It’s a blustery Rochester Sunday, and you’re ready to curl up with your favorite blanket and the Bills game — maybe a nap later. But there at the end of the couch is your dog, with a look that says, “Could we please go do something?”
Winter days are colder and shorter, but a dog’s need for exercise and stimulation doesn’t change with outdoor temperatures or the amount of daylight. Even in winter, dogs need to be dogs.
“It used to be that the mark of being a good owner was that you had your dog under control,” said Jean Donaldson, director of the Academy for Dog Trainers in Northern California.
“The world is different now. I think people want their dogs to be happy and to have normal lives.”
Turns out, “normal life” for a dog means more than kibble, treats, walks and belly rubs. Local veterinarian Isabel Wylie says “dog-normal behaviors” can create problems for humans.
“Things like digging, tearing, chasing — behaviors that are all really stimulating, self-satisfying and genetically driven behaviors that they enjoy that don’t always work in our human lives that we force them into,” she said. “So we have to find ways to accommodate those.”
The effort to give dogs the chance to express normal dog behaviors is called enrichment. Research shows enrichment activities can decrease animals’ stress, anxiety and fear. Donaldson added that enrichment activities might also decrease so-called nuisance behaviors like pestering the owner for attention by jumping and pawing. But primarily, it’s about the dog having activities appropriate to its species and doing them regularly.
“He gets to engage in some of the software that he’s got installed,” she said. “He gets to run that software in a way that’s legal, that nobody minds. He gets to do it every day.”
That “pre-installed software” includes the need to sniff, which is how dogs gather information.
“Kind of like the way we might look at the news or check our phones for texts,” said Donaldson. “When dogs sniff, they connect to the outside, where people, dogs and other animals have roamed.”
Other activities that enrich dogs’ lives are the ones that challenge the pet to work for food. Wylie uses mealtime as a chance to let her dog run his “software.”
“Last night, I literally took a takeout bag and chucked half of his dinner in it, rolled it up, threw it and supervised him, but let him sniff around and dig and tear at it,” she said.
Of course, sniffing and hunting don’t have to take place outside to be enriching.
Debra Calandrillo, a dog trainer with Red Bandana Nose Work in Hilton, combines foraging for food and scent work to help dogs stay stimulated. Her indoor nose work classes teach dogs to sniff out the goods on their own, with little to no coaching from handlers.
“It’s all about cultivating the dog’s independence,” she said. “We want to promote autonomy, choice and freedom from handler control. We teach the dogs by providing them with a safe space for them to pursue their biological and instinctual preferences.”
Enrichment toys like snuffle mats, stuffed chew toys and puzzles also make dogs work for their food and can be used indoors. The important thing is to provide lots of options and make the environment interesting. It doesn’t have to be expensive.
Donaldson loves tug and fetch to combine enrichment with physical exercise.
“If the dog wants to chase that toy 50 or 100 times in a row, that’s telling you something about your dog. It can be boring for the owner,” she said. “But think about it. That’s something that the dog would, if he could, do 100 times in a row.”
If a dog is asking for a little action in the snowy weather, Donaldson said it’s good for both human and pet to take some time for a game of fetch or hide-and-seek.
“Put on your outerwear, put a sweater on the dog and get outside.”
Indoor enrichment ideas
- Put treats in a muffin tin and cover each cup with a tennis or other ball. Let the dog smell the food and move the balls to get the treats.
- Place treats in cardboard boxes and let the dog forage in the boxes.
- Hide toys around the house for the dog to find.
- Freeze soft dog food or peanut butter in chew toys so it lasts longer.
Elissa Marra Orlando is a contributor to CITY.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2024.
