The easiest way to explain what an enrichment room is to our dogs, is to think of it in comparison to children. For our small humans we have activities like soft play for when the weather is a bit yuck and you don't want to be taking them to the park. They love to move around and explore these places that give them a huge sensory burst. For children the visuals are at the forefront. It is why they love to watch things on tv, to play games consoles or have videos on an iPad. We make their play zones a circus of colours and shapes.
Well for dogs imagine that they too can have the same type of indoor play area however where the children are more visual the dogs are scent driven. They explore with their noses and find all the sniffing gives them the same buzz and stimulation and exhausts them.
When we take our children to places such as theme parks, we often allow them to have slushes and ice creams and sweets and fast food and things they don't always get day to day.
With an enrichment room we can allow the dogs to have different foods such as dry food, wet food, pastes, pates, chicken, sausage and cheese and get a whole variety of tasty treats to not just eat and enjoy but to sniff out and find as part of the games.
They can explore using different senses too with various textures and heights to walk on or touch. Different sounds to hear and interact with. Shapes and colours and things that move.
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Who is an enrichment room for?
This is an easy one....absolutely any dog (unless they have severe allergies, we will come back to that).
So you might have a dog who has had an operation and on limited physical exercise. You may have an older dog who can't move about as well as they once did. There are lots of physical reasons for wanting to increase a dogs mental stimulation whilst keeping the physical side low.
Or it may be weather related, hot days and wanting to go somewhere out of the sun. Pouring with rain and you just want one day where you don't get soaked through and need a hot bath, three hot chocolates and a heated blanket to recover. Freezing cold and your dog has a thermal jumper and a coat and still shivering. All great reasons to want to be indoors out of the elements.
It may be behaviour related such as your dog is super anxious, reactive, fearful etc. You want to go somewhere that you know is a controlled environment and you won't bump into an off lead dog running over "because their dog is friendly 😉 "
It may be that you fancy having a sit down with a cup of coffee and the yummy donuts you picked up on the way (to of course share with your favourite dog trainers) while your dog lives their best life in a giant enrichment paradise.
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Can i use an enrichment room if my dog has food allergies?
So we ask that you bring the foods you want to use with your dog. Bring as much variety as possible. When we book we give you tips on the types of things to bring and how the treats can be used. E.g. something wet to smear in the licki mat.
We ask that you do a sweep and collect up any dry treats not eaten at the end of your visit and we provide some wipes for you to have a wipe over the items you have used for wet food.
Between each client we go round and do spot cleaning plus dog safe anti bac. Then we have a regular deep clean too.
However we cannot guarantee there will be no residue at all of a crumbled treat somewhere. So as much as we will use anti bacterial cleaning products (dog safe) we do say that if your dog has mega extreme allergies like even the sniff of something brings them out in hives then this probably isn't the activity for them. However if it's just that being fed chicken for dinner makes them itchy etc and a stray crumb wouldn't do harm then all good.
We would hate to be responsible for any dogs being poorly.
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Can I use an enrichment room if my dog is medically unwell?
Yes you can dependant on the problem. If they have anything contagious we ask you not to bring them. Any sign of a tummy bug, a cough etc please be responsible and keep them at home so as not to pass anything. We also use dog safe anti bac to kill bugs. If they have had surgery then seek guidance from your vet as to whether this could be the perfect activity for them. You may want to bring aids such as a sling to offer extra support and make sure to keep them from going on my raised areas. We allow dogs to come who are in season but ask them to wear something like in heat pants whilst using the facilities. And if they are not comfortable to wear something please don't make them stressed just wait till they have finished their season.
There are lots of medical reasons why an enrichment room can benefit your dog, speak to us and your vet if you have any questions regarding a specific topic.
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Can I use an enrichment room if my male dog scent marks?
If your dog smells other dogs and likes to have a wee then please just hire our outdoor area. We understand that accidents can happen so we provide cleaning products so that you can clean it off before it's dried in and also ask that you let us know. Just so that if we identify a particular target area we can have a rethink or use some stronger odour defence. We would much rather you told us. In our outdoor area dogs do not need to be off lead and although it is fenced we do not advertise as a secure dog field. If you want a secure field for your dog to run and play we recommend Evas green down the road from us. However if they are not an escape artist and you feel not a flight risk then you are very welcome to let them off at your own responsibility. If you’re using the facilities to reduce the physical and increase the mental activity then there is nothing wrong with using the outdoor area with your dog on a short lead. For anyone likely to scent mark we recommend this option.
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Can I bring multiple dogs?
Yes you can. However this is by contacting us directly. The enrichment room is not a play area and obviously we don't want dogs to be playing tug of war or wrestling and breaking things. It is designed to be a space they get a much more 1 to 1 experience where it is calm and time just for themselves. We do however book out the outside area for doggy get togethers and parties. We can host dog birthday parties and specific events
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What happens if my dog breaks something?
Of course we have spent time and money to bring you this space and hope that you will treat the space as you would your own home. However we understand that these things happen and that dogs can have a nibble instead of a lick or be a bit clumsy.
We just ask that you are honest and if your dog does break something and we can't fix it that you replace it. We have purposefully not installed anything super expensive into the room and all the toys and puzzles etc are very easy and usually cheap to replace. The balls in the ball pool are going to get squashed and we will periodically replace these as will other stuff have wear and tear. However if for example your dog decides to rip a licki Mat off the wall and turn it into 300 little pieces we would love if you could get another so other clients can still use it. As much as there is a lovely cosy area to sit we do ask that even if your enjoying a coffee and donuts you watch your dog at all times.
