Tori Mistick [00:02:04]:
New episodes will come out every Wednesday through early December here on season one of the show. So what exactly is dog enrichment? I figure we might as well start the season by giving you a good definition of what this means. So one definition that we could go from is enrichment is structured opportunities for species, typical behaviors that build confidence, reduce boredom, and improve well being. That’s a little bit sciencey and a little bit textbooky. This show is all about being approachable and real for real pet parents to follow. So how about we try this definition on for size instead? Dog enrichment is letting dogs do dog things so that could be sniffing, foraging, chewing, digging, climbing, exploring, playing, and doing all of it on purpose and doing it safely every single day. So that is really kind of the definition of enrichment that I like to focus on. And that’s a lot of the stuff that I’m gonna be sharing with you over the next nine or 10 weeks.

Tori Mistick [00:03:13]:
So enrichment is really important because it can make a huge difference in your dog’s life. So not only are all of those activities fun and instinctually natural to your dog to do, but by safely incorporating these into your dog’s day to day life, you can get all kind of different benefits, like a calmer dog, fewer bored, destructive behaviors. Like if your dog chews up a lot of stuff or barks excessively or maybe even does self harm. That’s not just limited to people. You know, some dogs lick themselves because they’re so nervous. So enrichment that builds their confidence can actually rewire their brain to be a little bit less nervous. We’ll actually get into that in episode two next week. More benefits of enrichment include better rest and generally happier households for everyone that shares a house with your dog.

Tori Mistick [00:04:06]:
So a quick little myth bust here is that enrichment is not more work for you. It’s a smarter, better targeted time that has positive results for your pup. So I don’t wanna hear anyone say, I don’t have time for this, I’m so busy. All these things are expensive or I’m too lazy, or my dog isn’t interested in enrichment because you are wrong. None of that is true. Enrichment is fun and easy. I’m going to show you exactly how to do it and why it should matter to you in your life. This season, my goal is really to make the science of dog behavior easy for everyone to understand.

Tori Mistick [00:04:50]:
In my certification program to become a canine enrichment technician, I studied a lot of research and behavior studies and all kind of scientific stuff that tells you about why enrichment matters and all the different ways that your dog’s behavior can be impacted by what you give them access to. But a lot of it is worded in a really textbooky kind of a way to read some of these reports. They’re pages and pages, hundreds of pages long sometimes, and they’re really difficult to understand and they don’t really make for very fun reading. So I thought I would throw together some fun podcast episodes for you. They might be 20 to 30 minutes long. And you’re gonna learn a lot of really cool science and then you’re gonna learn exactly how to implement it into your life with your dog. And of course, I’m gonna sprinkle in tons of stories about life with my own dogs. Lola, Bert, Lucy, Foster, pups, my family’s dogs, my friends dogs.

Tori Mistick [00:05:53]:
There’s gonna be a ton of stories that are coming into future episodes. So some of the science stuff that we might talk about is the science behind seeking and play systems. This is a really fascinating TED talk that I watched from Jack Panksep. I think I’m saying his name correctly. And Panksep explains that seeking and play systems in animals can actually be a treatment for depression and it can help to promote well being. So I’ll show you in some future episodes exactly how you can tap into this with curiosity games and really encouraging play and having like little play bursts throughout your day. So I’m very excited about that. We’ll also get into the five freedoms and the five domains.

Tori Mistick [00:06:42]:
So these are basically about how enrichment starts by making sure that your dog’s needs are met with basics like nutrition, environment, health, behavior, and mental state. So you really cannot enrich your dog’s life unless their basic needs are met. So we’re gonna start all of our enrichment journeys with proper nutrition, making sure that we’re going to the vet on a regular basis, that your dog is getting all of the basic care that they need, that they have fresh, clean water to access. And then we can layer on all these extras. So a definition that I like to use for enrichment, and I shared this recently. I did a big national campaign for Nom Nom, making mealtime more magical and more enriching. And I compared enrichment to enriched chicken broth. When you see those packages on the grocery store shelf, it means that things have been added to that chicken broth to make it better and more nutritious.

Tori Mistick [00:07:43]:
Maybe some nutrients or vitamins and minerals have been added to it to make it a little bit better. So same with dog enrichment. We’re starting with something that’s already good so they’re healthy, they’re safe, they’re happy, all that kind of stuff. Then we can add little extras to make it even more enhanced and more enriched and better. So I just love sharing that analogy. I’m a big analogy girl. Speaking of these different categories of enrichment, each episode this season. So I have eight episodes coming at you in the next eight weeks that are all going to be about the eight different categories of enrichment.

Tori Mistick [00:08:23]:
So this is sort of our roadmap to season one of the show here. This episode is just kind of to get you oriented. The next episode, eight episodes, will be about each different category of enrichment. And then we’ll have a special bonus episode at the end coming out in early December. So let’s just break this down a little bit because I think a lot of people don’t realize there are eight categories. So starting off, we’ve got cognitive. These are brain games that ask your dog to think, solve problems and learn new skills. That’ll be episode two coming up.

Tori Mistick [00:08:55]:
After that, we’ve got food based enrichment. So this is how to turn meals into an enriching job or a game for your dog with puzzles, scatter feeding, stuffed toys. And this is giving your dog an opportunity to work for their food. And I’ll share with you some special studies that show that dogs really do enjoy searching and seeking and finding their food. Then we’ve got visual enrichment. This is using your dog’s sense of sight and how we can engage in safe, engaging sites like maybe window watching, looking into a mirror. That’s a really fun activity for puppies. We also have dog TV and something I used to love to do with the late, great Lucy, which was sit and watch the world go by, which is just sitting on a park bench or on your stoop at home.

Tori Mistick [00:09:44]:
Then we’ve got auditory enrichment. That’s your dog’s sense of hearing. So looking into interactive soundscapes like classical music, that’s designed specifically for dogs and maybe some gentle noise exposure to help build your dog’s confidence around sounds that they might not be familiar with. So if you’ve got a country dog, maybe you want to play some city traffic noises for them because they’ll be like, well, that’s interesting, I never heard that before. Then we’ve got olfactory. Now this is kind of the scientific name for scent games. And scent games are what everyone is always talking about with enrichment. So I’m really excited to get to that episode.

Tori Mistick [00:10:25]:
That’ll kind of be mid season. We know that dogs have an amazing sense of smell, so we really want to encourage them to use that sense of smell. Some dogs might not have a lot of experience tapping into it, depending on what kind of lifestyle your dog has. So we’re going to start from very beginner to some more advanced ideas. And I’ll share more studies about how beneficial sniffing and scent work is for your dog because that is one that like really lights up their senses, moving right along. The next category of enrichment is environmental. And so this is something I think that is very overlooked and that is the environment that your dog lives in. So this is an excuse to redecorate to move things around.

Tori Mistick [00:11:08]:
I don’t know about you, but I was the kid who, you know, on Friday night, I loved to rearrange all the furniture in my bedroom. And there was realistically, maybe like three different ways that the furniture could go, but I invented, like 15 different ways that it could go. So you get to tap in to that inner child and redecorate, offer some new textures, create different, maybe obstacles or just different interesting things for your dog to look at in their world. Because your dog spends a lot of time in your home. Even if you’re going on lots of adventures, they all spend a lot of time in their home. All right, then we have number seven, which is social enrichment. I’m going to talk about a lot of different positive and choice based ways that your dog can have positive social interactions, not just with dogs, but also with people. And this is really important for establishing good communication and connection.

Tori Mistick [00:12:04]:
And dogs are just very social creatures and there’s a ton of science to support that. So we’re gonna get all into that. And then finally, the last category, last but not least, is physical. So with physical enrichment, we are looking at things that get your dog’s body moving. So is it like doggy parkour? Is it going on fun walks on kind of different surfaces, doing a surface extension exploration kind of a walk? Bert just sort of perked up at the idea of that sitting right next to me here. So physical enrichment is a really fun one. And that will be the final episode that will wrap up before, like, our bonus episode at the very end of the season. So, of course I’m going to sprinkle in tons of stories throughout this entire season from my dog Lucy, getting her trick dog certification at age like 8 or 9, and then her intermediate trick dog title when she was 10 or 11.

Tori Mistick [00:13:02]:
So she was a real old dog learning some new tricks. We’ll also talk about how enrichment has helped Bert build his confidence around water. When I first got him, he would not even put a toe in any water. And so we’ve really made great strides with that. And we’ve just got so many fun examples to talk about in this episode. I want to give you a couple of ideas that you can take action with right now. So like I said, each. Each episode that comes out every week after this, it’s going to be a deep dive into each category.

Tori Mistick [00:13:34]:
But you’re here, you’re listening or potentially watching. So I just want to give you some ideas to get you started. So first off, I love this one. A muffin tin Puzzle. Muffin tins can be amazing enrichment toys and puzzles. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t really make muffins very often. So I think it gets a lot more use as a dog puzzle for us. So a muffin tin puzzle is basically gathering some different tennis balls or small toys.

Tori Mistick [00:14:03]:
You set out your muffin tin, you put a couple different pieces of kibble or some treats in the different muffin wells and then you put toys or balls on top and you ask your dog to search. This is a little bit physical because they’ve got to move the balls out of the way. It’s also scent and it’s food based. So you can see how a lot of these activities that we do and that you read about and maybe that you try with your own dog, they tap into a lot of the different enrich categories and there’s a lot of crossover. So it makes it really fun. Another idea I have for you today is a treat Towel burrito. This is another free and easy quick idea. So you basically get an old towel and I recommend one that you don’t really care about that much because if you have a dog like Bert, you might end up with some holes in your towel.

Tori Mistick [00:14:49]:
So you lay out your towel again, line up like a little row of treats and then start rolling up the towel. If it’s your dog’s first time doing it, just give it to them just like that. If your dog’s a little bit more advanced, you can roll it up, tie it in a knot. You can do all kinds of things to make this game really fun. The goal is to tell your dog to search and find the treats that are rolled up inside of this towel. Another idea that is really popular, you may have heard of a Snafari walk. And so this really does tap into giving your dog the freedom of choice and making decisions. Some dogs might not be familiar with doing that and it might be like a little unsettling and unsure for them.

Tori Mistick [00:15:30]:
So this is something that we can work on in our enrichment routines is giving your dog the choice to let their nose kind of guide the walk. Of course you want to go to safe and interesting smelling places. The woods are a great place to do this. Another thing that I love is calming music. And this is something that you can play. Maybe you are in the shower or you need to run a quick errand. You can put on some calming music for your dog just to give them a little bit of extra auditory enrichment. And there’s so much great science about how that really is effective and really calming and I can’t wait to share it with you in a future episode.

Tori Mistick [00:16:12]:
And then the last idea I want to share with you today is a novelty toy swap. So pretty much everyone’s house that I go into that has dogs. They have a ton of dog toys. Can you relate to this? I know that I can, but. But having them all out at the same time is actually doing your dog a disservice. You should try putting all those toys away, putting them in the closet, and then bringing out three at a time. And then every couple days you can swap out with another three. Give it a try and see if your dog gets a little bit more excited and more engaged with their toys because they’re not all sitting out in front of them all the time.

Tori Mistick [00:16:52]:
This is something that gives your dog some novelty, some fun. It keeps it fresh and you don’t have to buy anything new. Just use the stuff, stuff that you already have. So I hope you enjoyed those fun little ideas. I’ll have lots more just like that in every single episode this season. All right, so speaking of this season, like I said, each week we will deep dive into one of these categories and I am pulling all these scientific studies. I am like deep into Google Scholar and PubMed and checking out books from the library. It’s taken me a couple of hours to research every single episode and make sure that I’m giving, giving you guys a proper deep dive and making it also really fun and easy to understand for everyone.

Tori Mistick [00:17:38]:
You know, that’s my goal. I don’t want this to be too complicated. I want this to be approachable, easy to understand and fun. And I want you to share it all with everyone that you know because I think that every dog on the planet should have access to the kind of fun enrichment that we’re going to get into this season. So each episode we will do a deep dive with the science plus ideas on how you can actually do this type of enrichment in your life with your dog. Again, it’s going to be simple, quick, low cost ideas. I know that we’re all very busy, but don’t tell me that excuse. You’re going to have 10 minutes to do some sort of enrichment activity.

Tori Mistick [00:18:17]:
And then in every single episode, I’m also going to have one to two Q&A questions and I’m pulling these from my listeners. So I already have a pretty good list of questions going. But if you want to get your question in, go to Torinose and you can submit your question. You can also send me a dmystic on Instagram and if you’re listening to this show on Spotify or YouTube, you can just comment right below this video and I will get your question and if I can I will squeeze it into a future episode. Speaking of, if you want to find anything about this show so links to all the episodes show notes where I’m going to cite all of my sources and resources that I use to put every episode together. It is all@toriknowsdogs.com podcast so that is the super easy to say, easy to type URL that will take you to my blog. I have a dedicated page set up for this podcast, but you’ll also be able to explore all of my blog@wearwagrepeat.com I have over 600 blog posts from my life with dogs. Everything from road trips, dog friendly hikes all over the east coast of the US, product reviews, recipes, DIYs, oh my gosh, there’s a lot on there.

Tori Mistick [00:19:40]:
Plus I have tons of resources if you are interested in starting your own pet business. I have a whole side of my business that caters to the petpreneur world so definitely keep your eye out on that. If you are a pet business owner, I do really encourage you to share your questions with me. Share your comments. This is a brand new shortcut so I’m really open to your feedback. I’m really excited about all of these episodes and I thank you so much for watching episode one with me here. Remember that enrichment is really about letting dogs do dog things on purpose. So I encourage you to pick one of the ideas that I shared with you here in this episode and to try it tonight and then let me know how it goes.

Tori Mistick [00:20:25]:
And don’t forget to follow and subscribe to the show wherever it is that you are listening. And if this episod has helped you or if you’re excited about future episodes, please go ahead and give me a five star review and I have lots of freebies and goodies and all kind of stuff@toriknowsdogs.com podcast so I hope that you will go and take advantage of all that stuff and I will see you back here next Wednesday for episode two. That is all about cognitive enrichment. That is mental break brain games to give your dog a brain boost. So I’ll see you back here with that episode next Wednesday.