Discover The Benefits of Brain Training for Your Dog

Brain training is an increasingly common pursuit amongst humans from Wordle through to Sudoku, but did you know that dogs love solving puzzles too? It’s good for them and their owners if they’re given tasks that will unlock their inbuilt intelligence.

Dogs have a natural impulse to play, explore and figure things out and if they are not encouraged to do this, they can become bored and unhappy, which can lead to annoying habits, such as chewing your slippers or barking for attention.

It doesn’t take a lot of thought on an owner’s part to create some brain training challenges for dogs. You can start with their food – a dog will always work for food, so rather than just plopping it in a bowl at the same time every day, why not incorporate some games?

If you feed your dog kibble, you can scatter the food around the house or in the garden – this encourages the dog to forage. When they get really good at locating the food with their noses, you can make it more difficult by sprinkling it in long grass or over a larger surface area.

You can also hide small pieces of food for them to find, but make sure you put it in places where you don’t mind them searching. For wet food, you can buy interactive feeders, such as a KONG, which you stuff with food or a puzzle feeder, which requires your dog to do a bit of problem solving in order to get at the food.

Always make sure you supervise your dog when they are playing with any toy or puzzle and if they show signs of aggression around food, you may have to resort to other methods, such as hiding favourite toys or teaching them some new tricks.

Tricks aren’t just a party turn; they keep your dog mentally and physically alert. They also strengthen the bonds between you and your dog, teach it patience and calm dogs that have too much energy.

When your dog has mastered the basics such as heel, sit, stay etc, teach them to shake a paw, play dead or take a bow.