DIY Dog Enrichment Ideas

Creating Homemade Pet Enrichment for Free

Pet enrichment is meant to improve the quality of life for our pets by giving them new opportunities to exercise their minds and bodies.  Often, we would like to give them new enrichment opportunities, but it can be expensive. Here are some great free DIY dog enrichment ideas so you can save money while still providing fun experiences for them. There will be directions on how to make the items and different safety concerns to be aware of. Creating homemade enrichment will help you decide what type of items to invest money in, so you don’t have to risk spending money on a toy that they won’t play with.

Materials

Look around your house and take inventory of what you have. If you order items online, save the packing paper and boxes. You can make plenty of enrichment items by using the Reuse part of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Old or extra fabric, paper bags, boxes, packing paper, plastic bottles, and old Tupperware or muffin tins all are great items to repurpose into a variety of new enrichment. You can also incorporate some of the toys you already own into your creations. The most important part of selecting materials is to make sure that they will be safe for your dog or cat.

When you up-cycle any boxes or bags in your home, make sure to remove any tape or stickers that they may have. This is similar to what you should do before recycling them. You will also want to avoid using any items that have glue residue on them. This is to limit the chance of ingestion of potentially dangerous or toxic items. It is typically considered safe if small amounts of cardboard or plain paper are accidentally ingested as long as your pet doesn’t have digestive issues. You will want to make sure your pet does not accidentally consume large amounts of it since it is not a food item. Please consult with your veterinarian to discuss any questions or concerns you may have.

When working with fabrics, look closely for any dangling strings. You will want to remove these to ensure that your pet does not get tangled in it or decides to ingest it. Ingestion of string could create life threatening issues if it gets tangled in the digestive system. You will also want to continue to check the fabrics regularly for continued safety.

For scent enrichment, look at your fresh herbs, spice racks, or perfumes/colognes. Make sure the herbs you use are not toxic to your pet and use the perfumes sparingly. If you receive magazine subscriptions, save the perfume samples (you can also see about donating them to your local zoo so they can use them for enrichment). Remember that most animals have a stronger sense of smell than us. This means that a small amount of scent will go a long way. If you use too much, you can irritate their nasal passages.

DIY Dog Enrichment Toys

The enrichment you make can be as simple or as complicated as you would like to make it. From putting scents on a box or crumbled pieces of paper to creating toy towers and interactive food puzzles, you can let your creativity go wild.

DIY Puzzle feeder

Take an old muffin tin and hide treats in it. Cover the holes with tennis balls and let your pet remove the balls to find the treats.

Find a box and cut out holes big enough to allow a treat to fall out of it. Put the treats in and secure the box shut. Your pet will have to knock the box around in order to get the treats. You can make this puzzle feeder easier or more difficult depending on the size of the holes that you make.

If you own a holey ball, you can hide treats in crumbled paper and stuff the paper in the holey ball. Your pet will have to pull the paper out of the ball in order to get to the treats. You can also just stuff the paper inside an open-ended box.

If you have leftover packing paper, you can braid treats inside of it and then give it to your pet. They will get some energy out as they tear through the paper to get to the treats.

Auditory Enrichment

Place an empty plastic bottle inside of an old sock and tie the sock off. Just make sure to do frequent safety checks to check for sharp edges on the bottle or loose strings from the sock that would need to be removed.

With boxes, you can turn them into noise making toys by putting some balls or rocks that will make noise when they get shook.

Olfactory Enrichment

Rub, spray, or place the non-toxic scents on items around your house or outside. Boxes, paper, and cardboard tubes are all great items to use for scent enrichment. Remember you can utilize herbs, spices, perfumes or even hunting lures. Just make sure to watch for ingestion of any non-food items.

Tactile Enrichment

If your dog loves to play tug, braid old fabric together to make new toys. Again, just keep an eye out for any dangling strings so you can remove them right away.

Take boxed, cardboard tubes, or paper bags and hide their favorite toys or treats in them. Let them have fun tearing them apart to get to the surprise inside. You might not even need to put anything inside of them if you have a pet that just loves tearing things apart. You can also drape streams of paper or hang the paper bags on door handles or on branches outside and have your pup tear them down.

If you find that your pet loves one of these homemade enrichment items, it may be time to go shopping! You can find toys that make similar sounds to crinkly paper, plastic bottles, and all types of food puzzles in stores or online. This way you will have a better idea of what toys to invest in that your dog or cat will actually play with.

Go Big!

Feel free to go big with enrichment. You can even create box forts or mazes and hide surprises inside. You can combine any and all of these ideas or even come up with new ones.

Safety and Behavioral Warnings

As always, please ask your vet if you have any questions or concerns about your dog or cat. This includes making sure that all the herbs and spices you choose are safe and that they will not interact with any medications they may be getting. Call your vet if your pets’ behavior, appetite, or bowel movements change suddenly.

If you know your dog likes to eat things they are not supposed to or has known digestive issues, you may want to avoid giving them cardboard or paper. Another option is to watch them closely while they interact with it so you can remove the items if necessary.

Do frequent safety checks of any toys given to them to make sure that there are no sharp edges or things that they can get caught in. You will also want to check on any unsafe pieces that they might accidentally swallow.

Be aware that your pet may assume that any of the items that you have turned into toys, will always be toys. This means that they may develop an unfortunate habit of tearing any box or bag apart that they can get a hold of. To avoid this, consider pairing a command like “take it” or “get it” so they can tell the difference between items they can play with versus the items that they should leave alone. If the problem is severe, you may have to avoid giving them those items completely.

Have fun!

You do not have to spend a lot of money to entertain your dogs and cats at home. Using items that you would normally dispose of or recycle is a great affordable way to make enrichment items at home. This can be a great activity for your whole family! If your pets have excess energy and it is too cold or rainy to take them on a walk, this is a great way to keep them (and your kids if you have them) busy indoors. By creating different types of enrichment, you will have a better idea of what type of store-bought items to invest in. Once you create some DIY enrichment, please share pictures or video of it to Pennies, Places, and Paws Facebook page to inspire others. I would love to see what you come up with!

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