25 dog enrichment activities you can try at home

Foraging: making food take work

Foraging turns meals into searches. Use part of your dog's daily food for all of these, so enrichment doesn't become extra calories.

1. Scatter feeding. Throw dry food across the lawn or a clean floor. Ten minutes, no kit. How to scatter feed.
2. Snuffle mat or towel roll. Hide kibble in fleece strips or roll it into an old towel. Snuffle mat guide.
3. Frozen stuffed toy. Pack a rubber toy with soaked kibble and freeze it overnight. Frozen food enrichment.
4. Lick mat. Spread wet food or plain yoghurt (no xylitol) across a textured mat. Lick mat guide.
5. Egg carton surprise. A few treats in a closed egg carton for your dog to open. Supervise so they don't eat the carton.

Sensory: new smells and textures

1. "Find it". Toss a treat out of sight and send them to find it. The simplest scent game there is. Indoor scent games.
2. Box line-up. One treat hidden in one of several boxes.
3. Outside-in sniff box. A box of clean leaves or grass from outside, with treats hidden in it. Check plants are safe and untreated.
4. Texture trail. Lay out a doormat, a towel, flattened cardboard and a rubber mat, and scatter treats across them. Great for puppies.
5. New-route sniff walk. Not strictly at home, but the same walk on a new street with permission to sniff is one of the most satisfying things you can offer.

Cognitive: problems to solve

1. Muffin-tin puzzle. Treats in the cups, tennis balls on top. DIY dog puzzles.
2. Cup shell game. A treat under one of three cups, shuffled slowly.
3. "Which hand?" A treat in one closed fist; your dog chooses with a nose or paw.
4. Teach a new trick. "Touch", "spin" or "chin rest". Five minutes of learning is genuinely tiring.
5. Food puzzle rotation. Two or three puzzles, rotated so each feels new. Food puzzle toys.

Physical: movement that suits their body

1. Hide and seek. You hide, they find you. How to play.
2. Structured tug. Tug with a start cue, frequent "drop" pauses and a calm finish, for healthy adults.
3. Flirt pole. A short chase on grass for fit adult dogs only, with the lure kept low. Flirt pole safety.
4. Cushion course. A few low, stable obstacles to step over and around, walked slowly. Skip jumps for puppies, seniors and long-backed breeds.

Social: time together

1. Training-as-bonding. Run through things they already know and pay generously.
2. Calm massage. Gentle touch where your dog enjoys it, stopping if they move away.
3. Settle on a mat. Reward calm lying down beside you, building time slowly.

Occupational: a job to do

1. Cardboard shred-and-find. A box of scrunched paper and treats to rip apart, supervised. Box enrichment.
2. Treasure hunt. Several treats and a toy hidden around the yard. Treasure hunt.
3. Tidy up the toys. Teach your dog to drop toys into a basket. A real job with a clear end.

How to choose the right activities for your dog

Start from what your dog was bred for. Scent hounds and gundogs usually love foraging and search games; herding breeds often enjoy puzzles and tricks; terriers tend to adore shredding and digging. Then adjust for age, health and energy: puppies and seniors need shorter, gentler sessions, and high-impact games like flirt poles aren't suitable for every dog. Our breed guides go into detail.

Safety basics

• Supervise anything chewable: cardboard, fabric mats, homemade puzzles.
• Check every spread and treat for xylitol, and avoid grapes, raisins, onion, garlic, chocolate and macadamias.
• Use part of your dog's daily food so enrichment doesn't lead to weight gain.
• Stop if your dog seems sore, frustrated or over-excited, and check with your vet if behaviour changes suddenly.

Henry's owner Founder of Henry

Lives with Henry, a Hungarian Vizsla, and wrote his weekly enrichment plan by hand for months before turning it into this app. Not a vet or a qualified behaviourist: the guides draw on everyday experience with a high-drive gundog and on published guidance from animal welfare organisations, which is linked where it is used.