chaos – we’ve all been there. Let the following guide give you some ideas on what to do for those long rainy days.
Your furry friend deserves more than just physical activity to enrich their life. Therefore, these are the best DIY dog enrichment games that you can make at home with ease to help train them cognitively and lower levels of stress.
Food Puzzles
Store-bought food puzzles are a great way to enrich your dog’s life, but they may be expensive and not tailored to your dog’s mental level and needs.
Therefore, DIY dog enrichment games like food puzzles can be created in various ways to challenge your dog and make getting food challenging on a mundane rainy day and increase mental stimulation.
Here is how to create DIY dog enrichment games like food puzzles:
- Place a treat in a slit-open tennis ball and let them find the treat by gnawing. This will push them to look for their treat and work for it.
- Place multiple food bowls over the house with portions of the food and let them sniff their way to the food.
- Fill ice trays with solid food and then wet food. After freezing, give them a pupsicle every day and let them practice patience by licking the cube to find their ‘hidden’ treat.
Tube Feeders
Cardboard or plastic bottles can create some incredible stimulating DIY dog enrichment games. An old cardboard roll or a plastic bottle can be multipurpose and serve as a tube feeder.
To make these DIY dog enrichment games, try this:
- Get an animal-safe plastic bottle or a cardboard roll without any plastic coating or harmful substances.
- Lather peanut butter or any other spread your dog enjoys on the inside of it.
- Let them figure out how to reach the food on the inside, as this will help them burn off excess energy.
Shoebox Peek-a-Boo
Shoeboxes are great DIY dog enrichment games, because they encourage cognitive effort due to the action of pushing and pulling to find their treat. To burn off mental anxiety on a rainy day, they can be a lifesaver for you as you won’t have to deal with a jumpy dog.
To create DIY dog enrichment games using a shoebox, follow these steps:
- Take an old shoebox and create two sections using a piece of cardboard, or leave it as is.
- Put treats into one side and leave the other empty, or put treats in the entire box.
- Let your dog find the treats by using the shoebox on a drawer mechanism.
Snuffle Mat
DIY dog enrichment games like snuffle mats can help keep your dog entertained for hours on a rainy day. They may be expensive to buy, but are easy to make at home.
Follow these steps to create DIY dog enrichment games like feeder mats at home:
- Get a mat with holes in it and cut up a fleece cloth into strips.
- Take each strip and tie it into each hole to create a fuller mat.
- Disperse kibble into the mat and let your dog find the food though sniffing.
Conclusion
DIY dog enrichment games can be created by you at home on a rainy day in less than 5 minutes to keep your four-legged friend entertained for hours on end. Enhance your dog’s quality of life by focusing on mental stimulation apart from regular physical stimulation.
Using treats is a great way to keep your dog engaged with the activity on a rainy day. You should create an environment that is cohesive for growth for your dog and let them reach their full potential using DIY dog enrichment games.
