Pawsitively Thriving: How to Elevate Your Furry Friend’s Lifestyle on National Pet Day and Beyond
As we celebrate National Pet Day on April 11 and look ahead to an enriching future for our pets, Stanley Marketplace‘s newest business owner, Karina Tittjung of Bonez 4 Budz, shares her expert tips to elevate your furry companion’s lifestyle and foster an unbreakable bond with your four-legged family members.
Pawsitively Thriving: How to Elevate Your Furry Friend’s Lifestyle on National Pet Day and Beyond
- Enrichment: Enrichment is vital for both humans and their furry companions. Engaging with an enrichment toy can help alleviate your pet’s boredom and frustration, which can manifest as digging, excessive barking, anxiety, or chewing on furniture.
- Nutritional Enrichment: At mealtime, we recommend offering options such as a puzzle feeder or a food-dispensing toy that will engage a dog’s foraging instinct and encourage predatory hunting skills through play-based games in a safe way.
- Sensory Stimulation: Take sniff-only walks, which are dog-led, and let the dog(s) smell anything and everything for as long as they like. Inspect all the trees with no hurry to continue walking and thoroughly enjoy the sensory enrichment of the walk.
- Kinesthetic Stimulation: Dogs love to search, stalk, chase, and celebrate. It’s important to play and engage with them on their level and help them find what they like, such as herding balls and hide-and-seek toys, which provide hours of enrichment. Each dog has specific needs, and as their humans, it’s our job to understand what brings them satisfaction and joy.
- Oral Enrichment: A great way to avoid your pup chewing on the wrong things is to provide a healthy chewing outlet. Instead of trying to prevent it, we recommend redirecting it. Consider bully sticks, cow snouts and chew toys that are durable for safe chewing. Chewing behaviors are relaxing and natural behaviors of our canine companions and help with healthier digestion.
As we focus on our pet’s well being ahead of National Pet Day, stop by Bonez 4 Budz and introduce yourself to Karina, who can share additional tips and suggestions for optimizing the well-being of your four-legged friend.
