Why Enrichment?

Pawsitive Pooches
Mar 11, 2025
5 min read

Updated: Nov 30, 2025

Do you offer your dog enrichment activities? Do you know much about enrichment for dogs? We're here to help if not, and to offer new suggestions if you already use some enrichment.

What is Enrichment?

Enrichment is a range of activities usually catered to a particular species natural behaviours and used to make their lives more interesting. It's often referred to as the difference between surviving and thriving.

Zoos use enrichment routinely to make the lives of their captive animals more natural and more interesting, so it makes sense to do it for our captive animals too! The most common options are related to food, as no animal in the wild has a food bowl placed down for them every day, instead hunting or foraging. Dogs do both of these things as they have a bit of scavenger in them.

Types of Enrichment for Dogs

The two main types of enrichment suitable for dogs are:

activity based
food based

Let's have a look at both types. It's worth remembering that each has its advantages and disadvantages. Food enrichment can be simple and low effort and can give lots of mental stimulation when done well, but requires careful use of their daily food allowance to prevent unhealthy weight gain, and often some planning ahead. Enriching activities can require special equipment or locations and may need some training first, but will usually offer a higher level of physical exercise than food enrichment. The best solution is to have a bit of both!

Using Food as Enrichment

In dogs, food based enrichment is pretty simple. Either make them have to work out how to get to their food or make them find it for themselves. Popular options are Kongs and snuffle mats but there are many more options and some come with added benefits. Aside from the fact that making a dog use its brain or nose intensively will help them to be calmer and rest better, some types of enrichment can boost their mood, make them less pessimistic about the world and boost their confidence.

Violet hunts for pieces of food in amongst some items from the recycling

The photo here shows puppy Violet hunting for pieces of kibble amongst some bits of recycling that made different noises as she moved around busily sniffing out the food. This helps pups who worry about some everyday noises learn to accept them as background noise becomes associated with a very relaxing and positive activity (sniffing and eating).

Food enrichment is one of the easiest ways to get started. Using a portion of your dog's daily food allowance in an interesting way provides a source of mental stimulation and in some cases, even physical exercise.

We've pictured a selection of the more common options for food enrichment, including lick mats, snuffle mats (or toys) and a variety of food dispensers like Kongs. Some are designed to encourage licking of a wet food, others are meant to make the dog figure out how to extract the food and are suitable for wet or dry food. Others, like the snuffle mat, encourage sniffing and finding. These are all calming activities!

One mistake people make with toys like this is putting them down and then leaving them down. This leads to a few common issues:

⚠️ Dog gets bored of them because they're always sitting around empty

⚠️Dog chews and damages them leading to owner frustration

Another common error is seeing advice online that says that you can keep your dog out of your hair for 30mins or more by freezing food inside a Kong or similar, then trying it with a dog who has never experienced this before. The dog gives up because there's no immediate reward and no motivation, so the owner decides this doesn't work. Similarly, if your dog finds too little challenge in it, there is not really any mental stimulation happening - just eating!

When introducing your dog to food enrichment, you don't have to buy anything special. We use the grass in the garden and old blankets and towels for sniffing enrichment for example, muffin tins and yoghurt pots can be used for licking etc. Toilet roll tubes with treats inside and the ends tucked in or eggboxes sealed with some treats in can be hidden for your dog to find.

Some homemade options for food enrichment - treats rolled inside a knotted old towel, loo roll tubes with the ends pushed in to conceal treats and a yoghurt pot with some wet food smeared inside which could then be frozen

BUT.... here are some tips for successful food-based enrichment:

1️⃣ Always supervise your dog during enrichment activities

2️⃣ Keep enrichment toys or equipment stored out of reach when not being used

3️⃣ Introduce toys in 'easy mode' until your dog understands, then try adding challenge, such as freezing wet food or making dry food trickier to access.

Number 3 is particularly important - if the toy is too difficult, some dogs will give up and walk away, some dogs will get frustrated and may vocalise or become destructive with the toy. When giving food enrichment for the first time, make it easy, e.g. wet food, unfrozen, in a Kong for an easy win, biscuits gently placed on top of a snuffle instead of buried in it. It's also better to use a small amount of food and refill once or twice in a session instead of piling food on. This involves you in the game and avoids your dog guarding the toy or stealing it, as well as improving your relationship and securing your position as 'provider of wonderful things'.

Sherlock checks every pot to see which contains the scent he's looking for during a scentwork class

Enrichment Activities for Dogs

Some of these suggestions will be more suited to certain breeds and personalities than others, but the main focus here is that we are looking for activities that suit your particular dogs natural interests, and what drives and motivates them. For example, spaniels love to hunt and sniff, collies love to chase and herd, Labradors love to retrieve, Terriers love to chase and grab.

With this in mind, make a list of the things your dog loves to do and see what activities below match up to this. Most of these can be done indoors too!

Scent Searching for Dogs

Teaching your dog to use their nose to find something specific, such as a favourite toy or a tin containing a chosen scent. More info here. Perfect for dogs who love to hunt, search or sniff.

Chase Games for Dogs

A flirt pole is a long pole with a strong cord attached to one end. On the other end of the cord is a toy. The handler moves the toy around using the pole for the dog to chase. Perfect for dogs who love to chase and grab.

Hide and Seek for Dogs

Improve your recall cue and entertain your dog at the same time by playing hide and seek with them. Ask someone to hold them whilst you hide, alternatively you can ask your dog to wait or just hide when they're not looking. Call them and reward well with food or play when they find you.

Trick Training for Dogs

Build relationship and work their brains by teaching your dog fun tricks. We offer classes from time to time and can do one to one training too. Lindsey is a Certified Trick Dog Instructor. A lot of tricks are useful in everyday life too, so there's no downside!

Enrichment Activities For Outdoors

For some dogs, there may not be enough space indoors for a real workout, but it is worth looking at some of these options for a weekly session with your dog that will still have knock-on effects throughout the week.