Don’t break the bank 💸

DIY Enrichment on a Budget 

Destruction Box 

Destruction boxes are easy to make simply get a box and fill it with food, toys, balls and different foods and simply present it to your dog! You can hide some of the items with newspaper or paper! (Careful they don’t eat it though!) its there box of fun it’s a dog version of a treasure box! 

Scent box hunt 

Several empty boxes with treats in them for Scentwork. 

Ball or Bottle Wrapped in a sock 

A ball wrapped in a sock you no longer want or a bottle. Or if you want to play Tug all you need to do is make knots in a sock or a tea towel you don’t want as a tug toy. 

Play the Which Hand Game with Your Dog

If you’ve been thinking about teaching your dog some scent work games this is a great game to get you started. The only thing you’ll need is some dog treats, and if you don’t have any on hand you can use some chopped up fruits & veggies or make your own homemade dog treats.

How to Play the Which Hand Game:

1.    Place a treat in one of your hands.

2.    Close your fists and hold them out in front of your dog.

3.    Let the dog choose which hand it’s in.

4.    When your dog sniffs or paws the correct hand open it up and give them the treat.

If they choose incorrectly don’t discourage them, it takes a few tries to catch on.

Tip: Chopped up carrots make excellent treats for scent work games and training. They’re low in calories, easy to prepare, and (most) dogs absolutely love them.

Muffin Tin Game

Treats in a muffin tin and place balls on top. 

Towel Game

Roll a towel up like a sausage and Place treats in as you roll. 

Ten Pin Bowling

Ten pin bowling with empty bottles and encouraging the dog to move the ball to the bottles. 

Target Work 

Target work with a lid of some description. 

Two Paws

Two paws with a safe non slip item. 

Back up

Back up onto a solid wooden board angled slightly for canine conditioning. 

Scatter Sticks 

Scatter broom and mop sticks and lure them over with treats for paw Awareness and proprioception

Or use them like Cavellettis

Go round or Send Away

A pop bottle for go round or send away cue

Open the fridge 

Tie a tug toy to the fridge if it has a handle for open the fridge trick. 

Painting

If you have non toxic paint, wrap something sturdy with cling film and the dog paws the cling film with the touch cue to make their own painting without getting any paint on their paws. 

Memory Game 

Three plastic cups with a treat under one for memory game and ask the dog to show you which cup has the treat under it.

Floor Skipping 

Tie a skipping rope low to the floor with two chairs and you can teach over.

Scatter Feeding 

Scatter feeding is a great way to get them noses working! It’s quick and it’s easy all you need is some kibble or treats! Scatter in the garden or around the house and let your dog seek out the hidden food. It helps to slow down eating and burns off some energy and gets your dog in touch with their foraging instincts. 

This is also going to help with your treat bombs when you enter the room. 

Find The Treats

Teaching your dog how to play a fun nose work game such as find the treats will help boost their confidence by teaching them a new skill, and it’s a great way to keep them busy and mentally stimulated. It’s also a great way to strengthen the bond between you and your dog since it relies on working together.

And since you can teach your dog to find the treats in your own home you won’t be dealing with a ton of distractions that might otherwise make your dog anxious. That ability to focus on “finding the treats” will boost your dog’s confidence by helping them learn to focus their energy into a specific job rather than focusing on the environment around them.

As far as playing the game goes the goal of find the treats is simple enough — it’s teaching your dog to dog sniff out treats you hide around the house. When you’re first starting out you’ll want to make it easy, until your dog gets the hang of it. Have your dog sit in the stay position while you go around putting treats around the room as they watch you.

After you’ve placed them come back over to your dog and tell them to “find the treats.” Keep it fun and positive for them by praising them each time they pick up a new treat.

Once you’re dog has a good idea of what “find the treats” means you can start hiding them in more challenging spots. After some practice your dog will start to hone in on their natural sniffing abilities, and they’ll start relying on their nose to find those hidden treats rather than using visual cues.

Grab some treats and have your dog sit in a stay position. 

While your dog is in the stay position put a few treats on the ground around them

Release your dog and tell them to “find the treats”

Encourage them as they start picking up the treats. 

Practice a few times until your dog understands what “find the treats” means

Practice in different rooms of the house or garden make it harder by putting the food in a container. I use cheese with my dogs for this exercises (smellier the better). 

Sniff Breaks

One of the easiest ways to give your dog some more enrichment is by letting them do one of the things they do best — sniff. Your dog’s sense of smell is what helps keep them up to date on what’s going on in the neighbourhood, and it’s a big part of how they explore the world around them.

Your dogs walk is (usually) the only time they get to go out and explore each day. Give them a little extra time to sniff around.

When you take your dog out for their daily walk set aside some time for designated sniff breaks. Tell them to “go sniff” and let them move on from one interesting smell to another. Giving them the opportunity to sniff around not only provides them with plenty of mental stimulation, it’s providing them with information about what’s going on.You can make walks more meaningful & enriching to your dog just by giving them a few extra minutes to sniff around.

Eggboxes

Simply add food, close the lid, prepping eggbox puzzles will take 5-10 minutes! This game is to encourage a wide range of foraging and exploratory behaviours and to encourage the development of strategies (behaviours) for getting the food out of the boxes.

Cup Game

You will need some yummy treats and three similar, opaque cups or small tubs. Start with just one cup – hide a treat under it and release your dog to find it When they nudge the cup, you can let them reveal the treat themselves, or to teach an indication, toss some food rewards onto the floor and then reveal the hidden treat for them. With that perfected, add a second cup but hide only one treat – hide the treat when your dog is out of the room and switch around the cups a little, so even you are confused! repeat the game!

Now you’re ready to introduce the third cup and play a more challenging game!

Rolled Clothes 

Rolled clothes with food inside toilet rolls

We have touched on toilet rolls for food previously, this makes it harder for our dogs by rolling the treats inside the clothes and stuffing into the toilet roll so your dog has to pull it out of the tube and unroll the cloth!

Mouse game 

Place a pile of treats on the floor, make a cage with your hand over the food. Don’t let your dog get to the food (so no cheeky licking the food through your fingers!) When your dog backs off your hand/takes their attention off of your hand, flick out a piece of food for them. Reset your hand and the game begins again.

Bag Hunt!!

The ‘bag for life’ treat hunt – please make sure it is only made of fabric or paper and NOT plastic or plastic lined for safety reasons……

Spin the Bottle

Another great game is a bottle enrichment game. This can be homemade and made with very little cost. All you need is three or more plastic bottles, take the tops off and pop a few treats in each. Cut two holes in the bottle, opposite each other and about two thirds up. Attach the bottles to a wooden frame or thread through some string. If using string, tie each side to something secure e.g. a draw, radiator. Sometimes dogs can need a bit of encouragement but eventually they will see that they have to spin the bottles to get the treats out. This is an excellent enrichment game and can provide hours of fun!

PRINGLE TUBE!

A good excuse to eat a whole tube of Pringles! These tubes are great – simply put some holes in the sides big enough for food to come out when rolled. Put your dog’s treats or food in put the lid on and let the games begin! They will roll it along the floor to get the good stuff! 

HANDLING & HUSBANDRY – HANDLING COMFORT

Touch 4 Treats

Beginners: This is our foundation handling comfort exercise that we do with all dogs; because all dogs will require handling at some stage and all dogs deserve to learn that they can consent, or not.

We concentrate on building positive associations with handling the face, ears, each foot, tummy and tail, mouth! You will get to know what your dog does and doesn’t like!

Listen to your dog if they show the slightest reluctance. You can work harder on that area to boost your dog’s comfort – this might be especially relevant with your dog’s feet, as many dogs will find handling feet uncomfortable.

This is an impotent exercise for vet visits and treatment- when we take our dog for checks they generally get teeth, ears and often paw checks so it’s good to work on this to make vet visits more enjoyable. 

SNUFFLE ACTIVITIES 

Treat Blanket

Scatter some food rewards on a flat blanket cover them over and swirl the blanket so that everything is mixed and messed up!

Things in Blankets in Buckets- Use a larger blanket, towel, duvet or sheet. Add food rewards, a toy or Stuffable and mix the whole lot up in a bucket, tub, box or plant pot.

Beginners: Snuffle Pom Poms- Use a towel or fleece blanket to make this simple toy some string to wrap the pieces together and stuff with food! 

Washing Basket 

The quickest and easiest way to create a quick game for your dog. Put treats or a toy under an upturned washing basket and let your dog figure out how to get them!   

Music! 

Yes, dog music is now a thing! There are loads of options on you tube for our dogs search for dog music and the options are endless including breed specific.  This is good if we are going out or just want our dogs to have some time out in a room. 

Bubbles!

Chasing and popping mysterious floating orbs can keep curious dogs active for several minutes at a time. They’ll have fun jumping up to get their prey before it floats away, and the satisfaction of popping a bubble will keep them focused on the game. Bubble machines spray dozens of bubbles a second, or you can use the old-school wand method to join in on your dog’s entertainment. Ensure the bubbles are dog safe! You can get them in most pet stores! 

Bottle in a sock! 

Get an old sock and put a bottle inside and tie a knot in the top- dogs love the crinkly sound it makes!