How to create a harmonious everyday life with your dog
Here we want to give you tips on how you can bring enrichment into your everyday life. Enrichment is excellent for creating balance and should not be replaced by activities with a high level of activity. A balance between activities and training with a higher activity level, enrichment of the dog's natural behavioral needs and rest days is the best for our dogs!
Do you want to learn what enrichment is? Read here!Walks in forest and nature
Many behavioral needs can be met on your walks. In order for a walk to be able to satisfy natural behaviors, you should stay in the forest/nature and preferably go with your dog on a harness and longline. It is super important that your dog can choose the pace and stop if something smells interesting. Your dog should have the opportunity to climb, examine and dig - if they wants to. Let it take its time if your dog always has his nose on the ground - this means that the need is great to detect and examine scents.
Ditch the bowl
A good tip to remember to enrich your dog around lunch time is to ditch the food bowl. Give your dog a food scatter, freeze the food in a Kong or train with the food out on a walk. A life without a food bowl can make a big difference for your dog and it can easy discover, work with the brain and get treats in new exciting ways.
Walk in new places
We often get used to walking in exactly the same places, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, we can in a easy way enrich our dog's everyday life by sometimes choosing a different path. New scents, impressions and the opportunity to explore can be a big change for your dog. The dogs explore the world with their noses and giving them extra to discover enriches one of their most natural behavioral needs.
Love your dog to dig?
Many dogs have a big need for digging and even bury their chewing bones or toys. This can be problematic when the dog thinks that the flower bed is the perfect hiding place. Instead, give your dog a place to dig. Because it is a natural need, the behavior will not disappear by us setting rules, but instead enrich in a way that suits you, the problem can be gone forever.
Does a problem arise in your everyday life?
Think back to the natural behavioral needs that all our dogs are born with. Maybe you find a need that is not being met today or your walks have only been in an urban environment for a while. Start by introducing enrichment into your everyday life again and see if the problem disappears.
