Puzzlemaster Louie in action!

The following is a guest post from my extremely imaginative colleague Amanda.

My little dog, Lou, loves puzzle toys. She figures out how to extract cookies and squeakies from Kongs and soft toys like the one pictured pretty quickly, and she actually deliberately delays the reward to keep the game going longer. (Sound like anyone you've dated?) We and our dogs are physiologically designed to work for things—that which comes freely or very easily doesn't seem to mean as much. It is human nature—and canine as well.

Did you know that dogs in packs all have different jobs? Dogs have evolved with skills that are useful and easily adapted to a wide array of situations, and they have a built-in need to feel that they are contributing to their pack. It's heartbreaking to think about, but in the dog world, the animals who don't actively contribute to the pack's well-being aren't allowed to hang around for long. It's no wonder so many dogs need Prozac these days!

Puzzle toys are a fantastic but unfortunately overlooked way to give your little angels opportunities to do something that requires focus and feels useful, especially if you cheer them on while they play and then thank them for a job well done when they succeed. The companies that manufacture dog toys are slowly starting to get wise, and toys like this are more readily available than they were a few years ago, especially online.

You can also get creative. I understand that the very idea can be intimidating, and I can only recommend looking to your dog for guidance. After a few weeks of trying to get me to understand and demonstrating the patience of a saint (poor thing—she assumes that because she is smart enough to understand what I say to her, I am of comparable intelligence, but she is sadly mistaken), Louie was able to successfully communicate to me that I should use her favorite veggie chewies, her bed, and her blankie to create a problem that she would have fun solving. She was right—she does have a grand time "working" to find her chewie as evidenced by the accompanying video, and she always has a triumphant look about her when she finally wins, no matter how long she has procrastinated in order to prolong the silliness of the game.

Enrichment isn't just something that we should demand for those poor souls doomed to life in a zoo or a laboratory; we must hold ourselves to a higher standard than that of those who exploit animals. We must remember that even though they rarely complain about it, to a dog, suburbia is what a bowl is to a goldfish or a zoo enclosure to a tiger. I know that good ideas are difficult to come by, so please leave a comment and share with the rest of us those silly, unique activities that make Fido and Fluffy feel like they've accomplished something—I bet there are a lot of great ideas out there!