Nikki Moustaki - Boredom Busters for Dogs: 40 Tail-Wagging Games and Adventures

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Copyright 2010 by I-5 Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moustaki, Nikki 1970

Boredom busters for dogs : 40 tail-wagging games and adventures / by Nikki Moustaki.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 978-1-935484-17-2 (alk. paper)

eISBN 978-1-620080-57-3

1. DogsBehavior 2. DogsTraining 3. Human-animal relationships I. Title

SF 433.M678 2010

636.70887dc22

2009041671

I-5 Press

A Division of I-5 Publishing, LLC

3 Burroughs

Irvine, California 92618

Printed and bound in China

14 13 12 11 10 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Table of Contents

WHEN CAPTIVE POLAR BEAR Gus began exhibiting obsessive-compulsive behaviors, zookeepers were told he needed something to do. Like Gus, a bored, anxious, or stressed domestic dog requires enriching activities to keep him healthy and happy.

Enriching Your Dogs Life

I n the mid-1990s, zookeepers at the Central Park Zoo in New York City noticed that their 700-pound male polar bear, Gus, seemed to be coming unhinged. Gus swam back and forth in his small pool day after day, for hours on end, in continuous figure eights. It was obvious to both zoo visitors and zookeepers that something was desperately wrong with the bear. Not knowing how to respond to Guss apparent unhappiness, the zoo hired an animal behaviorist to study Gus and try to resolve his problems.

The verdict? Years of life in captivity had turned the poor bear neurotic, which had led him to exhibit obsessive and compulsive behaviors, probably to prevent himself from going out of his fluffy polar bear mind. Quite simply, Gus was in desperate need of something interesting to do.

The animal behaviorist recommended that the zoo implement enrichment activities for Gus and enhance his environment in ways that would stimulate some of his natural tendencies and break his neurotic patterns. Zookeepers installed a polar-bear-entertaining whirlpool and gave Gus interactive toys. They started offering him food in packages he had to open, hid other food around the habitat for him to track down, and froze fish in giant blocks of ice for him to break into. Gus appeared to be thrilled with the new additions to his home and daily life. He stopped his neurotic swimming pattern as he learned to play and forage as he would have in the wild. This is what pet enrichment is all about: keeping an animal active and engaged in his environment by offering him activities to stimulate natural behaviors.

As Gus so aptly demonstrated, lack of enrichment can cause stress, anxiety, and boredom, leading to problems. In your dog, they can include such behaviors as inappropriate elimination, excessive barking, and furniture dismantlement. Its a recipe for dogsaster that can end with a trip to the local shelter or a classified ad: Take my puppy, please!

Many of these problems can be solved by adding enriching activities to your dogs life. This book explores some simple ways to provide your dog with stimulating environmental enrichment to keep him happy, healthy, and out of trouble. If enrichment can work for a bored polar bear in the Central Park Zoo, it can certainly work for the bored or anxious dog in your home.

Daily Activities and Types of Enrichment

D ogs are fans of routine. Wanting to know what to expect is natural for canines. Both wild dogs and wolves are pack animals, and a pack will engage in similar activities daily, although its behaviors and patterns can change based on the time of year (for example, when its breeding season and there are pups needing care). Like his wild counterparts, your dog does best when occupied with activities that are a part of a routine. But there is one big difference between the wild dog and the house dogthe latter is not in charge of his own life.

Without prey to hunt, a canine pack to interact with, and the daily struggle for survival, your dog must rely on his human pack for order and activity. Most dogs, after all, were originally bred to work. If you dont enrich a dogs environment, his work may be to dismantle stuff. You didnt need those Victorian chairs, did you?

Although your dog likes routine, he also needs variety to keep him interested. There are four types of enrichment activitiessolo, social, environmental, and variance; your dog will do best when you engage him in all of them.

Solo: Solo activities encourage a dog to engage in an activity alone. Because its critical for him to learn to play by himself, happily and safely, you need to learn what motivates your dog so you can choose the solo activities he will find most rewarding and fun. Solo enrichment offers your dog something positive to do in your absence (or when you are doing something else), such as playing with interesting and challenging toys and hunting down his food.

Social: Social enrichment involves interactions between your dog and you, with other people, and with other dogs. Social enrichment for your dog includes activities such as engaging in a game of tug-of-war with you and enjoying playdates with canine friends.

Environmental: Enriching your dogs environment to give him activity options will save your home, garden, and sanity. This enrichment may include giving your pooch his own space in which to play, including such amenities as a digging pit and a wading pool.

Variance: Dogs love new smells and new areas to explore. Opportunities to add variance to your dogs life include taking him on different routes during your walks and traveling to new places. You can also add variety by teaching your dog new behaviors or tricks or getting him involved in canine sports.