So you exercised your Malinois. Awesome. Oh, and did a fun obedience session. Good. You played too. Great. Your dog is still on the move and ready to go? *crickets* Did you expect any different? Hopefully your answer is no, that this is totally something you anticipated, but the reality is just needing to fulfill that downtime you need your dog to get through. Lucky you, you came to the right place!
Entertaining your active dog is not as complicated as it may at first feel. You may be tired after that run or long walk, game of tug, endless fetch in the sun, session of Sit! Down! Heel! Sit! Stay! Come! Not to mention everything else you have going on in your life with errands, family events, kids, cooking, laundry, work, and so on. Your working dog however, is still ready to go. So what can you do to help entertain your dog and get them through some down time? Well one way, simply put, is food! Instead of just dumping their meals in a bowl and serving them, mix it up with yogurt or peanut butter and stuff it in a kong. You can even freeze it. Or put it in a bowl with some broth and other yummy things your dog may like, and freeze. Like a sensory dish, for dogs. Or I suppose a stimulation dish may be more accurate. With freezing their meal in a bowl however, you want to be careful about the ratio of liquid and also not over freeze. Otherwise it may be too difficult for your dog to eat. And you don't want just a bowl with a flat top of liquid. Your dog may lick it at first, but don't expect them to do it long. Definitely leave it so the dog can still bite at the food. It being frozen in liquid with other goodies will just make the meal last longer. Remember the goal is to do just that- entertain your dog for a longer period of time. Say 15-20 minutes? Verses the 3-5 it would normally take them to finish their meal. The goal is not to make it impossible for them to even eat it.
Other ways to help your dog kill time, stuff a kong. Or you can stuff multiple kongs, leave them in the freezer, then they are ready for you throughout the day at a moments notice. Not to mention this makes a nice cool down treat after being outside on a hot day. The kong is my personal go to, but ofcourse there are several products with the same concept. Put in a treat, let the dog work it out. Marrow bones are another thing we use for our dogs. With the marrow bones we typically smear some PB in it bc it seems to take the longest to lick out. With the kongs I like to use wet food, or mix their dry food in yogurt because they freeze well. There's dozens and dozens of ways you can stuff your kongs though.
Need to kennel your dog? To help ease boredom in the crate, stuffing a kong or marrow bone, or even just smearing something yummy on a hard toy (such as a benebone), will provide entertainment for your dog. At least for a little while anyway.
Other ways to entertain your furry bestie- invest in a licking mat. Or some sort of puzzle you hide treats in. Our licker is kong brand, and it suctions right onto our sliding glass door so we can put it at a height where our dogs don't have to bend down. Our puzzles include a line of 3 beakers that need to be spun to drop treats out, and another where pieces need to be moved to push drawers out, release those drawers, and also a little string to be pulled for a couple more drawers, all which contain a treat. Although these things I do recommend supervision. At least some. I feel comfortable enough doing dishes while my dogs use these, but I wouldn't leave them alone with them for an extended period of time. That's just asking them to chew up these pieces that smell and taste like their treats.
Another super simple way to provide entertainment.... TOYS! I'm a huge believer in dogs need their own toys. A variety of mostly durable toys for your dog to look through and choose what they want to play with. Malinois love toys and they love to chew. Personally I prefer benebones to other brands of chew toys. But we have a variety of ropes, chews, a tire, some balls, stuffed animals, kong toys. View my post Real talk- CHEWING for more details on toys.
Bully sticks, pig ears, and marrow bones are great for a bit of entertainment as well. And once the marrow bones are locked clean, you can begin stuffing them with your own things. (Our go to is PB.)
Outside, hang a rope or a tire or something for your dog to play with. Provide things for them to jump on and explore.
Alright, your turn. I shared what we do. In what ways do you entertain your dogs?
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