How to keep your dog busy and decrease anxiety.

Recently on a fishing cabin trip, my lovely high energy reactive Doja was having difficulties regulating herself and her nipping, attention barking, and being “twitchy’ greatly increased. The next morning we got up early, went for a long trigger free run in the woods, and then we sat down to relax, unwind, and decompress from the high energy intense running. After her 20 minute kong breakfast, we worked on settle, and she took a much needed nap.

Some dogs do not come with an off switch and we need to teach them how, this can be with cues and expectations/patterns. Mental enrichment is what promotes the brain to wind down; Excess energy is also funneled into anxious patterns as the dog struggles to settle and rest when indoors or outdoors. Make sure you have a quiet/calm/mental enrichment time after activities and stressful events. Incorporate training breaks into your walks (5 min walking, 30 seconds training/cues/find it game), walk, and repeat, and when you get home, have some quiet/mental enrichment time. This will get them out of the go go go mindset and learn we have high energy but then relax/reset. Otherwise, hormones are still elevated and this can end up making their impulse control, reactivity, and anxiety worse. Make sure to take time to smell the roses and decompress!!!!

Continue reading to learn other enrichment ideas