Mental Stimulation

Fun Fact!

Instead of just adding more physical exercise or play time at home to your dog’s routine, add in a few brain games to really tire them out. Mental stimulation enriches our dogs lives by giving them something meaningful to do. And because these activities alleviate boredom they decrease the likelihood of our dogs developing behavioral issues, and creates a stronger bond between you and your dog.

Mental stimulation can be accomplished in many ways. Anything that forces your dog to think is a form of mental stimulation, and even something as simple as an obedience or agility session, trick training, switching up their toys, providing them one of the many “sniff/puzzle” games developed specifically for this purpose will help fulfill this need. Even something as simple as switching walking environments, allowing them to interact with other dogs and people on your outings, while giving them a task to do is helpful.

In combination with changing our walking routes (new sniffs and sights), we use “look” a lot on our walks. Continually having the dog check in with us is a form of mental stimulation and we change our direction quite frequently. We might stop mid walk, circle around, give the “look” - “yes!” command as we cross the sidewalk all in a controlled fashion. This will also help those owners working on ‘loose leash’ walking, keeping your dog to your side rather than up ahead. Far more stimulating than walking alone.

This will also be a helpful tool when you have a dog that is prone to “distraction” or “reaction” on a dog walk. It takes the focus off what is happening around you at the time (the bird, ball play at the park ahead of you, etc), on to you, where you can control an undesirable behaviour and eventually remove it all together.

Get creative, have fun with it! Your dog will really enjoy keeping their mind active – as well as their body – a vital part of their overall health and well-being.