Paws-itive Perspectives: Enriching your dog’s life

By Angel Dumoulin on December 4, 2025.

Enrichment is a word that has been thrown around a lot lately in ads for dog owners.

I’m not sure if anyone outside of the animal training/behaviourist world truly knows what it is but it’s catchy and sells products to humans who want to give their dog a great life.

Enrichment is simply the act of improving something by adding to it. It is something all of us could use a little more of in our lives!

One way we can make our lives more enriching is by adding some fun into the lives of our pets. If we are going to keep them captive in our homes, we want to make their lives as great as we can. After all a happy, healthy dog makes our life happier and less stressful by default. It reduces house or yard damage, vet bills, unnecessary barking, etc. which keeps our expenses and our stress levels down, too.

Typically, there are three of the types of enrichment I focus on. Sensory enrichment, which taps into their five senses. Cognitive enrichment makes them use their brain to figure out puzzles and learn skills. (We call it training), and social enrichment which is exactly like it sounds, their social life.

It is very important that your dog has a “social life” but that social life can look very different for each dog. Some dogs, a very small percentage, are great with dog parks or daycare. This gives them an outlet to run and be free with very few rules and tires them out physically. There is definitely a place for daycare and dog parks. Young, extremely active dogs can really benefit from these places for part of their lives. They would likely benefit from bonding time with their humans as well.

Most dogs however, would rather hang out at home and spend time with their human family. Social enrichment for these dogs could be sitting on the front porch with mom and watching the world outside. Or maybe going on weekend adventures like soccer games, hiking trips, or sitting around backyard fire pits with their humans and friends. Rather than a free-for-all at the dog park, many dogs like to just have a doggy friend or two come over for a playdate. Even a walk around the block to sniff the flowers and surveil the neighbourhood. They love their humans and any time they have with them is enough. Dogs who spend more time involved with their family activities also end up receiving more cognitive and sensory enrichment by default. The more activities you include them in, the more easily they adapt to day-to-day schedule changes. Every day a new adventure awaits. They typically care more about their family and have less desire to meet every dog or human they meet. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just enjoy their company and include them in your life the best you can.

If you feel your dog could use more enrichment, contact me and we can discuss options that may work with your family and schedule.

Angel Dumoulin of Funny Farm Canine is a positive reinforcement trainer with 20+ years of experience, dedicated to humane, science-based methods that build trust, cooperation, and joy. Emphasizing compassion and respect, she fosters a partnership between dogs and owners without fear or force-only motivation, play, and clear communication. Her philosophy, “dominion over domination,” champions empathy and understanding, allowing each dog’s unique personality to shine. Play. Learn. Wag!

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