Pets can go stir-crazy, too. Here’s what you can do to help
Owning a dog (or cat) can be a life-enriching experience, but just like our family members, they need physical and mental stimulation to live a well-balanced life. When the weather doesn’t cooperate and we have several cold or rainy days, finding that balance can be a challenge.
Just like humans, animals get bored and what appears to be naughty behavior is really dogs finding their own way to get the stimulation that they need.
Suzanne Denk, an animal enrichment specialist for Animal Friends, has been with Ohio Townshipbased shelter for 15 years. She says that dogs have four “species-specific” behaviors: foraging, chewing, digging and sniffing. Any of these instinctive behaviors can present in whatwe may see as acting out.
A dog getting into the garbage is simply sniffing and foraging for food as he may do in the wild, Denk says. Chewing on furniture is exercising their desire to chew and if that is what’s available, that’s what works for the dog. And digging up grass or flowers is simply a dog’s need to dig.
Marsha Robbins, a retired public schoolteacher and experienced “positive” trainer for Humane Animal Rescue Pittsburgh, agrees. All of these are common problems that she hears from her clients. One client called her with an urgent plea for help: She had spent $4,000 on a dog and“didn’t expect bad behavior.”
Taking a page from her teaching career, Robbins exercises Behavioral Learning Theory. “It’s the same for all mammals. I reinforce and teach the behaviors that I want to see and give alternatives for the ones I don’t.”
Robbins uses games, or activities that play to the dog’s instincts. She is a strong believer in reusing, recycling and repurposing common household items such as an empty oatmeal container or a shoe box, poking holes in them and filling them with treats so that dogs
can work on their problem-solving abilities and use their sense of smell. There are many similar pet products available that work the same way.
Denk, who is responsible for animal enrichment activities at Animal Friends, likes to use both physical and mental exercises for the dogs in the shelter’s care.
After the dogs go outside for exercise, either playtime or a walk, they stop in the enrichment room for 3-5 minutes twice a day. There they engage in various activities such as searching for treats in a box or snuffle mat.
“It’s all about balance,” Denk says. “We want to help them relax and use their mind after physical exercise.”
The mental stimulation helps to reduce their adrenaline and calms them down before they return to the kennel. Denk has seen a definite improvement in the dogs’ kennel behavior. She often works closely with the trainers to make an enrichment plan that will complement the dog’s behavior modification plan. These activities can easily be transitioned into the dog’s forever home once it is adopted.
Michael Troiano, senior training behavior and enrichment manager for Humane Animal Rescue Pittsburgh, said he has seen increased restlessness, destruction of furniture and dogs becoming depressed and losing interest in food or toys over the last few years. All can be attributed to lack of physical and mental stimulation. Troiano notes that mental stimulation can be more tiring than physical stimulation for dogs.
When developing enrichment plans for shelter animals, and his own pets, Troiano keeps in mind that dogs are descended from wolves. In the wild, wolves survived on their sense of smell, which they used to find food.
“Smell is a dog’s best sense,” he said. “Remember, when you’re walking your dog and you take away his ability to stop and smell, you’re removing the most enriching part of the walk from them.”
To utilize the dog’s desire to sniff, Troiano uses puzzle toys, hide and seek, boxes filled with paper or balls, snuffle mats dispersed throughout the room and rolled towels — all filled with treats so that dogs can use their noses to find food. “That’swhat they do in nature.”
When introducing puzzles and games, keep in mind the difficulty level and the individual dog.
“Don’t start with anything too hard or you’ll see frustration and apathy,” Troiano said.
Start slowly and build on it, “and make sure you tailor the enrichment activity to the dog. A Rottweiler will have different enrichment activities than a Yorkie.”
In addition to scent games, obstacle courses with tunnels, chairs, ramps and ladders are also good for building confidence and helping dogs overcome their fear of new objects. Any of these can easily be improvised and used in a home environment, and Troiano does just that with his own dog, Justice, a Dogo Argentino who was returned to the shelter seven times before finding herforever home with Troiano.
Lilian Akin, owner of Akin Family Dog Training, also believes that physical exercise can be overemphasized. She works with dogs of all breeds, but often sees owners of high-energy, field-bred dogs not placing enough emphasis on mental exercise.
Many of her clients have a hard time getting their dogs to calm down, even after extensive exercise. Mental stimulation can be just as tiring as physical,” says Akin. “However, dogs also don’t know how to chill. They never learned.”
To work on that, she suggests proactively reinforcing calm behavior by noticing when a dog is relaxing quietly and reinforcing that behavior with a treat. In time, it will helpwith overarousal issues.
Akin, a certified dog trainer and behavior consultant, suggests an easy way to work on mental stimulation is to “spend one meal a day feeding small amounts by hand, rewarding the desired behavior.” Gather the food that you would feed the dog for a meal and work with them on desired behaviors, reinforcing the behavior by feeding a small handful at a time. Introduce distractions to make it more challenging.
Vinnie Somma, trainer and owner of Say it Once Dog Training with locations in Pittsburgh, Nashville, Cincinnati and Washington D.C., also believes that many undesirable behaviors comes from the fact that “we are not genetically fulfilling dogs enough.”
Herding, tugging, sniffing, search and play and learning to calm down are all part of what keeps dogs balanced, he said. Like Akin, Somma believes in using food to reward pets.
“No need for treats. You can take a dog’s meal and use it for a training session and when you want them to work on something that’s very challenging, that’s when you use the high-value treats,” including chicken, hot dogs or cheese.
Somma and Troiano both spoke to the importance of choosing a dog breed that fits your personality. When a dog is not a fit, what you see as behavioral issues is just the dog’s breed traits or personality. Troiano recommends researching the breed before bringing a pet home. And if you can’t?
“Look to see if you can make it work,” Somma said. “How can you meet your dogs needs, or you may have to change how you live with them.”
For instance, if you have that dog that is a sporting or working breed and you’re a couch potato who doesn’t enjoy walks, you may need to incorporate some in-home activities into their daily routine. Perhaps this will be the impetus you need to get out and take a regular walk.
Troiano spoke of a Labrador retriever puppy who was adopted less than a year ago from HARP and recently returned before he was even a year old. The reason?
“He jumps and has too much energy.” He was quickly readopted out again—this time to a family who welcomes his energy and enthusiasm.
“Educating people is the most important thing we can do,” Troiano says. “I want to see less animals come into the shelter with behavioral problems and less animals leave the shelter with behavior problems. I want to help them stay in their homes.”
Robbins said trainers seek ways to help every animal they meet.
“God has blessed me with a gift that I can find something to love about all of them,” she said.