HELP! Enrichment ideas which AREN’T food based?
Hi! My partner and I have a 17 month old female. We are looking for additional ideas to provide her with enrichment which doesn’t require food!
Her daily routine includes the following:
- 2 30-60 minute play sessions with her dog friends at the park
- slow, sniffy walks
- meals in a slow feeder/ snoop
- daily training with treats as r+ (mostly focused on settle mat training and cooperative care)
- daily play with my partner and I (tug, monkey in the middle, hide and seek, etc.)
- beef cheek chews, collagen chews, and the occasional yak cheese.
- we have also given her coffee/olive wood chews as calorie free alternatives
- frozen licky mats and kongs
It feels like we are doing so much with her but she STILL has difficulty settling down at night unless she gets a chew. (She will bark at the cupboard when she wants a chew. We have tried to put the behaviour on extinction but have only taught persistence because we live in a condo and can’t let her bark it out) Is there anything else you’ve tried that doesn’t necessarily require food? She is already at the high end of her weight range and we have to be really careful.