3 Ways To Provide Enrichment On A Budget

Enrichment has become a buzzword lately, and for very good reasons. Enrichment adds so much to our dogs’ lives, giving them mental stimulation as well as physical and allowing them to carry out normal and natural dog behaviours. This has massively beneficial effects on their well-being and happiness.

As enrichment has become so popular and more widely known, it can start to feel as if there is an ever-increasing pressure to keep providing more and more. There are lots of amazing enrichment toys and activities available for purchase, and it can sometimes seem as if we are not meeting our responsibilities to our dogs if we have not bought them the latest revolution in enrichment activities.

These toys can be expensive, however, and, if living on a budget as many are now, there just is not an opportunity to buy these things. It is all too easy to feel like a failure, a bad dog guardian and that we are not meeting their needs.

The truth is that enrichment does not have to be expensive. It really is all about the experience rather than the price tag and – with a little thought and imagination – we can provide quality enrichment without a big price tag.

The ‘sniffy walk’

The sniffy walk (or sniffari as some people call it) is fantastic for our dogs. Even better, it requires no special equipment or anything other than some time to go out to explore with your dog. I refer to this as exploring rather than a walk because walking is not the primary focus here, sniffing is. Find somewhere that your dog looks interested in investigating and then just let them sniff.