How to Make a Simple, Scented Dog Enrichment Toy
Smelly toys make for excellent enrichment. Twice a week, the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center team tosses scent tubes into the canine kennels for the dogs to—as the staff puts it—“demolish and obsess over.”
Simple to put together, cardboard tubes are filled with a little kibble and synthetic prey scent that can be purchased online.
Here are the instructions to bring dogs some nose-wiggling fun over at your agency:
Materials List:
- Cardboard tubes from toilet paper, paper towels or gift wrap
- Kibble
- Synthetic prey scent (partridge, squirrel, rabbit or deer—The ASPCA alternates scents weekly to keep things fresh and interesting for the dogs)
Put your trash to work for enrichment
How Long It’ll Take:
Just a minute or two!
Instructions:
- Close one end of the tube by pressing down on the sides with your thumbs
- Squeeze two drops of the scent into each tube, letting it drip down the sides so that the scent spreads
- Place three pieces of kibble into each tube
- Close the other end of tube
Since scent tubes are created—and destroyed—in high volume at the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center, volunteers are encouraged to make more tubes whenever they get the chance, following instructions on the wall and using materials that are left out for them.
We have lots more on this subject:
