Dogs Need Both Mental and Physical Stimulation  

All owners know that dogs need walks, but do you also keep up on your dog’s mental stimulation? It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “they’re a pet – they’ll amuse themselves,” but this isn’t the case. Your dog needs exercise every day as well as new, interesting, or challenging things every day to keep their minds healthy. This can be breed specific. For instance, border collies are a breed that need a lot of mental stimulation as well as exercise.

Play with your dog!

New toys and games are ways to engage what your dog already knows and give them something new to work on. For instance, start integrating commands into games like fetch or tug-of-war to strengthen their command response and listening skills.

Boredom leads to behavior problems..

If you neglect mental stimulation for your dog, you may find behavioral problems popping up. It’s easy to assume that a hyper dog might just need an extra half hour at the dog park, but what if that doesn’t do it? Inventing games and puzzles for your dog is a way to keep them occupied and burning energy as well as managing stress. What you think may be an energy issue may actually be due to lack of mental engagement.

No matter what the problem is, our trainer would love to meet with you and your dog to talk about ideas for better mental stimulation. Give us a call today at 800.649.7297 to set up a consultation and learn about our in-home training programs.