In this episode of the pawdcast, Karen and Jean chat with Stefanie Strackbein who specializes in canine enrichment.  Enrichment isn’t formal obedience or even organized sports.   Enrichment refers to an easy  activity or game to help dogs reduce stress, exercise their brains, and have a sense of control over their environment.  Examples of these games include tossing kibble on the lawn and inviting your dog to “find it” or folding up kibble or a high value treat in a towel and letting your dog figure out how to unfold the towel to find the treat – SUPER SIMPLE things, but FUN and enriching for your dog!

Stefanie contends that if more dog owners engaged in daily enrichment activities with their dogs, we’d see fewer behavioral issues and fewer dogs in shelters.  Stefanie also believes that simple enrichment exercises that can be done in the home, in the yard or on a walk, will help dogs AND owners be happier!

Stefanie is the founder and owner of the What Dogs Want Academy in Phoenix, AZ https://wdwacademy.dog/   You can follow her daily enrichment suggestions on Instagram @whatdogswant.  She also presented a webinar for Your Dog’s Friend, a not for profit in Rockville, Maryland that supports positive training and programs for dogs and their owners – it’s a tremendous resource https://yourdogsfriend.org/   Stefanie’s webinar can be found here --https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWjdCWm8pXk

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