How can I enrich my dog's life?

[Tripadvisor101]

I have a 5 year old dog. High energy breed but to be honest she's zonked most of the time.

Despite seeming happy enough, I worry she'll get a bit bored and any suggestions to enrich her life would be great. She's greedy so non food ideas would be great too.

A rough week looks like.

• A walk before work and a walk after work. Where possible I try and fit one in during the day too (I work from home). I vary where we go but it's usually about 10-12 usual routes.
• A dog walker comes once a week to ensure she gets time with dogs.
• 1-2 times a month she'll spend the day at doggy day care if it's a work heavy day. *She doesn't like toys so doesn't really play apart from occasionally running for a ball but she's not that interested. Not interested in bubbles or footballs either. *Licki mat once a week and a bigger chew once a fortnight. *She sleeps most of the day away. *I do a lot of scatter feeding which she enjoys *Occasional weekend away where we'll stay in a hotel.
• Regular walks on the beach.

As she doesn't really play how else can I enrich her life?

Thanks for ideas. I'd hate for her to get bored.

It sounds like she has a fantastic life.

But if you wanted to do something extra, you could always look at something like agility, hoopers or scentwork.

Largely depends on breed but agree with scentwork. I think it tires their brain the most

Training. Training. Training.

Even things ahead might never use - like a flying down, or walking backwards on command. Or responding to hand signals rather than words.

Also agree on scentwork (breed depending).

She sounds like she has a great life tbh, but if you’re looking for things to tire her out - lots of little training sessions a day goes a long way! Only need to be 5-10 mins 3 times a day

I purchased some enrichment toys from Sparkly tails and i then hide treats in them. Helps with scentwork and keeps her occupied for quite some time. Etsy also have some really tricky fleece snuffle rolls which are good fun for them to use.

Sounds like you look after your dog way better than many.

When you say high energy breed, is it a spaniel? If so, I follow Maher and Hound on TikTok (also on Instagram) who I think gives helpful (and funny) advice and tips that are realistic for 'average' dog owners to implement. I really like her stuff as it's not as judgemental as a lot of dog content!

Scentwork Instructor here. Obvioulsy scentwork! All dogs can do scentwork, it lets dogs be dogs. They all love it. They can do it their way but that is the right way for them.

I have in my groups spaniels, labs, crosses, dachsunds, terriers, bulldogs, boxers, collies, boston terriers, schanuzers,vizlas, rescue dogs, old dogs, 9 week old puppies, reactive dogs, social dogs human reactive dogs etc you name it they all loooooove scentwork

Oh I would love ot know more about this for my working line lab. Whereabouts are you based? How do you go about finding classes/groups?

As a result of this thread, I've been googling scent work classes near me and I'm going to sign up. 😊

Thank you everyone. She did some scent work a while ago so will look into that again.

It's good to hear people think she has a good life - that's all I ever want.

This. Dogs have been developed to work and coexist with people, so any training can really help to build the bond between you. Off-lead heel, long sit stays, stop on the whistle, all of it.

And it's all handy when you're out and about. If my dogs get too far ahead of me for comfort, stop on whistle and wait for me to catch up. If I want to keep them close eg don't want them going in some stinky mud, off-lead heel past it and send them ahead without having to faff about with leads.

And they enjoyvtraining time: it means fun and play and treats and engagement.

What breed is she? You’ll want to do breed fulfilment activities. Mine is a spaniel of a similar age so do scent work, agility and gundog work. We also do trick training. Don’t bother with treats, just use their food as rewards 😊