Exercise and enrichment are essential pieces of any behavior plan! Most people are familiar with the chaos that can ensue when a high-drive, high-arousal, high-needs dog is left to their own devices. All dogs have different mental and physical exercise needs, and if those needs are not met appropriately – your dog’s behavior can be significantly impacted.
The goal of exercise & enrichment is to satisfy your dog’s needs so they are able to regulate their arousal in everyday situations. If your dog needs to be worked to the point of exhaustion in order to prevent destructive or undesirable behavior, your exercise & enrichment needs adjustment – regularly pushing your dog’s limits like this results in building endurance!
Walks are a common and popular way to meet physical and mental enrichment needs. But what if your behavior program requires you suspend walks? What if you just….don’t like to walk your dog?
There are so many ways you can fulfill your dog’s needs without going on walks!
First, ask your dog: what do they need? Do they need to run? Chase something? Shred something? Wrestle? Tug? Fetch? Hunt? Explore?
Here is a non-exhaustive list of ways you can meet your dog’s exercise and enrichment needs without walks:
- Aerobic exercise
- Lure or flirt pole work: playing chase with a toy on a rope similar to a cat teaser toy.
- Fetch: For some dogs, simple aerobic exercise. For other dogs, a complex multi-step trained behavior.
- Food bowling: Say “Get it!” and toss a cookie for them to chase. When they eat it, repeat in the other direction. Increase distance and treat value to increase aerobic intensity. Excellent rainy-day game.
- Swimming
- Mushing, carting, & biking
- Nosework games or search games
- Hide & seek: Hide somewhere in your house & call your dog to find you. (Not suitable for dogs with separation distress!! This should be fun for your dog, not panic-inducing.)
- Food search: Hide a treat or your dog’s kibble for them to find.
- Toy search: Hide your dog’s toy for them to find.
- Drag trail: In your yard, drag your dog’s favorite toy across the yard. Then bring them out and let them use their nose to follow the scent and find their toy!
- Truffle & shed antler hunting
- Predatory enrichment:
- Lure coursing: chasing a plastic bag on a string along a pre-determined course
- Flirt pole work: a dog-sized teaser toy, a pole with a toy attached via a rope.
- Structured fetch: excellent way to satisfy natural retrievers
- Earthdog games: hiding prey scent in the environment for diggers and exploratory hunters to unearth
- Natural tugs & toys such as minimally processed hides & feathers can add prey scent to everyday play
- Food enrichment:
- Puzzle toys
- Kibble dispensing toys
- Stuffable food toys such as Kongs, Toppls, Pupsicles, etc
- Scatter feeding
- Shredding boxes: Put some kibble in a cardboard box. Give your dog the box to destroy. Add difficulty by nesting boxes inside each other.
- Dog sports
- Agility or parkour: teach your dog to navigate obstacles! You can use official equipment or anything you don’t mind them climbing on.
- Trick training: excellent brain work! Check out the AKC Trick Dog or Do More With Your Dog for ideas (and ribbons)!
- Weight pull
- AKC / NACSW / NSDR: Nosework / Scentwork sports
- Dock Diving
- Lure Coursing & Fast CAT
- Exploration
- Check out Sniff Spots and consider renting a private yard to explore!
- Consider looking for quiet areas for your dog to explore on a long line
- If your dog is a good candidate for being off-leash, take them for off-leash hikes where it is safe & legal to do
- Play & social connection
- Rough and tumble play
- Cooperative play
- Wrestling
- Tug
- Advanced toy play
- Dog daycare / stay & play
Does your dog love an activity that you don’t see on this list? Please let me know!! I am always happy to expand 🙂
