Pet Smart

Many of us are staying at home and doing our part to “flatten the curve”.
For dog owners, this is a good opportunity to take advantage of the many free and paid online resources there are to assist dog owners in enriching their dog’s environment at home and teaching them new things.
Keeping up socialization is important for puppies and www.avidog.com has published tips on puppy socialization while owners are isolating and their e-book can be found at rebrand.ly/
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For puppies and adolescent dogs, owners are encouraged to feed pups from food dispensing items. These are available at local pet stores but you can also easily make your own with little expense. To make one, drill large holes in a short piece of PVC. Clean it well and fill with kibble or dehydrated treats, place a clean cap on each end and let your dog enjoy playing with it to release the kibble or treats. Or put treats or kibble inside clean soda bottles without tops and hang the bottles from a sturdy frame or a telescoping shower rod mounted between two walls. Your dog will have fun getting the treats out. Create a snuffle mat or box by weaving strips of material (I use fleece) through the holes in either a rubber doormat or a plastic woven basket. Hide treats in the pile of the mat or box.
The Facebook public group https://www.facebook.com/groups/canineenrichment/ has many great ideas. Owner should supervise dogs while they are using any of the items.
Learn a new activity with your dog. Clicker training is a fun way to teach a dog tricks. These can be simple tricks like “take a bow” or learning the names of each of his toys to more complicated tricks like retrieving a Kleenex box when a person pretends to sneeze and taking the box back to a table. The website www.clickersolutions.com has lots of free instruction on teaching dogs all kinds of things using a clicker.
Scent discrimination is fun for dogs of all ages. There are several sites with information on scent discrimination. For example, www.akc.org has free instructions and ideas for all kinds of indoor scent game for dogs.
For people who like to read and who want to learn more about dogs, the publishing company Dogwise, at www.dogwise.com, is offering several free e-books on a variety of dog-related topics by well-respected authors.
For more information on enrichment and training at home for dogs, please visit www.dogsofdistinction.com. Stay safe everyone.