Dog Enrichment: How to Keep Your Dog Mentally and Physically Stimulated in 2023

Author Anais M. Last Updated: 09/10/2023

Dog enrichment toys are an excellent distraction that can help your dog in multiple ways. These toys are a form of entertainment for your furry friend, so they can be considered an ideal way to spoil and treat them. Yet at the same time they come with numerous other benefits. These plus points will help you as a dog owner and help out your four legged pal in the long run with the right type of training.

Adding some dog treats on a licky mat or snuffle mat, beats simple enrichment toys every time.

Why use a Dog Lick Mat for Enrichment?

Dog enrichment toys provide mental stimulation to your dog in an appropriate setting. They are built to reinforce positive actions, tend to be relatively cost-effective and are a way for you to bond with your dog faster and more intensely.

Remember, your dog wants to behave appropriately; it knows better with proper motivation and guidance.

Do you know the best lick mat for dogs or the best lick mat recipes for dogs? Both depend on your dog’s size, breed, weight and if they have any diet restrictions.

In this article, we’ll look at dog mental enrichment toys known as licking mats, which will help to enhance certain positive behaviours and help to ween them off those negative actions they may be doing.
Dogs are uber-intelligent and get just as bored and sad as you would be sitting at home with nothing to do.

Next Generation Silicone Snuffle Mats

Need help deciding between a lick mat or a snuffle mat? Why not try one of these new hybrid versions of a hygienic silicone snuffle and lick mat?

These silicone snuffle mats combine the best features of licky mats and snuffle mats and last much longer than a cloth snuffle mat.

Snuffle Mat or Lick Mat? Buy either in Silicone

They can help when it comes to alleviating adverse problems and actions your dogs may be taking. You can look at dog enrichment toys as chewers to get them to stop that bad behaviour.

This article will cover a few different toppings for lick mats and treats for snuffle mats. Both can be frozen if you want to double your dog’s enrichment time.

The most versatile feeding and enrichment system

What are the benefits of dog snuffle mats?

There is a wide range of advantages that you can link to dog-licking mats as your dog enrichment toys. First, they help to provide mental stimulation, which is critical. You’re providing your dog with a challenge to get all their food without making it too complicated. They need to figure out how to get those treats off the dog-licking mat, which will mean they use their brain power in a positive way to resolve.

This will then also lead to physical stimulation, as it will get their jaw muscles working and their body as they move around to different positions and angles to try to remove all the treats with their tongue. This helps keep your dogs in the best physical condition, combined with a daily physical routine.

Also, being mentally and physically stimulated with these dog treat enrichment toys will improve your dog’s overall mood, too. They will experience boredom and anxiety less due to being active in such a positive way. That means less destructive behaviours, such as barking or chewing, to be worried about—a win-win situation.

From a health perspective, dog licking mats are excellent to help with supporting healthier teeth in dogs. They can help to reduce overall tartar and plaque buildup. This comes from the licking motion needed to get the treats out, which are also there to help clean teeth and eliminate any leftover food particles. This is as opposed to your dog eating their food quickly and not having the extra motions and licking to remove the food with regular feeding times.

How to use dog lick mats

You can spread treats or food throughout the mat and let your dog get their fill. They will still slow their eating and reap the benefits of their meal or treat times with these enrichment dog aids. They are built for you to crush their food and distribute it throughout the mat.

It’s also a great way to offer more natural treat options to your dog, such as certain fruits instead of store-bought processed dog treats that are only sometimes the best option.

You can also place food on the mat and freeze it. This is an excellent option for both entertainment for your dog and if it’s also a scorching day as well. Your dog will then continue to lick the mat to try to get to the food, prolonging the overall enrichment process.

You don’t just have to use dog-licking mats for food, either. It can be a great way to keep your dogs hydrated or serve them liquid-based foods such as yoghurts or broth. They’ll be hydrated and take those enrichment actions, offering another ideal scenario.

How to clean silicone dog lick and snuffle mats

Peanut butter is one of the most popular dog lick mat treats used, mainly because we humans also eat it. The problem is that PB is highly greasy and hard to wash off. You can clean mats by hand, in the dishwasher or on a light cycle in your washing machine. Silicone will take a beating at 100 degrees C a day, damaging it is hard to do.
The best cleaning method is by hand with a brush or in a washing machine. Some lick mats come supplied with a suitable cleaning brush for getting into all those grooves.

Dog-Friendly Lick Mat Toppers

What are the different types of dog licking mats?

There are hundreds of different lick mat designs on the market, so it depends on your needs, and the overall size of your dog for which one you buy.

I have seen more and more exciting mats coming onto the market as presumable the moulding methods have improved. The round 15cm mats used to be popular, but now there are many different shapes and colours to choose from.

You can go with a primary option that is just a flat surface and spread the food around with this. It will act more like a plate of food, providing minimal stimulation. However, it will still be a step up from a regular dog bowl. This is also an excellent option to see if your dog will eat off such a mat and not simply out of your hands or a bowl.

Then, you can get a dog-licking mat with textures, different surfaces, and designs on the same mat. That means you can get one mat with varying difficulty levels for the dog, so as they get used to it, you can place the food on more complex areas, build up the challenges and reward their achievements.

You also want to consider getting dog-licking mats with some suction or the ability to stick. There are dog-licking mats that can be stuck on the wall, and you can place your dog’s food or treats in there, giving them yet another vantage and angle for them to be able to eat their treats.
If you get a picky eater dog, a dog-licking mat is just the ticket to appease them. They will have a variety of different shapes and compartments to be able to spread the food out in various sections. Your dog will then be happy, eat their treats and be enriched at the same time.

Conclusion

Dog licking mats are extremely durable while at the same time easy to use and wash. You can quickly do it by hand or throw them in the dishwasher and clean them as you would your own dishes. This allows you to easily and consistently use these dog enrichment toys.

As you can see, we also help to offer competitive pricing so that you’re able to get multiple dog toys for enrichment and test a few out without worrying about harming your finances in any way.

Silicone snuffle mats are a new addition in 2023 and are worth a look.