Foraging
Forage – to search widely for food or provisions. Foraging is a natural dog behaviour and their nose will often lead them on their hunt for food. Rather than presenting your dog’s daily meals in a bowl you can present their food in ways that encourage foraging behaviours.
What to do
Turn mealtimes into a foraging exercise. Scatter a handful of your dog’s next meal across the lawn / balcony / deck / laundry floor and watch their nose get to work. Raw food can be dotted around the garden in small containers / bowls.
If this is new to your dog, they may not understand at first. Help them out by standing with them, throwing some food, and encouraging them to ‘Find It!’.
If you are concerned about encouraging your dog to hunt for food outside, try popping dry food in a plastic milk bottle – lid removed – and allow them to knock it around to release the food. You can cut more holes in it to make it easier. They will then sniff for the food that drops out.
Behavioural benefits:
Allows a dog to forage – natural dog behaviour
Sniffing – relaxing / brain work / calming
Physical – dog is on the move