By ensuring your dog’s physical, emotional and mental needs are met you can reduce unwanted behaviours, improve their cognitive function[1]and help your dog to produce happy hormones. This can be achieved through canine enrichment which has become a popular aspect of dog training and is often incorporated into dog behaviour plans. There are five main types of canine enrichment and these can be explained as social, occupational, physical, sensory and nutritional enrichment.[2] They each provide your dog with a form of stimulation that can have many benefits to their psychological well-being as well as their overall physical health. Each will be explored below.
Social enrichment is as it sounds, the opportunity for your dog to socialise with other dogs. This helps them to develop social skills by engaging in positive interactions. This can benefit all dogs, particularly puppies and where better to arrange a doggy meet-up than a secure dog field. The dog field is the perfect place to meet a friend and allow your dogs to interact within a safe space. A well-socialised dog is less likely to develop reactivity or fear when they are around new dogs and so they cope well in new social situations. This in turn enables us to enjoy being with our dogs even more as we can take them out and about knowing they are confident in different places around other dogs.
Most dogs love to work and will do anything for a reward and to please their owner. Occupational enrichment means providing your dog with a job or a task that is theirs and is rewarding or fulfils their particular breed needs. For example an activity that is suited to the collie dog, an athletic breed able to work for hours running, herding and jumping, could be fun agility with their owner. The free to use dog equipment in the dog fields provide a perfect example of the type of equipment that could be used for occupational enrichment. The jumps, tunnels, tyres and mini-dog walks offer your dog mental and physical stimulation and an opportunity for you to do something fun together thereby strengthening your bond.
Physical enrichment is perhapsthe most well-known of the five. All dog owners know that their dogs need regular physical exercise to ensure they stay fit and healthy throughout their lifespan. Physical exercise allows our dogs to really engage with their environment and free run is the most natural form of physical enrichment that they could have. However, it is not always easy to find a safe place to do this. The dog fields provide the perfect setting to let our dogs explore, run free and enjoy their exercise without constraint and not only are their physical needs being met but they are also experiencing sensory enrichment. The fields are full of smells and textures and surrounded by farmland and wildlife. All of this provides an enriching experience that stimulates our dogs’ senses. Not only is this good for your dog’s brain but using the nose to sniff out other visitors to the fields can help your dog feel relaxed whilst adding new smells to their scent memory.
Finally nutritional enrichment can be both the oral sensory experience of the dog or the forging experience. The former triggers both their sense of taste and smell and relies on the variety of foods that dogs have access to. What treats do they have? What new flavours can they try? Don’t be afraid to add small amounts of new foods or treats to their diets. The second aspect of nutritional enrichment can be met by providing your dog with the opportunity to forage for their own food. This can be done using food toys, lickimats, snuffle toys, or home-made enrichment toys outof cardboard boxes or used t-towels. Or, you can hide treats outside and help your dog to build their independence through self-rewarding behaviours drawing on their natural instincts to hunt for food. There is then nothing more natural or enriching for dogs than being able to fully engage in their natural environment outside. This enables them to fulfil their physical mental and emotional needs making them calm, happy and relaxed and the dog fields offer the perfect conditions for this.
[1]Source: https://mycountrysidevet.com/5-types-of-enrichment-for-your-pet/
[2]Source: https://mycountrysidevet.com/5-types-of-enrichment-for-your-pet/
