Smarter Pooches: Ways To Engage Your Dog's Mind

Keeping your dog’s mind busy allows them to rely on their instincts and adds some fun to their daily routine. Expose your canine to new and unexpected stimuli to help them learn how to easily adjust to changes. This also helps your pup work off excess energy, which lessens negative behaviors. Discover the best ways to engage your dog’s mind for a smarter pooch!

Learn and Practice New Tricks

Begin with basic commands like recall, sit, stay, and lay down. Once your dog understands these, make things more complicated. You could try:

• Wave: Have your pup wave a paw as if they’re saying “Hello!”
• Speak: Dogs that bark on command are excellent for protection.
• Back up: Make your dog back away; it’s a great way to stop jumping.

Explore your options for tricks by scouring the internet or checking out books. In doing this, you can also find tutorials on how to train your pup. You may need to try several approaches.

Pro Tip

Training sessions may take a while but remember not to compare your dog to others. Every pooch is different, and some breeds are easier to train than others. Independent and stubborn dogs often take more time to teach. Another option is to look into local obedience schools for help from an expert!

Buy Interactive Toys

What dog doesn’t love toys? One way to engage your dog’s mind is with brain toys. Food puzzles and memory games give your dog a great mental workout. Try hiding treats or toys and making your pup sniff them out!

Go on Adventures Together

Explore new places around town together. You have the perfect excuse to take your dog all over and give them new places to sniff! First, you may need to get your pup comfortable with car trips. Start slowly with drives around the block since car rides make some canines nervous.

Pro Tip

Try different routes around the neighborhood, then gradually change things up. Research local walking paths or forest preserves for the best walks. Remember that every forest preserve has different rules, and some require leashes. Look at the expectations before visiting a new location.

Give Your Dog a Job

While dogs are companion animals, most breeds also have specific jobs such as herding and hunting. Of course, every owner doesn’t have a job like this for their dog. But you can engage your canine's mind through tasks or games around the house!

Take retrievers, for example; they’re known for retrieving and helping hunt. Teach your pup the names of their toys and have them retrieve each on command to engage their instinct. Once they get this down, you could teach them to fetch household objects and help with basic chores!

Maybe you’re training your dog to do a job, in which case you’ll need a durable harness. Julius K9 sells high-quality dog equipment, including K9 harnesses, collars, and leashes that won’t restrict mobility. Get your pup to use their instincts to keep their mind occupied—an engaged dog is a happy dog!