Field Guide · Glossary
Nutritional enrichment
EnrichmentEnrichment that works by changing how food arrives rather than what the food is.
How it works
The same dinner can be frozen into a stuffed toy, scattered across grass, hidden around a room, smeared onto a mat, or handed over in a puzzle. Each of those asks something different of the dog: licking is slow and repetitive, foraging uses the nose, a puzzle asks for problem-solving. Because the food is already being bought, this is usually the first category people can add without spending anything, and the one that fills the most time per pound of effort.
What it looks like
A dog's evening meal is split three ways across a week: wet food frozen into a rubber toy on Monday, the same portion scattered in the yard on Tuesday, and pushed into a snuffle mat on Wednesday. The bag of food lasts exactly as long as it did before.
Commonly confused with
- Ditch the bowl
- Ditching the bowl is the specific practice of feeding the whole ration this way. Nutritional enrichment is the wider category, and it includes changing the food itself as well as how it is served.
Related terms
Gear that helps
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Kong Classic (multiple sizes)
The workhorse of enrichment. Stuff it, freeze it, and it buys you a quiet hour. We reach for it for crate time and alone-time practice.
Lick mat
Spread something soft and the licking settles an anxious dog. We use them for bath time, nail trims, and vet visits.
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