Activities to foster calm behavior when together and apart. Puppies require a lot of activities to keep them busy and to meet some of their instinctive needs (such as food seeking, sniffing, and chewing) and we will be using these at various time to give the confined puppy something fun to do, and on occasion to give puppies a calm side by side activity. These are self directed activities our puppy can enjoy on their own. Not only does this continue to build our puppy’s sense of self, it also teaches independence, and the skill of calming down and amusing one’s self with an age appropriate challenge. Which activities you end up choosing will depend on many different factors, from the diet you are feeding, to the shape of your puppy’s muzzle, to your puppy’s own preferences. If your puppy doesn’t like something now, tuck it away because the puppy may grow into that type of chew or toy. You can find lots of different ideas in the Practical Dog Life FB Group search term “Enrichment”, the Canine Enrichment FB Group (and book by the same name), and the 100 Days of Enrichment AniEd Website (this website has a wealth of different ideas and is up all year round) and feel free to brainstorm ideas in the Clickety Split Student Group on FB. For food based enrichment be sure to use the regular meal kibble as the base for most stuffings and fillings and offer these activities as meals to avoid overfeeding. Learning to use instinctive and natural behaviors to find and eat food for meals is highly enjoyable for dogs provided we provide easy age appropriate challenges. So start easy and as your puppies mature you can gradually make food challenges harder, keeping in mind that golden zone where the dog is having fun. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Activities:📌 Kibble Dispensers: Kibble Nibble, IQ Ball, Snoop, Kong Wobbler and etc.📌Snuffle Mat and Snuffle Rugs📌Kibble soaked in water (or a tiny bit of broth) and smashed into a slow feed bowl (slow feed bowls may also be frozen for dogs with very high food drive).📌Kibble soaked and mashed, or canned food, smashed onto or into a lick mat or lick bowl.📌Kibble scatter (indoors our outdoors).📌Kibble dispensers like Squirrel Dude or some Soda Pup (will dispense dry kibble)📌Kibble/canned food stuffed inside a Kong or similar, can also be frozen.⚠️Meal kibble can also be used for training!How to use Activities: You can use an activity anytime a puppy is placed in their playpen or crate, to give the puppy something to do and to help them self soothe. You can also use such activities when puppies are on their Calm Down Stations (more on that later), or on opposite sides of a baby gate, or side by side in their pens/crate/or even one in and one out when puppies need a calm activity to engage in near each other. By giving our puppies calm activities to do near, or even alongside each other (for example with a baby gate between) we are teaching them how to engage in non play, calm, behaviors when together without the pressure of feeling the need to guard the activity from the other puppy. This is why we will put a baby gate between the puppies, or have one in and the other out of the crate or playpen, or use settle down stations with a human to supervise. If you ever see barrier aggressive/guarding behaviors in this context simply move the puppies further apart. These behaviors are often genetic and not really something your puppy “thinks” about or is “bad” for doing. So while you will want to notice this discomfort and avoid set ups that trigger it it unless it escalates or occurs outside of a barrier observe your puppies for a few weeks before reaching out to a behavior professional to see if the puppy outgrows it. Fate Favors The Prepared: Before your puppies arrive in your home ask the breeder, trainer, and explore the resources above, for ideas for the appropriate size, texture, and material of the wide variety of pacifiers and activities available. Collect more than you think you will need and invest in new ideas and items regularly throughout your dog’s lives.

Activities: Foster Calm When Together And Apart

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