26/11/2025
😃Pro Tip! How to EASILY burn off some of your dog’s energy.
⏳2 minutes of prep = 45 minutes of hands-off enrichment for your dog.
If you want to turn mealtime into real behavior-building, brain-boosting work… welcome to Willow’s Forage Fest.
🐕For this “Forage Fest”, I loaded 4 different food puzzles with kibble and crunchy treats, dropped them into a bucket, and had Willow wait until I released her with “free.” She grabbed each puzzle one by one, tossed them around, rotated through them, and worked until every last one was empty…
…45 minutes later!!!😱
✅This routine has also helped her build incredibly useful skills:
• Wait
• Free (release cue)
• Find it
• Drop it (when needed)
🤓Quick science tidbit: dogs naturally prefer to work for their food. It’s called contra-freeloading — the instinct to forage, problem-solve, and “earn” their meals. So enrichment like this isn’t just fun… it’s biologically satisfying.
❌And the best part? You don’t have to feel guilty about having a busy day now and then, when you have simple solutions to combat boredom. This is a fast, effective way to give your dog what they need even when you don’t have tons of time.
✅Ditching the bowl taps into natural instincts, boosts confidence, provides real mental work, and buys you breathing room on hectic nights.
Want help building your dog’s own Forage Fest routine?
Want to know how these simple but vital life hacks can help improve your dogs behavior?
DM me and I’ll get you started.