The Importance of Keeping Your Dog Mentally Stimulated So, hand up, if your dog has ever harassed you, following you room after room with that stagnant look? Well, you are not alone, assuredly. Boredom and pent-up energy are the reasons dogs develop problems most often. Most urban dogs spend a great deal of their time in solitary confinement and the highlight of their day may well be the arrival home of their beloved owners. This is a very exciting time for your dog, filled with excitement and celebration, and can often be too much to cope with for a fatigued owner who has spent eight hours at the office. Dogs Were Meant to Lead Active Lives Many dog breeds surrounding us were, for the most part, selectively bred to perform certain tasks. We have the retrievers, which fetched downed birds for the hunter; the hounds, which tracked prey with their noses; the spaniels, which would flush birds out of bushes; the herders, which would group cows and sheep; the livestock guardians, which protected farm animals from predators; and several other versatile breeds specializing in a variety of tasks. Today, most dogs are no longer used as workers but as loyal companions who are relegated mostly to the yard or left at home to do just about nothing all day. This leaves the dogs with a void to fill up. The saying “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop” fits people and dogs as well. Because of it, dogs become destructive, and may engage in undesirable activities like digging, chewing, and barking throughout the day with little left to do. Dogs Need Exercise — and Mental Stimulation — Too! When one thinks of bored dogs, one thinks of exercise; but dogs require a healthy dose of mental stimulation, too. Although most dogs in modern times no longer live in the wild and no longer hunt all day in the fields with their masters, they nonetheless have a robust drive for mental stimulation. This, however, doesn’t mean you will have to quit your 9 to 5 job, buy a rifle, and go on a rabbit hunting adventure with your dog! There are many great ways you can stimulate your dog’s mind from the comfort of your home and yard to get those juices going in your dog’s cognitive abilities. Simple games like Conceal ’n’ Seek that are contained within the Brain Training For Dogs course can inspire your dog to utilize his brain while, at the very same time, making it feasible for him to get the much-needed exercise he wouldn’t have gotten had he spent the day sleeping in front of the fire place. A Sneak Peek into the Past Dogs in the wild did things a little differently at meal time compared to what it is now. To eat, dogs needed to hunt which involved sniffing, stalking, chasing, and killing. Following the kill of an animal, they then had to work on releasing the meat from bones which required plenty of gnawing and scraping Dogs were domesticated, and yet they still did not stop scavenging for food; their life was never easy, and they did spend a good part of their days sniffing and walking around looking for little tidbits of food. Most of their diet consisted of carcasses left over by other predators or food left behind by humans who discarded the less appetizing parts from the animals they hunted. Anyway, dogs in the past were hunters or scavengers and they all had to spend a good amount of their day searching for food. It was certainly a far cry from our present ways of feeding our dogs. As it is, we do the hunting for our dogs by visiting our local pet supply store. Bags and cans of our dog food get poured into shiny bowls ready to be gulped down, many times without chewing even. Certain brain games can reintroduce this “hunting” in your dog’s life, such as the “Treasure Hunt” game from my Brain Training for Dogs course. Brain Training for Dogs will also teach you how to teach the Bottle Game-a great, really easy way to create a suppertime challenge for your dog. Alternatively, you can add mental stimulation to meals by making use of dog feeder toys. What Can You Do About It? BTFD 3D CoverProblem-solving exercises, new tricks, or simply revamping a training session with some element of novelty are all simple ways you can keep your dog mentally stimulated. Meanwhile, my Brain Training for Dogs course consists of 21 cool brain games that one can have with his pooch to exercise the dog’s brain while adding a competitive edge to keep you and your dog on your toes-or should I say, paws?! Each section has a guide on how best to succeed, troubleshooting tips, and plenty of pictures so you can see just how to train the games. When a dog’s needs for exercise and mental stimulation are met, dogs make happier and healthier companions, so next time you think about exercising your dog, don’t forget to exercise that brain too! To learn more go here: