What does my dog really need to be happy?
We hear a lot of pet professionals telling us the importance of “meeting our dog’s needs.” I think we can all agree that we want our dogs to be happy and healthy, but do we truly know what our dog’s needs consist of?
When I became a new dog guardian, I thought I had it all figure out. How hard is it to meet a dog’s needs? You feed them, give them water, a comfy place to rest, shelter from the elements, and probably should walk them occasionally, right?
The more I learned and read about canine enrichment and normal dog behaviors, the more I realized how utterly clueless I really was.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this blog post, let’s first define what “enrichment” means when we’re talking about our dogs.
Enrichment means meeting all of the animal’s needs including their physical, mental, and emotional needs in order to empower them to perform species-typical behaviors in healthy, safe and appropriate ways.
For simplicities sake, I am going to organize enrichment into categories. These are not black and white, and many trainers will utilize different categories, or have more than I have listed here. This is not a “deep dive” into enrichment, rather an introduction to it.
For a more thorough exploration into canine enrichment, I would encourage you to read the book Canine Enrichment for the Real World.
The enrichment categories are:
Biological Needs.
Cognitive Needs.
Natural Behaviors & Instinctual Needs.
Emotional Needs.
Social needs.
Biological needs
This includes access to adequate nutrition, water, shelter, safety from physical harm, adequate health care and hygiene.
We are talking about enrichment for our dog, so when looking at something like hygiene, we want to focus on what is best for the dog’s welfare, not something that we think would be nice for the dog. Bathing a dog weekly because you don’t like “doggy smell” is not canine enrichment. On the contrary, trimming a dog’s nails regularly to prevent them from overgrowing into that dog’s pads, that would be something that supports overall welfare. Cleaning your Lab’s pendulous ears on a regular basis to prevent an ear infection from occurring? That’s in the dog’s best interest.
Safety includes physical wellness, which would include ruling out pain or other health issues as a contributing factor to a behavior ‘problem’ before starting a training plan. Routine health examinations (it is recommended to go annually for a healthy, adult dog) are critical to identifying and health problems early on, and a vet visit should be our first stop if our dog displays a sudden change in behavior.
Emotional needs
This category could include independence and security.
It’s important to note that safety and security are two very different things.
Safety means the freedom from (physical) harm, whereas security is the state of being free from danger or threat.
Your animal can be safe, but not secure simultaneously. A dog who is fearful of new people in the home might bark and avoid getting too close to that visitor. Assuming your guest isn’t physically engaging with the dog, this dog is safe from physical harm, but I’m sure we could all agree that they do not feel secure in this environment.
Utilizing training methods that include coercion, verbal punishment, or intimidation is something that can negatively impact your dog’s sense of security around you, and can be incredibly damaging to your relationship with that animal.
Independence, when speaking of canine enrichment, can be defined as the dog’s ability to do things without instruction (this is different from agency, which I talk about below.) This can include the dog’s ability to explore and be comfortable in their environment, and comfort being alone. This sounds simple, if you’ve never had a fearful dog or one with separation anxiety, but if your dog is not comfortable in the environment they are in, this is going to tax their emotional well-being.
Social needs
In this category we are focusing on meeting the dog’s social needs when it comes to other dogs, other species (including humans), opportunity to engage in play, and perform species-typical behaviors.
The degree of social interaction a dog requires is going to be highly individual, depending on your dog’s sociability with people and other dogs. Some dogs have a much larger social “bucket” than others, and will require more social opportunities and engagement in order to feel fulfilled. Another dog might love to interact with people, but prefer to avoid interactions with unknown dogs, whereas another dog might need regular dog interactions to feel content. Knowing your dog, and their social preferences will be important when determining how best to meet this need.
The opportunity to engage in species-typical behaviors might seem obvious, but you would be surprised at how often this is something guardians unintentionally prevent their dogs from doing. Normal dog behaviors include barking, digging, chewing, running/chasing, sniffing, and foraging.
Everything on this list could also be labeled as “problematic” for the dog guardian (it’s not problem for the dog!)
I’m not suggesting that you allow your dog to chase cars down the road and call it enrichment (this would completely be compromising the “safety” bit we talked about earlier), but we do need to find ways to allow our dogs to, well, be dogs in a way that is safe and appropriate.
Dogs that like to chase moving things might find a lot of enrichment from playing with a flirt pole, and a dog who likes to dig up your flower beds would probably be thrilled if you created a “dig pit” or for them to dig in to their heart’s content!
Cognitive Needs
This includes providing the dog with novelty in their environment/life, mental stimulation, and agency.
While routine can be incredibly helpful for providing our dog with emotional security, lack of novelty can result in boredom and frustration. This is one of the reasons why I try to walk my dog in various locations and not the same route every day. New toys, games, and training exercises can be another great way to incorporate novelty into your dog’s life, while checking off the mental stimulation box at the same time!
Mental stimulation, or exercising the dog’s brain, is an outlet that is often neglected. Lack of mental stimulation is often linked with boredom and increased “nuisance” behaviors in our dog, as they seek to find ways to engage themselves. Training is my favorite way to engage a dog’s brain; this doesn’t have to be boring or rigid, but can include fun tricks, cooperative care exercises, “shaping” the dog to perform unique/complex behaviors, etc. Dog sports, and interactive play (with dogs or humans) are other great ways to get your dog thinking.
Sniffing while out on a walk is another way we can promote our dog’s to turn on their thinking caps and get their brain working, and can result in a much more fulfilling walk overall.
Agency is a hot topic, and one that is coming up more regularly.
Agency is the dog’s ability to have control over themselves/their environment, and being given the freedom to choose.
When you stop to think about it, so many of our dog’s world is dictated or directed by us - we tell them when they eat, what they eat, and when they go for a walk (and where they walk). We often tell them what to do, when to do it, and rarely take “no” for an answer. After all, we’re the boss, right?
Agency sounds scary - let my dog choose for himself? Chaos! But it doesn’t have to be.
Letting our dog choose which way to go on your morning walk is a simple way to start. Letting your dog choose whether or not they interact with a person, instead of expecting them to say hi, or tolerate being approached and touched by a stranger. Allowing your dog to walk away from a situation or stimulus that they are uncomfortable with (a person in a costume, or a weird statue outside of someone’s house, for example.)
A trending discussion around agency is that of cooperative care training, or, letting your dog choose whether or not they’re going to participate in routine husbandry and handling (yes, even vet visits.) You can learn more about this here.
Now that we understand what canine enrichment includes, we need to zoom in further so that we can determine how to best meet our dog’s needs. Like humans, every dog is unique. While dogs of certain groups (ex. herding breeds) will share similar breed characteristics, instincts, and desires, no two dogs are the same. When we are determining how to meet the needs of the dog in front of us, we first need to know who that dog is.
How do I know what MY dog needs?
To best determine what needs and outlets your dog requires, we need to figure out what makes them tick. What does your dog enjoy, and what do they not enjoy? What outlets are they most driven to fulfill, and which ones are less valuable to them?
Watch them (not in a creepy way.)
To get to know who your dog is under the surface, we need to observe them. Watch them performing day-to-day dog “stuff” and see what types of activities they seek out or perform routinely. What activities appear to bring them joy (hint: you’re going to want to watch their body language and be able to properly interpret it to better decipher what they’re communicating.)Research the breed(s).
While no two dogs are the same, each breed of dog was originally bred for a purpose (ex. Retrievers are bred to grab and retrieve game when hunting). Understanding the breed characteristics of your dog’s breed(s) can be helpful in determine what outlets they will need the most focus on. Terriers will likely want to invest more time chasing, digging, and shredding things, whereas a Hound dog will want to spend a lot of it’s time scenting and tracking things.Experiment.
If you’re not sure what games or activities your dog will like best, try them out! Experiment with an array of interactive feeding games and toys to see what your dog seems to prefer the most.
Do they like to chew and “dissect” stuffed food toys, or do they prefer puzzles or shredding cardboard boxes?
Does your dog like to chase things that move, like in a game of fetch, or do they prefer to tug on a toy?
Let your dog tell you with their body language and enthusiasm what activities they find most fulfilling.
Canine enrichment is not just a trend in the dog world, rather, it is an important part of ensuring you meet your dog’s needs, and contribute to their overall quality of life. Canine enrichment doesn’t have to be complicated in the long run, but can take a bit of investigative work at first to determine what your dog’s individual needs include, and finding ways to meet those needs in a way that is safe and appropriate for everyone involved.
A great resource to assist you on your enrichment journey is the book “Canine Enrichment for the Real World “ (I reference this book regularly myself!)
Stay awesome.
Vanessa
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Vanessa Charbonneau, is the author of Dog Care for Puppies: A guide to Feeding, Playing, Grooming and Behavior. She owns Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, employing force-free training techniques, and specializing in working with fearful, aggressive, and reactive dogs. Charbonneau lives in Prince George, BC with her husband, two daughters, and one dog.