Brain Training is Not Just for Humans

On October 13, we celebrate National Train Your Brain Day, which promotes the idea that mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise. Have you ever heard the phrase “use it or lose it?” This rings true for our mental acuity just as much as our physical bodies: it’s been proven that our cognitive function is significantly reduced when we don’t challenge our brains on a regular basis. But did you know that brain training is just as important for dogs as it is for humans?

Mental exercises are often overlooked but incredibly important for your dog’s overall wellbeing. Enrichment activities that encourage your dog to develop problem solving and investigation skills can help prevent inappropriate behaviors, strengthen your bond, and just plain tire them out! 

So how exactly do you help your dog exercise their brain? If you’ve never tried before, you may be envisioning a dog college, or at the very least, an incredibly complicated tutoring program. Luckily, many brain training exercises for dogs involve simple sessions that you can set up with objects you already have at your home.

Brain Training for Dogs at Home

Minimal equipment is needed for these fun, at-home training games.

Hide Toys and Treats

Your dog is a natural-born finder. With his incredibly powerful sense of smell, your dog loves the challenge of finding and unearthing treasures. If you don’t want to make a mess by digging up holes in your backyard, you can hide your dog’s favorite toy or a couple of treats around your home. Simply put your dog in a “stay” position and let them watch you bury their squeaky toy between the couch cushions or underneath the coffee table. When you’re done, release them from their “stay” and encourage them to go find the object. After a few rounds of this, you and your dog will be having a great time together!

Make a Dig Pit or a Snuffle Mat

Some dogs just love to dig. This hearkens back to that natural finding ability they carry with them throughout their lives. You can indulge this activity while keeping your flower beds safe by making an in-house dig pit. To do so, simply find a shallow box that’s an appropriate size to accommodate your dog and fill it with soft materials like cut up rags, toilet paper rolls, and other dog-safe items. Hide a treat or two beneath the layers and watch your dog go nuts! You can also use a snuffle mat, which is a mat made of several layers of rug or cloth with several pockets for treats or bits of kibble. These activities are safe and relatively mess-free!

Teach a New Trick

You absolutely can teach an old dog new tricks with patience and preparation! Learning a new trick is the quintessential way to train your dog’s brain, and it can lead to better communication and understanding between you and your dog. Whatever trick you decide to learn, be sure to have plenty of high-value treats on hand to reward good behavior. Also, keep your training session relatively short; spending too much time may cause your dog to become bored and lead to some frustration for everyone involved.

Try a Puzzle Toy

Many innovative and exciting types of puzzle toys have appeared on the pet care scene, especially in recent years. Ranging from simple action-reward toys to more complicated, multi-step challenges, puzzle toys for dogs are readily available at most pet stores and can be fairly affordable based on complexity. Generally speaking, all you need to do is pop a few treats in the proper receptacles and encourage your dog to explore on their own! Even a Kong stuffed with kibble and treats can serve as a simple mental stimulator for your pup.

Brain Training for Dogs Outside

Looking for some brain training opportunities while you’re out and about? These activities are simple and effective.

Socialize Your Dog

Socialization is an incredibly important step in your dog’s upbringing, and it’s also a simple and fun way to train their brain. Best practices for socialization vary greatly based on your dog’s age and stage of development. While puppies and adolescent dogs may be comfortable learning by experience and encountering many new dogs and people at once, adult dogs need a much gentler approach as they may become overwhelmed by unfamiliar situations. Ask your veterinarian for some tips on the best ways to socialize your dog at their current age. No matter which methods you choose, always be sure your dog is in a safe play environment and can exit when they’re done with the activity. 

Mix Up Your Walking Paths

Do you and your dog take the same walking route every day? They may be getting bored of seeing the same landmarks and experiences every time. Simply changing up your walking route is a great way to stimulate your dog’s brain and body at the same time. Aim to take your dog through a wide variety of environments, from your neighborhood sidewalks to dirt roads and even forest trails. We bet your dog will be ready for a nice long nap once you make it back home!

A Healthy Diet Supports a Healthy Brain

A healthy diet can give your dog the energy they need to carry out any brain training challenges you put in front of them. In honor of National Train Your Brain Day, make a commitment to giving your dog mental exercises 3-5 times a week. With so many simple and affordable options available for brain training, there’s no reason not to! As we mentioned above, short sessions are typically preferable to help avoid burnout and exhaustion. Finally, always have some healthy, tasty treats at the ready to reward great behavior. Head over to our online store or meet us at a weekend farmers market to stock up on your dog’s new favorite treats.

If you’ve ever trained a dog (and we hope you’ve spent some time training your own fur babies!) you’ve definitely encountered the term “positive reinforcement.” In simple terms, positive reinforcement is the act of rewarding good behavior with positive feedback, i.e. giving your dog a treat after he performs a trick. But why is it that this technique is so important and so highly praised by pet psychologists and trainers?

Of course, there’s the obvious answer: you love your dog, and your dog loves you too! It’s a much happier situation for everyone when you reward good behavior versus punishing bad behavior. But the importance of positive reinforcement in training goes deeper than that. Here are just a few reasons why this technique is the way to go for your training needs:

Positive Reinforcement Fosters Confidence

It may seem like just a human trait, but confidence is so important for dogs! Self-confidence affects every aspect of your dog’s life, from interacting with other dogs and humans to performing tasks correctly when under pressure. Dogs who are frequently punished rather than praised are often unsure of how to behave in specific situations and may display fear in their everyday interactions, which can lead to even more problems down the line.

Positivity Makes Training a Treat in Itself

If your dog knows that he’s going to get a lot of tasty treats during training time, he’s going to look forward to his training sessions! Giving your dog appropriate rewards can encourage them to view these sessions as times they enjoy rather than dread. Again, this goes back to building confidence. Just like a child who’s encouraged in school looks forward to their studies, your dog will be a willing participant when you set aside time to learn a new trick.

Positive Reinforcement is Fun for the Whole Family

Positive reinforcement can be administered by anyone in your house! This is great if you have young children in the house, as it gives them the opportunity to give your dog a treat or a belly rub when they see him performing good behaviors. When your dog notices praise coming from several different sources, they can take on whatever challenges face them with calmness and--you guessed it--confidence.

Positive reinforcement can come in many forms, like head pets, belly rubs, or tasty treats. If you rely mostly on treats for rewards, make sure you’re giving your dog something healthy, wholesome, and free from fillers. We humbly recommend Pawsitively Pure gourmet gluten-free treats or our new Chicken Crisps! Browse through our website to learn more, or give us a call at 407-450-6151 today.

Just like human children do, your dogs go through a number of transitions as they age from puppyhood to adulthood.  They learn important skills, they meet and interact with their peers, and they get more familiar with your rules and expectations. Along their journey, you learn a lot, as well! You discover how to communicate with your dog, how to read their body language, and how to work with their unique likes and dislikes.

What’s also similar between dogs and humans is that if your puppy meets certain key landmarks when they’re still young, they’ll have an easier time transitioning to adulthood. Here are a few of the things you should do now to help your dog live a well-adjusted adult life: 

• Make sure your dog has had plenty of opportunities to socialize with other dogs. Watch their behavior in group settings and one-on-one settings with other dogs. Be sure to monitor their behavior in a variety of situations, like when food is present and when toys are involved. By identifying aggressive play behaviors at an early age, you can correct the issues so your dog has no issues being out in public.

• Learn to read your puppy’s “signs.” Every dog will give you signals about their needs and wants in unique ways. It’s important to learn how your dog signals that they need to go outside so you can allow them to eliminate before it becomes a desperate situation. It’s also important to pay attention to the signs that your dog isn’t feeling well. Dogs tend to hide their illnesses as an instinctive measure to protect them in the wild. 

• Socializing with humans is just as important as socializing with other dogs. Your dog will need to be prepared to interact with the veterinarian, the mailman, and people passing you on your daily walks. Make sure your dog is familiar with human touch and gets interaction with people of all different ages, including children (if you can do so in a safe situation!). 

Training your dog isn’t just for you to be able to show off his cool tricks. A healthy training regimen during puppyhood can help your dog transition easily into a happy, healthy adulthood. And with a happy dog in your household, the whole family will have something to smile about every day. Need to stock up on treats to help the training process? Shop our delicious, human-grade treats here.

We’ve all heard the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But here at Pawsitively Pure dog food, we believe that any dog can learn a new trick with the right incentive! Soft enough to break into small chunks and packed with the best nutritious ingredients, our human-grade dog treats are the perfect reward for a learning dog. Even our senior boy, Jackson, has learned a few new ones in recent years!

To celebrate the return of the school year, here are a few fun and easy tricks you can teach any dog, no matter what stage of life they’re in: 

• “Shake Hands” may look like an advanced trick, but it’s one of the easiest there is to teach a dog! Dogs will naturally paw at you if you’re holding something they’re curious about. If you tuck a treat in your closed fist, hold it toward your dog and say the command word, “shake!” When they reach to paw at you, reward them for their response.

• Many people shy away from teaching their dogs “speak” since they probably already bark enough. However, putting “speak” and “quiet” to commands is one of the easiest ways to combat excessive barking. This one does take a little bit of vigilance, as you’ll need to pay attention to the times when your dog is barking and reward them systematically for following your commands.

• “Spin” is another great trick for a treat-motivated dog. When you hold a treat right in front of your dog’s nose, they’re likely to follow it. Hold a treat in front of your dog’s nose to guide him in a circle, then repeat the pattern. As your dog gets more familiar with the movement, you may even be able to teach them to “spin left” and “spin right!”

Pawsitively Pure Dog Food’s treats are perfect for training dogs of all ages and sizes. Available in peanut butter & pumpkin and blueberry & oat, our flavors are craveable enough that your dogs will look forward to learning new tricks every day. Send us a message or browse through our shop to learn more!