Environmental enrichment for dogs*

When I leave the house, I always leave a bunch of toys in Ruby's little space. And the radio playing. She gets confined to the hallway and bathroom; there's a window, but it's up high so that she can't look out and bark at the neighbor dogs or the mailman. There are several doors that get locked with hooks: to the basement, the living room, my bedroom, a linen closet, the stairwell going upstairs, and my sewing room. The only furniture in there is a small desk in the hallway. She has never chewed on it, though she did peel some paint off of the closet door and the door going upstairs. I leave a broom leaning against each of those doors, and she hasn't bothered them since.

The brooms kind of scare her. She is very careful not to knock them over.

A couple of the toys are the kind that you can put treats inside, and it's kind of a challenge for dogs to get them out again. I always do put a couple of treats in those for her. When she sees me gather up the toys and put the treats in them, she gets very happy, and goes into her room, sits on her bed, and waits.

Separation anxiety? Not a problem at all. She loves it when I go away.

Today when I got home, however, she had found something else with which to entertain herself: aloe vera/Vitamin E foot creme, which she loves. I have to put my socks on very fast or she tries to lick it right off my feet. And of course I have to remember to put the jar somewhere she can't reach it. Well, either I forgot to do that or there is no longer any such place in the bathroom, alas.

Fortunately the stuff is really cheap, and I bought two jars of it last time I was in the drugstore.


*[2009 update: OK, perhaps this post should be more accurately titled "Environmental enrichment for dogs: here is what happens when there is not enough for your dog to do." I'd hoped that it would be obvious that it was not meant to be an example of proper enrichment activities for dogs; I regret that this was not clear enough to those who take the time (still!) to write to me about it, and I do apologize if I was rude in my response to you. I understand that you were trying to help. So if anyone is inclined to email me more dog-rearing advice based on this two-year-old post, please note that a) she was six months old and not crate trained (nor had she ever even been in a house!) when she came to live with me, so no, crate-training is not essential to her well-being; b) puppies and young energetic dogs need to be confined for their own safety, not for the integrity of the furniture, so yes, it is a good idea to put her in a small, relatively featureless and den-like room; it's stressful enough for dogs in a new environment without having to guard the whole house and keep it safe from potential intruders like the mailman and the neighbor kids and so forth; and c) the brooms were not intended to 'terrorize' her in any way, just to impede her ability to chew on the woodwork and ingest paint chips. In any case, she's all grown up now and no longer confined to a small room when I leave. She has no lingering fear of brooms. My leaving does not stress her out in the least, as she looks forward to the routine of the treat ball before I go out the door. But thanks for your advice all the same. Also: I do not adhere to any single method or theory or set of rules for dog training or rearing. Every dog is different.]