Why Is Mental Stimulation For Dogs So Important?
Dogs are more similar to us than we know. Just like people, dogs also require mental enrichment. Dogs are inherently intelligent animals and need mental stimulation to keep themselves happy and healthy. Remember how you felt being cooped up in your house during quarantine? Dogs also feel anxiety, stress and frustration when they are stuck in the same routine with little or no social interaction.
As a matter of fact, bad canine behavior stems from boredom or lack of stimulation. Studies have found that a stimulated mind leads to improved mental health and cognitive function in dogs. Basically, enrich your dog’s mind and he will most definitely be a happy and clever pupper.
7 Ways To Mentally Enrich Your Dog’s Mind (+5 Bonus Fun Games)
Teach your dog a new trick
As the saying goes, learning never stops. One of the best ways to challenge your dog’s mind is to teach her a completely new trick. Tricks can greatly help to train your dog’s learning and challenge her thinking abilities. On top of that, they learn to work with distractions and improve their focus by paying less attention to external stimuli. This can be super useful when they are out for a walk in crowded areas.
Run errands with your dog
Dogs are active and simple creatures. Thankfully for us, their stimulation activation level is so low that a quick run to the mailbox is exciting enough for them. So next time, take them along for a quick trip to Walmart or walk them to your friend’s place if they live around the neighborhood. A car ride is a great option too. Do you wonder why dogs usually get excited for a car ride? Car rides provide stimulation of all the senses and also feed into their instinctive nature of being on a hunt. Even a spin at the carwash will spark more joy in them than we could ever have at a car wash.
Teach your dog to do house chores
I mean my dog sleeps at my house rent-free and eats free food everyday 3 times a day. I think the least he could do is help out with the house chores right?! I’m joking. I love my dog and I spoil him too much, sigh. Jokes aside. Dogs are smart creatures and doing some work will definitely provide the stimulation that they crave for. And if they need some work, why not help lighten your house chores?
You could get creative and teach your dog how to pick clothes lying on the floor and putting them in the laundry basket. Or teach your pup to pick up trash on the floor. Your dog’s mind will be engaged on a day to day basis with these chores and definitely eliminate any boredom lingering around. There are many examples of dogs helping their owner with house chores. Take for an example, Baron, the german shepherd that does 50% of the household chores at home!
Give your dog a job to do
Besides keeping your pup occupied with house work, give your dog something else to do. Herding and hunting is innate in their nature. Find activities or sports that require your dog to expend energy. Throw a frisbee and have him fetch it back. Bring your pup out for a long walk, swim or hike. Find what activity makes your dog the happiest and seeing that joy on his face would have been so worth it!
Teach them names of toys/objects
Did you know that a border collie named Chaser knows more than 1,000 words? This surpasses any other animal species excluding humans. Amazing, isn’t it? Your dog probably knows a few words in his vocabulary arsenal. Besides the basic commands such as “sit”, “paw”, “jump”, “fetch”, “stay” and his or her name, it is pretty much what they are familiar with.
Chaser is definitely an exceptional dog but this proves that dogs are much more capable than we think they are. Imagine your pup bringing you your car keys or the remote control. Not only does this make your life easier, it would also provide the mental stimulation that your pup needs!
Spend more time doing outdoor activities
Bring your pup out for a long walk or hike. Let your pup wander around the bushes and trees while sniffing out the flowers and the grass. Did you know? Dogs have about 3,000,000 olfactory receptors on their nose and their sense of smell is at least 100,000 times more sensitive than that of a human.
Scientists have also found that the part of the brain that processes smells is larger in dogs than in humans. So as your pup explores a new area, he is discovering a whole new fascinating world of scents and smell. Imagine how exciting and thrilling this would be for your pup as he experiences thousands of new smells every minute!
Switch up daily walking route
Wouldn’t you get bored if you stuck to walking the same path home everyday? Same goes for your pup. To make walks more interesting, simply shake up the daily walking routine by exploring new places or letting your pup lead the way.
It could be as simple as walking on the opposite side of the road or varying your walking speed. Sometimes, just to crank up the challenge, I would get my pup to jump over branches and tree stumps. Or let my dog roam around within close distance just so he could explore the area himself.
Read more: 10 Signs That Your Dog Is Dehydrated & What Causes It
5 Fun Brain Games To Keep Your Dog Mentally Stimulated
Play the shell game (cup game)
I’m pretty sure you are familiar with this game. If not, fret not. I will explain to you how it is done. Basically, the challenge is to get your dog to guess where the item is by hiding it under a cup and shuffling the cups.
To play it, line up 3 cups in a row and hide a treat below one of the cups. Make sure your dog sees where the treat is placed at and shuffle the cups in front of him. Then, let your dog pick the correct cup with their nose or paw.
If he is right, reward him with the treat and throw in some kisses while you are at it. If he is wrong, reveal the cup with the cup and mix it all up again till he gets it right. If your dog is too smart for this, increase the difficulty by mixing the cups faster. Check out the video below if you prefer a visual explanation of the game!
Create a treasure hunt in the backyard or at home
Make eating time fun for your pup by creating a scavenger hunt at your backyard or indoors depending on your space. Eating time has always been routine, mundane without putting much thought or brain juice into. Might as well turn it into a brain game and put that grey matter of his to work while he hunts for his food. You could start small by hiding the treats in one room and expanding out to a larger area as your dog adepts to the game.
If your dog needs more of a challenge, hide their food and treats in separate rooms and outdoors (if your space allows) and watch as he sniffs his way hunting for his food.
Play Hide and Seek
The classic good old fashioned hide and seek. It is a game that is friendly to dogs and humans of all ages- young to old. Animal behavior consultant, Sherry Woodward from Bestfriend.org even commented “I’ve seen old dogs play this game and even lazy dogs get up and play”. It is a good mental workout for your pup’s brain as it engages thinking and builds problem solving skills. This also provides exercise for their body while they walk around searching and sniffing for you. More than that, it is a great way to build a special bond between you and your dog. Play this with your friends and family, and you will definitely get in some fun, exercise and entertainment for everyone.
Food puzzle game
Meal time can be quite mundane and routine activity. To spice it up, get your pup to work for its food. There are a couple of ways to do so. For starters, you could buy a slow feeder bowl designed with mazes. This is a great way for your pup to problem solve and use creativity to find the best way to eat and finish his meals. For dry foods, you could hide kibbles around the house or the backyard and have your dog hunt around to find their food.
Using a Kong Toy and food dispensing toys are a lifesaver for me. This was my hack to keep my dog mentally stimulated while I was at work. I would usually stuff the kong toy with healthy treats and leave it to freeze overnight so it would be like a popsicle for my dog to enjoy the next day. It makes leaving for work much easier as my dog would get more engrossed with chewing the kong instead of noticing me leaving the house. Food dispensing toys such as the KONG PW1 Wobbler Treat Dispensing Dog Toy is great at boosting your dog’s mental stimulation. It is a super easy toy to use. Basically, all you gotta do is to fill up the toy with treats and your dog has to figure out how to get the food out. If it is your dog’s first time using the toy, they may have to practice for a short while before catching on.
Play the muffin tin game
A simple game but it gets your pup brain juices working. It is easy to set up and poses a fun challenge for your dog to enjoy. So what you need are 3 things- a muffin tin, treats and tennis balls. Basically, the treats are hidden under each tennis ball and your dog has to guess where the treats are and figure out a way to remove the tennis balls to eat the treats. This is a fantastic way to enable your dog to develop and build critical and problem solving skills. As it is a simple game, it is highly suited for puppies and young dogs. For smaller breeds, you could try using a smaller muffin tin or a table tennis ball.
3 Benefits Of Mental Stimulation For Dogs
Improves brain health
Very similar to humans, as dogs age their bodies deteriorate so does their mind. Older dogs may suffer from cognitive decline which may result in loss of memory or bodily function – essentially a dog’s alzheimer disease. One way to prevent them is to keep our dog’s mentally fit and active by exposing them to mentally stimulating activities and games that keep their mind running and sharp.
Prevents destructive behavior
Boredom often results in unwanted behavior in dogs. Dogs do not do well with an idle mind. To entertain themselves, they will engage in destructive behavior such as chewing the legs of your favorite couch, barking excessively for no reason or destroying your new nike shoes! To stop them from acting out, mental exercises are important to keeping your dog happy and out of trouble. Moreover, you can put the sharp mind of theirs for good instead of acting out devishlily.
Makes them happy
Just like humans, we may love to workout, run and play games because it strengthens our body and releases endorphins that make us feel good. Similar to our minds, we need to supplement our mind with mental exercise such as reading, problem solving to keep our mind active and out of boredom.
The same goes with dogs. We really have more in common in dogs than we realize, don’t we?
Read more:
Is Chewing Mentally Stimulating For Dogs?
Yes, it is. Chewing a bone requires more mental power than you realize. A bone to your dog is like a puzzle to him as he figures out the best way to dig into the delicious bone marrow by working on the bone.
Final Thoughts
There are many ways to keep your pup’s mind sharp as a tack and to encourage cognitive growth. Ensuring a mentally stimulated mind is as important as keeping your pup in tip top physical health, and also it helps slows down cognitive decline in your pup’s later years. Try out these fun brain games with your furkid and have a blast cultivating your pup’s mind!