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The 5 Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
Quick, practical dog training tips in under 5 minutes—because training your dog shouldn’t take all day.
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With over 20 years of family dog training experience, this podcast delivers real-life advice you can actually use. From simple tips and clear explanations to common behavior scenarios, we’ll help you understand why your dog does what he does—and what to do about it.
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The 5 Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
#160 Stop Being Your Dog's Entertainment Director
Are you frustrated when your dog devours an expensive bully stick in just 20 minutes? You're not alone—but that frustration might be misplaced. In this eye-opening episode of 5-Minute Dog, we challenge the common misconception that dog enrichment activities should function as all-day babysitters.
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Welcome to the 5-Minute Dog, the mini-podcast that delivers practical training advice in less than 5 minutes. So let's talk about enrichment and why we need to stop panicking when our dog finishes a bully stick in 20 minutes. I hear it quite often oh man, that dog treat didn't last too long. She was only busy for 15 minutes and then she was back at my feet again. But here's the thing Enrichment isn't supposed to be an all-day babysitter. It's not Netflix for dogs.
Speaker 1:Enrichment activities like bully sticks, puzzle toys, frozen kongs, snuffle mats those things aren't meant to occupy your dog for hours. Their job is to take the edge off, to give your dog a little mental workout, shift their mood from bored and bouncing to calmer and more settled. So if your dog finishes a chew in 20 minutes, great, that's a success. Their brain got activated, they stayed out of trouble for a little while and now they have the opportunity to rest or figure out what to do next, and that's actually healthy. What's not helpful is when we jump in immediately with okay, now here's another one, and another one, and let me keep you endlessly entertained, because what we're doing there, without realizing it, is teaching our dog. Hey, the moment you're done with something, come to me and I'll fix it. We're not giving them the opportunity to self-regulate or relax. They're learning to demand more immediately, and then we're stuck in this cycle of becoming their cruise director 24-7.
Speaker 1:So instead of trying to string together six enrichment items in a row, give them one, let them work through it and then just let them be. If they settle down afterwards, perfect mission accomplished. If they start pestering, you try redirecting them calmly or maybe even just ignoring them, but don't fall into the trap of always offering a new toy or chew every time they ask. Enrichment is a tool. It shouldn't be a subscription service. So the next time your dog finishes a chew in 20 minutes, smile and say perfect, that's exactly what I hoped for. And then let them nap, let them find a window to stare out of, let them decide how to spend the rest of their time, because that is what builds calm, confidence and independence.