Enrichment for Puppies

Enrichment doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive! Enrichment allows for pups to engage in innate behaviours. As assistance dogs in training we might need to be more thoughtful in where and how we allow them to engage in these activities so we don’t encourage behaviours contrary to their future career. Within the parameters of what is best for their training and development we can encourage pups to engage in certain behaviours to allow them to be more mentally satisfied.

As many assistance dog training programs don’t allow the pup to eat food off the ground, the focus of this post will be on enrichment ideas that don’t use food. Enrichment can involve any of the five senses!

Hide and Seek/Find the Toy:

• A fun way to get puppy using their nose to find things
• Added bonus: can also improve recall if finding a person
• Goal: have pup stay in one place while you hide a toy, or hide yourself, and release pup to find it/you. Celebrate when they succeed!
• Start easy, allow the pup to see where you go or watch where you put the toy
• As they start to figure out the game, increase the challenge (distance and difficulty of hiding spot!)
• When they find the object, allow for some play between repetitions to keep pup engaged and having fun
• Use consistent cues so pup knows when to search (such as recall cue if person, ‘find it’ if toy)
• Can be played as a recall game between family members
• Be creative! You’d be surprised how many hiding spots you can find for a toy or human, even in a small space

Toy Swaps:

• Within puppy class or between handlers arrange for everyone to bring a toy to be swapped
• If appropriate, put toys in a pile on the floor and allow pups to pick their favourite
• Whatever pup (or handler) pick, they go home with. Swapped toys should be ‘for keeps’ just in case something is damaged.
• Tip: it can be designated to only bring tough toys so dogs who are rough on toys can still get something they can enjoy
• Bonus: refreshes your toy bin without having to spend extra money

Yard Swap:

• Lots of new smells for puppy to enjoy!
• Find a fellow handler with a yard, or another pet owner and ask to ‘borrow’ their yard
• Give pup some free time to enjoy sniffing all the scents left by the resident dogs in that environment
• Bonus: great chance to work on recall from distracting smells, and/or obedience in novel environments

Name Toys:

• Great brain work to really get puppy thinking
• When playing with a few select toys you can start to ‘name’ the toy by saying the name while playing with it
• After a while you can ask them to ‘go get’ a specific toy. Start so the right answer is the only option and then gradually add another toy or two to make it a multiple choice question
• As your pup shows understanding of the toys names you can leave them in the toy bin and ask your pup to get you specific toys by name

Obstacle Course:

• Use household objects to create a small obstacle course in your yard or living room
• Obstacles can include cookie sheets for puppy to walk over, chairs for puppy to walk under, and furniture for them to have to walk around
• Gently encourage your pup under, over and around the obstacles, and offer lots of praise for successes
• If anything seems too hard for your pup, they might not be ready now. Make the obstacle easier for them or try again in the future
• Bonus: changes in the home environment (like moving furniture around, or walking over novel surfaces) is great socialization for young puppies

Enrichment isn’t about making things challenging for pup, rather allowing them to satisfy their natural instincts like smelling, playing, chewing and chasing.  Start easy and if your pup seems to understand and enjoy the activity, you can increase the difficulty, but don’t let this become the focus. Keep things positive and avoid the pup becoming too frustrated. Allow yourselves both to have some fun while pup practices behaviours that come to them naturally! 

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Samantha has been training puppies and managing volunteers in the assistance dog world for about 8 years and is the Puppy Training Supervisor at BC & Alberta Guide Dogs. She has a positive approach to problem solving and a love of working with people and dogs. In her down time you can find her reading on the couch with her pets, or out on the trails of Vancouver Island, BC with her partner and their canines. 

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