Enrichment Games To Keep Your Dog Happy

Providing enrichment for your dog allows them to explore their natural instincts in a fun and positive way. Enrichment activities can prevent boredom, build confidence, and teach a variety of life skills such as problem-solving.

Dog enrichment can be broken down into 5 distinctive areas:

• Mental Enrichment
  Create games where your dog can use their brain power. Doing regular dog training is a great way to start. Consider teaching good dog behaviours such as “sit” and “paw” as well as teaching them good recall on walks.
• Physical Enrichment
  Dogs have lots of energy so find a safe and fun way for them to let this out. Playing sports, such as agility or a good game of fetch can help provide with this.
• Social Enrichment
  Dogs are social creatures so providing social enrichment involving other dogs, animals and humans will help create a confident dog with good socialisation skills.
• Nutritional Enrichment
  Encouraging dogs to use their natural foraging and feeding behaviours as a way to earn food and tasty treats is a great form of nutritional enrichment. Food puzzles and snuffle mats are ideal for these types of games.
• Sensory Enrichment
  Sensory enrichment stimulates a dog’s sight, sound, or smell. Exposing them to different environments helps keep their minds active as they explore their new surroundings.

Below are a few enrichment games you can do with your dog at home.

• Hide & Treat
  A good old game of hide and seek is an easy game to play with your dog. Hide a tasty treat or their favourite toy in the house and get them to find it. If you have a large garden you could scatter their food and make them search for it. Providing sensory, mental and nutritional enrichment.
• Tug of War
  Dogs naturally tug and shake things when they play so this is a great way to play with your pup. This keeps them active, physically and mentally. Playtime is an important way to build a bond with your dog. Just make sure you let them win some times!
• Long Walks
  Explore new places near your home with your dog to help with their social skills. Giving them new environments to see and sniff will help stimulate their senses. Sniffing is very important for dogs as it is a key way they gain information about their surroundings.

Busy households do not always have the time to constantly think of ways to keep their dog entertained. If you are looking for a solution of how to keep your dog active and entertained consider doggy day care.

At Bruce’s doggy day care we create weekly enrichment games for our dogs to enjoy, catering to these 5 types of enrichment. No day is ever the same! From indoor adventures in our cosy areas to outdoor activities in our safe and secure fields.

These activities include:

• Scented obstacle courses
• Treasure hunts for treats
• Wildwood adventures where dogs run and climb
• Zen garden walks offering natural aromas encouraging dog relaxation
• Water games in our paddling pools

Bruce’s staff also love to celebrate the seasons of the year and all of the special occasions that come with them. They are the perfect opportunities to get your dogs dressed up, create some great memories and take lots of photos to be shared with owners. Our dedicated enrichment game days are a hit with everyone.

Throughout the year we create numerous dog enrichment game days where your dog gets to experience new sights and sounds with their doggy friends.

An example of our past enrichment game events we have done include our dog friendly festival Glastonbury, tea parties to celebrate the King’s Coronation and lots of ball fun for Wimbledon, or as we like to call it, Wimbledog!

Take a look at our five favourite enrichment events we hold every year. If you want your dog to get involved it’s time to get your dog enrolled into doggy day care!

Love is always in the air when it comes to our Bruce’s dogs. In February our Valentine’s enrichment event is always popular with the staff and dogs. From kissing booths, tasty doggy date meals, Valentine’s cards shared between Bruce’s besties, adventures through the tunnels of live to sensory sniffing safaris across the centre grounds.

It’s a time full of cuddles fun and love at first sniff. 

Valentines Event Gallery

Easter is always a fun time at Bruce’s. Our staff and centres get dressed up for the occasion with party hats, bunny ears and more eggs than you can shake a stick at!  

From Easter egg hunts and sniffing adventures across the fields to finding hidden tasty spring time treats.

Easter Adventures Gallery

Each summer Bruce’s creates a jam packed calendar with enrichment games days held each week.  Our 6 weeks of summer events includes everything from arts and crafts, teddy bears picnics to Olympic events and Wet N Wild water fun days.

A summer full of fun that keeps tails wagging throughout the whole of July and August.

Six Weeks Of Summer Gallery

October sees the return of our spooktacular halloween party. Bruce’s pups get the chance to sniff out treats amongst the cobwebs, bob for apples, pick pumpkins (and eat them…pumpkin snacks make a tasty treat for dogs!) and play with all of the enrichment toys around the centre.

Halloween Party Gallery

Christmas is a special time of year and we make sure our dogs have plenty of fun in the festive season. From meeting Santa, posting cards, making presents for their parents, finding hidden tasty treats to sleigh rides and edible snow storms!

They even get to play in the real snow weather permitting.

Christmas Gallery

At Bruce’s we understand regular dog enrichment can help reduce stress and anxiety, promote relaxation, and help strengthen bonds with their owners.

Our award winning doggy day care unleashes happiness and enriches the lives of dogs (and their families) with our magical combination of passionate expertise and dog socialisation fulfilment.

Find out more about our doggy day care enrolment process and discover what local doggy day care services are available in your area.