“Boring! This is B-O-R-I-N-G!” Are your shelter’s dogs giving you this message when you approach their kennels?

Although dogs can’t say when they’re bored, they can express their boredom, stress level, and anxiety in any number of ways. Common behavioral responses to the tedium and stress of kennel life include:

• Barking
• Jumping
• Spinning
• Chewing
• Snapping
• Resource guarding
• Withdrawing

How Enrichment Programs Help

A shelter enrichment program can make a major difference in the daily life of your dogs:

• A variety of in-kennel and out-of-kennel experiences engage dogs and make their days more interesting.
• When engaged in enrichment activities, dogs are less likely to develop the inappropriate behaviors that are their own efforts at relieving boredom and stress.
• Enrichment helps dogs maintain their mental, physical, and emotional health so that they remain good adoption candidates and don’t become behaviorally at risk.

On these pages, you’ll find resources you can use to set up an effective, inexpensive canine enrichment program for your shelter. If you’ve already got an enrichment program, we invite you to browse these pages for new ideas to enhance your program.

Canine Enrichment Tips
Tip #1: Get in touch with your inner canine. We’ve collected more ideas and suggestions that will help your enrichment program to succeed.

Canine Enrichment Glossary
Oral, auditory, tactile—what do these terms mean?

Enrichment on a Shoestring
Mackenzie’s Animal Sanctuary has a canine enrichment program that gives new meaning to the term “brown bag lunch.” This creative program was developed with a tight budget and limited staff hours in mind.

Read and Relax
Does your shelter have dogs who need to learn how to chill out, or who would benefit from calm human company in their kennel?

Mighty Mouths
The Mighty Mouths enrichment program provides heavy chewers with appropriate alternatives that satisfy their need to chew and are great stress-busters for shelter dogs.

Photo credit: photo courtesy of Mackenzie’s Animal Sanctuary