MENTAL STIMULATION

Mental stimulation is good for all dogs, whether they are dogs with stress, anxiety, boredom, hyperactivity, fears and insecurities, the beginnings of dementia (to slow down the process), with some ailment, puppies, seniors, etc.

All dogs have a natural need to use their intelligence and when it is not used, problems can arise or the dog may not be entirely happy.

Dogs don’t know how to distract themselves and wait for their human to take the initiative and when that doesn’t happen they get bored, just like us.

Many people think that their dog is good because they spend almost all day sleeping, okay they are good in the sense that they don’t break anything, or that they don’t bark non-stop… but is a dog’s life all about spending the day sleeping???

A bored dog rests waiting for something to happen and waits and waits… And when dogs wait a long time, they adapt to low energy expenditure, their metabolism drops and the entire hormonal system is transformed.

The result of a dog that is losing stimulation, spending hours in endless sleep.

If we make our dogs think and keep their minds busy with some activity that requires concentration and that the dog has a good time with, we would be activating the cerebral cortex, which prevents the limbic system from activating problematic emotions.

It is very difficult for a dog or a person who is focused on a task to feel overwhelmed by intense emotions. In fact, they may even dismiss stimuli that are not relevant to the task they are performing. This is why when dogs who do not get along with each other can work peacefully side by side, they do not pay attention to the emotional responses that occur between them but rather pay attention to the task or game they are doing.

The conclusion is simple, the less activity a dog has, the more excess energy it will generate, and this energy will cause behavioral problems, which will manifest themselves in different ways, to the point that sometimes humans would like the dog to sleep even more hours a day.

It is equally important to do physical activity, but for example, after an hour of walking with our dogs, sometimes they don’t even arrive tired. On the other hand, after an hour of obedience exercises, mental stimulation, smell, mantrailing or any activity that requires mental effort, they will surely end up exhausted.