Settling a new puppy into your home is an exciting time. You’ve got a small, four legged fluff ball that’ll run around the house after you and cuddle up with you on the sofa during the evenings, and they’ll make you feel like such a good pet parent!
However, being able to provide enough enrichment for a dog that’s less than a year old can be tricky. They can lose interest very quickly, and start misbehaving and/or destroying your things if they don’t have enough to do to use up their energy.
And we want to ensure that doesn’t happen! Which is why we’ve listed three great ways to provide your puppy with as much fun as possible below.
Get Some Paper and Cardboard
Dogs have natural urges to chew on/paw at things, and that’s something you shouldn’t be looking to train out of your puppy. However, you should be giving them disposable, safe things to chew on and destroy, to make sure they’re never tearing up an item you love!
And that’s where a bit of paper and cardboard comes in. You can create all kinds of toys out of them, such as a ‘shoe’ that has a treat or two in, or you can even just place a treat or favourite toy under a cardboard box and wait for them to dig it out.
Give Them a Puzzle to Solve
Dogs love puzzles, simply because they’re interactive, filled with treats, and have something new to offer every time. And if you’ve got an inquisitive little soul in your home right now, you’ll want to look into buying as many puzzle toys for dogs as possible!
Puzzle training toys can give a dog a problem to solve, which is especially good if you’ve adopted a ‘working dog’ breed – they’ll love being able to flex their mental skills, simply because they love to learn, and do so very quickly. You might also find that they’ll spend upwards of an hour working out how to get a treat out of a cube, because both the puzzle and the reward are strong, natural incentives.
Make Them Sniff Out a Treat
Finally, dogs love going on scavenger hunts! Regularly used to track down and bring back prey since the day we first domesticated them, your puppy will have a lot of fun if you hide a treat under an item of furniture or on your person somewhere and then tell them to go sniff.
You can set stages to such a scavenger hunt as well. From placing a treat just a little way in front of them, to hiding some at the bottom of the garden and letting your puppy loose, your dog can have hours of fun putting their natural senses to good use.
Your new puppy needs a bit more enrichment in these early stages of their life. Make sure you’ve got plenty of toys and treats for them to sniff out and chew on.