Enriching the Eyes, Ears Mouth and Nose
Strengthening one brain at a time! No dog is too old, no environment is too influential.
Enrichment at the National Animal Welfare & Canine Training College
At the National Animal Welfare & Canine Training College, we believe that true animal welfare includes meeting not just the physical, but also the mental and emotional needs of every dog. Enrichment is a critical part of a dog’s daily life, and it plays a key role in preventing behavioral issues, improving quality of life, and strengthening the human-animal bond. Our enrichment program is built on four essential categories that reflect a dog’s natural instincts and needs:
Beyond The Bowl:
Daily Joy for Dogs
“Waffles Finds the Wobble”
Waffles, a senior beagle mix with a nose for naps and a tail that wagged on its own schedule, had just arrived at the college’s community shelter. His days before were quiet—too quiet. Meals came in a plain bowl, walks were routine, and the spark in his eyes had started to dim.
But everything changed the day a student named Maya introduced him to a green wobble feeder shaped like a smiling UFO.
At first, Waffles gave it a single sniff and a skeptical side-eye. The kibble rattled inside, just out of reach. But the scent of chicken and sweet potato was too good to ignore. With one paw tap—clink! wobble!—a few pieces spilled out. That tail, once sleepy, gave a single happy wag.
What followed was nothing short of a food-fueled awakening. Waffles spun, bumped, and nudged the UFO around the enrichment yard like a pro. His eyes lit up. His nose twitched with curiosity. For the first time in weeks, he was working with his meal, not just eating it.
The wobble feeder became his favorite daily ritual. Staff even caught him dragging it toward the food prep area like a polite request. And when he wasn’t wobbling, he was snuffling through hand-tied fleece mats, licking frozen yogurt from chew-safe toys, or happily solving his “snack box”—a cardboard treasure chest stuffed with treats and paper scraps.
Enrichment didn’t just fill Waffles’ stomach—it brought him joy, choice, and confidence. It reminded him that life still had tasty twists, and that every mealtime could be a moment of play, purpose, and pure dog delight.
At the National Animal Welfare & Canine Training College, we call that going beyond the bowl.
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The Canine College Of Your Dreams
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When you adopt a shelter dog, you not only save their life, but you also free up space and resources for the shelter to help more animals.
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Dogs in shelters aren't "bad" or "broken" — most are simply victims of circumstance. They are just waiting for someone to give them a second chance to love and be loved.
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In the U.S. alone, over 3 million dogs enter shelters every year. Adopting, fostering, or volunteering helps reduce this number and makes a real impact.
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Before adoption, many shelters perform behavior and temperament evaluations to help match dogs with the right families. These tests assess how dogs react to people, other animals, food, toys, and new environments — making it easier to find a good fit and reduce returns.
Edible Adventures
Food Activities
Food-based enrichment taps into one of a dog’s most natural drives—scavenging and foraging. Instead of simply offering meals in bowls, we teach students to design and implement food activities that encourage problem-solving and patience. These include:
Puzzle Feeders & Stuffed Toys: Tools like Kongs and snuffle mats encourage licking, chewing, and foraging.
Scatter Feeding: Spreading kibble across a textured surface or in grass to encourage natural sniff-and-search behaviors.
Frozen Treats & Food Layers: Offering complex, multi-layered frozen meals to keep dogs engaged for extended periods.
DIY Foraging Games: Using safe household items like boxes, towels, or paper rolls to create novel food-hunting experiences.
Follow That Nose
Scent Activities
A dog’s nose is one of its most powerful tools. Scent work provides mental stimulation and builds confidence by allowing dogs to use their strongest sense. Our scent enrichment includes:
Scent Trails: Creating simple scent trails using food or safe scents for dogs to follow through varied environments.
Scent Discrimination Games: Teaching dogs to identify and indicate a target scent among multiple distractions.
Novel Scent Introductions: Providing safe, non-food scents (like herbs, animal bedding, or essential oils) in controlled ways.
Hide & Seek: Hiding treats, toys, or handlers themselves to activate both scent and search instincts.
Canine IQ Club
Brain Games
Cognitive stimulation is as important as physical exercise. Brain games challenge a dog’s ability to think, make choices, and stay focused. These are ideal for dogs recovering from injury or those that thrive on problem-solving:
Interactive Toys & Puzzles: Toys that require flipping, sliding, or unlocking mechanisms to earn a reward.
Shaping Games: Using clicker training or marker-based shaping to teach new behaviors through trial and error.
Name Recognition & Sorting: Teaching dogs to recognize and select specific objects or toys by name.
Memory Games: Simple shell games or tasks requiring dogs to recall locations or sequences.
Active Tails
Physical Outlet Games
Dogs need safe and appropriate ways to burn off energy. Physical outlet games help reduce anxiety, promote cardiovascular health, and can improve behavior. We prioritize non-competitive, welfare-focused physical activities such as:
Flirt Pole & Tug Games: Structured sessions that offer intense bursts of movement while reinforcing impulse control.
Chase & Fetch Variants: Modified fetch games with rules for self-control, drop cues, and varied terrain.
Agility & Obstacle Exploration: Low-impact agility or confidence-building equipment for fun, non-pressured movement.
Play Invitations & Safe Social Play: Encouraging healthy dog-dog interactions with supervision and consent-based play cues.
Enrichment at the National Animal Welfare & Canine Training College
Our approach to enrichment goes beyond toys and games—it’s a philosophy of life quality. We offer tips to not just professionals but everyday dog owners to integrate tailored enrichment into each dog's daily routine, regardless of age, ability, or background. Through these categories, owners, dog lovers and professionals alike will gain the tools to build behaviorally healthy, emotionally fulfilled dogs in shelters, homes, and training programs alike.
