ACTIVATION
GIVE YOUR DOG BRAIN EXERCISE
Oeko-tex certified fleece fabric
Fabric pockets to hide food or candy in
Wash at 60 degrees, hang dry
Gives the dog brain exercise
Nose work makes the dog more stimulated
Relaxing and tiring
Also used as a reward
Stressed dog?
Many dogs pull on the leash on walks due to stress. Stress can be due to one or more reasons. One of them may be that the dog has a feeling of being strangled. If you use a collar for your dog and feel that it is stressed on the walk, we recommend that you try our Extension. If the stress is only due to a feeling of being strangled, you will get a result immediately. Other so-called "stressors" can be pain, fear, overstimulation, etc. A common cause of stress is understimulation. Your dog simply gets too little stimulation to the brain.
Understimulation
What exactly is understimulation? The origin of dogs from wolves means that dogs still have certain needs from when they were wolves. Wolves cooperate in the pack, which is important for survival. The wolf gets all its food through work, hunting. To complete the task of hunting, the wolf needs to use its nose to track down prey, its cunning to catch it, etc. This means that the wolf uses its brain in a way that dogs also need to do. Even though dogs are domesticated and tame pets with us, they have a brain that needs stimulation. If I don't give my dog this, it can manifest in problem behaviors.
Symptoms of understimulation
Understimulation is most often manifested in excessive breed-typical behaviors. This means that the dog does what it can do most often and intensely to get stimuli. For example, if you have a dog with guarding qualities, understimulation is often manifested by excessive guarding. The dog can start guarding "normal" things which then progress to pretty much anything. Common behaviors are excessive barking, chasing, guarding, running around, biting and chewing. Understimulation can in turn also lead to the dog having more problems even though the cause is actually understimulation, such as being left alone, aggression towards other dogs, children, adults, etc.
Don't hesitate to seek professional help from a dog psychologist if you feel you can't handle the problems yourself.
How to stimulate a dog's brain?
Stimulating your dog's brain is much easier than you might think. The basic idea is to let your dog use and develop its greatest sense, smell. A dog's nose can detect scents that we humans can't even perceive. Give your dog food out in the woods, hide it and let your dog search for it. Hide tasty food in a room, in a box, in a toilet roll, etc. Any form of searching and using your nose is a stimulus for your dog. If your dog is not interested in searching, you need to increase motivation by hiding tastier food. All dogs can track and search, it's in their nature.
The Swedish Dog Association,https://sverigeshundforetagare.se , has trained and certified dog psychologists as members. They are well qualified and can give you the help you need.
VGWBelt Activation Toys
There are an incredible number of activation toys on the market to choose from. We have chosen to make our activation toys in soft fleece so that the dog can learn to use a softer bite. Retrieving breeds need a lot of play in their bite, from soft to hard. If the dog bites a hole in the fabric, it will only be a hole, the fleece fabric will not scratch itself. Fabric is also good because the toy can be kept fresh for a long time by washing it in the machine at 40 degrees. Let it hang dry for about 1 hour and it will be ready to use again. You can see in our film below how the dog Morris works hard to get his reward deep in his pockets.