“Nothing will work unless you do.” -Maya Angelou
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Same story, different day. Someone finds out I'm a dog trainer, and they want the best piece of advice I can give them regarding working with their dog. And it's always the same:
The best advice about training your dog: don't do it. See? Simple.
But that doesn't mean your dog should run amok throughout your life and your house like a rhino on meth through a windchime shop. I said not to train, I didn't say anything about not guiding and answering their questions. You need a game plan; a new perspective.
Think of dog training as a diet: restrictive, over structured and prone to failure in the long run. I mean who has time for a 45 minute walk everyday with their new dog, along with 15 minutes twice a day for "training" (whatever that means).
That's why I developed the PAW Method so many years ago. It's not a diet, it's a life plan. A shift in focus and a reboot of ideas distilled into an easy-to-manage lifestyle.
The premise of the PAW Method is simple: it stand for Piloting (learn about it here and here), Activity (i.e., exercise your dog) and Work (or mental enrichment).
Now when I'm in a training session, and I start helping my clients put the pieces of the PAW Method together, they can always rattle off what they do (or should be doing) for physical activity with their dog. But I'd say only 15% of my clients have a grasp of a dog's need for mental work.
Dog's aren't just automated robots; they need problems to fix to keep their minds sharp and active.
In other words, keep your dog mentally engaged, or they will find a way to engage themselves, and it's never good.
Let's break down some general guidelines to effectively getting your dog the mental work they require, as well as some do's and don'ts.
DO make sure it is an every day occurrence. You fed your dog yesterday, does that mean you have to do it again today? um....yeah.
DON'T get stuck in a rut. Your dog is designed to adapt and evolve to different situations, become better each time. There is a threshold that can be hit, so change it up frequently. Think about kindergarten, and how difficult was for you to learn the alphabet. Hopefully by now you've nailed it though (and to you flat-earther, anti-vax crowd, keep working at it).
DO use time savers. An enrichment toy, feeder puzzle, etc., are all great examples of adding mental work to your dog's day without much effort from you.
DON'T devalue time spent with your dog on mental work. Yeah, you're not a stay-at-home dog parent; you've got a lot of things to tackle in your busy life. But join in on the mental work with your dog occasionally. You may find it helps refresh your mind as well.
DO look at mental work as unique. Some dogs love specific types of mental work, while others get bored. Find what works for you, which may be different than what works for a different dog. It's not one-size-fits-all.
DON'T spend a lot of money on enrichment gimmicks. Yes, that backyard agility set looks like So Much Fun, but you're only going to use it once or twice before you get bored with it. Stick with simple, basic things.
Now that we've set some simple guidelines for getting the most bang out of your enrichment buck, let's go on to the actual exercises and tools you can use to work your dog's mind.
Enrichment Feeders
By far my favorite (and easiest) way to work my dog's mind. There are so many out there! Here are some of my favorites:
Best All Around: Nina Ottosson by Outward Hound Dog Worker
If you've ever had a training session with me, you've probably seen this. It's my one-size-fits-all. Easy enough for any dog to use, but engaging enough to maintain the interest of my border collie, Arwen. Any sized dog can use it (I've had Chihuahuas and a Boxer use it in the same training session). So make sure you get the largest size (shown below) rather than the small size.
Bonus: Since it's one solid, round piece, it's very difficult to chew up, so perfect for Ellis.
Best for Uni-taskers and Herding Dogs: Busy Buddy Kibble Nibble Meal
My Sparta loved this toy. I loved that it was big enough to hold all of her food (at over 100lbs., she ate a lot!), so I didn't have to fill it over and over again. Sparta's food was a little bit too large to easily fit through the openings on the end; I easily rectified this by cutting out some of the plastic guards. Perfect.
Bonus: You can see how much food is left inside, as it's clear plastic.
Best for Senior Dogs/Dogs with Health Problems - Busy Buddy Twist 'n Treat Dispensing Toy
As my 5lb Papillion, Orion, got older, his teeth got worse, until finally we had to put him on a wet food regime. There are very few enrichment toys that work well with wet food, but this is one. By twisting the toy shut almost all the way, the wet food has a difficult time dumping out, making a perfect alternative to messy Kongs. Sparta had one as well, even though her teeth were fine. Hers was exclusively for peanut butter.
Bonus: Dishwasher safe (top rack).
Best for Noise Reduction - Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball, Large
I've been using this ball for years (my beloved Darwin had one over 20 years ago!) It's made of a softer plastic (read: not for destructive dogs) so the largest size can be appropriate for even a small dog. My 5 lb Orion and 100 lb Sparta used the same size.
Bonus: Since it's quieter, it's good for shy dogs.
Best for Rough & Tumble Dogs: Kong Wobbler
Not as mobile as some of the other ball-centric toys listed, this one is a glorified Weeble (if you're old enough to remember those #me!) This used to be the one I used for years with the destructive dogs, until I gave it to Ellis ("Well, you TOLD me to get the food out, Mom!"), so it's not 100%, but most of my more chaos prone dogs have problems destroying it.
Bonus: One of the easier toys to fill.
Double Bonus: Off all the toys listed, I feel this one provides the most physical activity in addition to the mental work.
Best for Over-Achievers: Busy Buddy Tug-A-Jug
The unfortunately named "Tug-A-Jug" is hands down the hardest toy I've had the pleasure of subjecting my dogs to. Out of all the dogs I've had in my life (Darwin, Sparta, Orion, Ellis and Arwen), only Arwen was able to figure it out (see her in action below). However, I did bring it on a training session a few times, and a Jack Russell named Geronimo figured it out within 5 minutes.
She figured it out eventually.
Bonus: This one is exercise intensive, so if your dog can figure it out, it's a great work out!
Enrichment Feeding Mistakes
Giving up immediately. It's okay if your dog doesn't immediately take to the enrichment feeding. Offer the food in the enrichment toy during set times, but don't leave it out all the time. We want your dog to work up an appetite so they eat their meal in one fell swoop, rather than grazing throughout the day, so make sure you don't leave snacks out for them. If they skip a meal or two because they don't feel like working a toy, that's fine. If you're concerned about if they can work a toy, put a few of their favorite treats in the toy instead of their meal, and see if they can get those out. If they can get treats out, they can get their kibble out.
Mixing treats and food. They will pick through whatever comes out, leaving you with tons of kibble on the floor. A plate can hold spaghetti or chocolate cake, but not at the same time. Empty out your enrichment feeder before switching what's in there.
Confusing enrichment feeders with slow feeders. A slow feeder is designed to slow your dog down, but doesn't really give them any mental work. Think of it like a big bowl of rice: if I gave you a spoon to eat it with, you could probably eat it realllllly quickly.
But what if I gave you a smaller spoon to eat it with? It does slow down how quickly you can eat, but it doesn't require any more mental work to eat with a smaller spoon. A slow feeder is just a smaller spoon.
However, what if I gave you chopsticks to eat the bowl of rice with? That requires skill. One that I don't have.
So the enrichment feeder is more like trying to using chopsticks. Now obviously, the more you use them, the better you get at them which brings us to ...
Not changing up your feeders. See case above. My dogs each have roughly 3 different feeders they eat out of. Keep it fresh, folks
Not using one at all. An enrichment feeder is the easiest way by far to get some mental work out of your dog (with very little time/money investment from you). You have to feed your dog anyway, be efficient with their meals. Challenge them. They're still predators; let them predate!
While enrichment feeding is the easiest way to get your dog the mental work they need, there are indeed other ways to go about it. Check out some more ideas here:
Agility
Okay, I know that I stated up above not to spend money on an agility course, and that still stands. Unless you know and can envision yourself using it every day, then don't buy one! If you're hell bent on an agility course for your dog, try this one by Cheering Pet, as it's one of the few that can be used indoors and outdoors.
While I use agility courses, and love them, I never seem to remember I actually own them. Therefore, they typically hang out in my basement, lonely, along with my elliptical.
I find it so much easier and convenient to just use soup cans and a broom stick to teach my dogs "over" and "under". Once their good at it, I just my legs, as you can see with Orion.
Check out the video below to teach your dog the basics of agility: over and under.
Scent Work
One of my favorite things to work with when I'm training a dog. It's a cool party trick, and something I can engage my dog with for 5 seconds or 30 minutes, depending upon their attention span (and mine). My previous dogs, Sparta and Orion, each knew how to do it. For a brief video (shot on Facebook Live) on how to teach your dog scent work, check this out. Spoiler: Ellis learns the basics in under 5 minutes.
Conclusion
Dogs need mental work. That's a fact. But don't slog through 20 minutes of repeating the same commands over and over again until you've both become catatonic. That's called drilling, and drilling is designed to make you move without thinking any more. It's automatic. That's the opposite of what we're trying to achieve here, which is mental work. And let's face it, drilling is never fun anyway.
Do what works for you. What you both enjoy.
The goal is mental work, not having fun whether you like it or not.
So if you enjoy agility, do it! If you don't, don't do it! Obviously enrichment feeding is the easiest, and it will work, but I also like the bonding of learning a new trick together, or running an agility course with my dog. And the goal here isn't dog training, it's working together with your dog to achieve great things.
Keep calm and Pilot on.
Dog Training vs. Dog Life
By focusing on dog life, rather than dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people I guess.
But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dog based on trust and communication.
Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here.
Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here.
Have questions about our puppy training or dog training?
Kerry Stack
Darwin Dogs
Dog Training and Puppy Training
Greater Cleveland Area
Northeast Ohio